It is truly a new era of Washington Commanders football. Ron Rivera is out as head coach and Dan Quinn is in to replace him. Despite being a defensive minded head coach, Quinn has a few new weapons on offense that will [hopefully] help usher in a more successful run than his predecessors.
Two of these weapons are running back Austin Ekeler and quarterback Jayden Daniels. Ekeler was acquired in free agency after spending the first seven years of his career with the Los Angeles Chargers. Daniels, of course, was Washington’s first round pick, taken second overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Daniels joins a division that has loaded with quarterback talent. The Dallas Cowboys have Dak Prescott (for now) and the Philadelphia Eagles boast Jalen Hurts. A major question that faces the team this year is how Daniels, as a first-year NFL player, will stack up against those two MVP contenders.
Washington Commanders Running Back Austin Ekeler Has High Praise for Quarterback Jayden Daniels
Yesterday, the NFL Network had Ekeler on as a guest and asked him about Daniels. To hear him talk, he is nowhere near worried about how the rookie quarterback will perform compared to the immensely talented arms in the division:
“We’ve got a stud in Jayden Daniels.”
Safe to say @AustinEkeler is impressed with his rookie QB 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TRaDwK2hdR
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 26, 2024
“He’s an absolute stud out there slinging it,” Ekeler said. “I love his leadership that he’s shown early on. You know, he’s texting me about routes, he’s calling me out in practice, ‘Hey, Ek, this is what we need to do on this,’ or ‘What did you see on this choice route?'”
Ekeler continued, “He’s got all of the right stuff that I love to see from a quarterback that he’s been bringing out in the first couple weeks that I’ve met him. Looking forward to his growth, and we have a lot of veterans like you mentioned that we brought in to help set the culture.”
The Commanders’ running back is no stranger to playing with talented quarterbacks. He spent his entire career to this point with either Philip Rivers or Justin Herbert as his quarterback with the Chargers.
Washington Commanders Running Back Austin Ekeler Addressed the Team’s Situation in 2023
Ekeler was also asked about he and the current Commanders players are trying to change the culture in Washington. He responded with, “I’m thinking how can we become the best team possible right now while we’re just together with each other because we have a lot of new pieces, we’ve got a lot of new parts.”
He continued, “I don’t care about what happened last year. That’s how we’re judged in this league, absolutely, on what have you done for me lately. Well, that’s in the past. We have a new opportunity as a team to move forward.”
Washington has needed some change for a very long time, and now it sounds like they are finally getting them.
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