How Jayden Daniels took the Commanders’ gimmick offense to the next level

Kliff Kingsbury’s offense has been called many things: “dishonorable,” “gimmicky,” and “RPO bullshit” are a few of them I fully believe about the Commanders’ OC and his offense.

Now, to be fair, all those things are still true, but suddenly he has a QB who can maximize it and create explosives at will, making the offense go. So, I guess it’s all a wash. No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels had his NFL arrival when the Commanders beat the Bengals in Week 3, with some highlight plays mixed in with some interesting stuff the Commanders did in the passing game. Let’s dig in and see what the rook had to offer.

For the most part, in the passing game the Commanders peppered the outside heavily. This is due to a few things, I believe. The Bengals were dealing with a lot of injuries on the outside, but quite frankly this is what a Kliff offense is. They are the Horizontal Air Raid, avoiding the middle of the field and hammering the outsides of the defense. This is Daniels’ chart from Monday:

It’s hilarious, but it’s also offering a good look at what the offense will be with Kingsbury. Washington ran a lot of four strong concepts to overload one side of the field, giving Daniels easy looks and the power to take downfield shots when they’re open. Watch how this four strong look forces the backside safety to hammer down hard and McLaurin is left open. If EDGE Trey Hendrickson doesn’t blow up this play, this might be another TD.

Here’s another 4 strong concept, with McLaurin going in jet motion. Robinson and TEs John Bates and Ben Sinnott also running verticals. Getting to this out of 13 personnel with Zach Ertz is pretty interesting, and Daniels is able to work from the vertical to the Ertz drag route.

They get to it again here, but this time in a quads formation. Robinson chips the EDGE, and watch how the defense widens out with the two vertical routes. Ertz is wide open, and Daniels hits him between the numbers.

Let’s talk about the deep ball. Daniels was on point from beyond the arc, a necessary part of this offense. Daniels throws such a pretty deep ball, being able to just drop this ball out of a helicopter and right into McLaurin’s hands. The anticipation on here is top notch as well. Great ball from the rookie.

Then, the final one. Look at where McLaurin is when Daniels released this ball. This is incredible anticipation and touch, and he threw this knowing he was going to get blasted. A really nice play by Daniels, and one that’s pretty exciting to see.

What I love so much about Daniels is that he’s doing this while avoiding taking a lot of sacks. He’s done a good job of mitigating pressure and taking off on timely scrambles. Kingsbury and the Commanders haven’t asked him to do anything outside of what he did at LSU, but through the first few weeks it’s been great! I would beware the siren song of September Kliff Kingsbury, however. The Cardinals through the first eight weeks in 2020 and 2021 were a top ten offense in EPA per play. After that? They drop to 18th and 14th, respectively.

This is a fun ride with Daniels and this offense, and the highs can look like this when done right. This is the fun part about having a rookie QB! Seeing the lights go on and this performance, making it known that the NFL could have another star QB on the way.