LOVERRO: Red flags for this disappointing season were visible months ago

OPINION:

After his remarkable rookie season, there was talk that the play of Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels might suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump. Defensive coordinators, the argument went, would have had a full season to study him. They would adjust and make life more difficult than when he stunned the NFL last year, throwing for 3,569 yards while rushing for 891 yards and six touchdowns, leading the Commanders to the NFC title game.

Turns out the league never really got a shot at Daniels this year. It was his team’s own self-destruction that did in the future of the franchise.

Commanders coach Dan Quinn revealed the anticipated news Monday afternoon — the battered Daniels, who missed seven games with injuries, will not play another down this season.

“We believe this decision allows him to take advantage of the next few weeks in a different way,” Quinn said. “He wants to practice and he will practice.”

His 2025 numbers in the seven games he played will show Daniels threw for 1,262 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions and rushed for 278 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers led to two wins.

It wasn’t a slump as much as it was a beatdown.

Despite general manager Adam Peters spending the offseason building up the offensive line by trading for five-time Pro Bowl free agent tackle Laremy Tunsil and drafting highly-touted tackle Josh Conerly in the first round, Daniels struggled in large part because the weapons he had relied on during his first year weren’t on the field.

Receiver Terry McLaurin, who held out for most of training camp in a contract dispute, missed seven games. Running back Austin Ekeler was lost with a torn Achilles tendon in the second game of the season. Receiver Noah Brown missed 10 games with a groin injury. Backup receiver Luke McCaffrey broke his collarbone in the Nov. 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

These were the targets that Daniels had come to trust in his first year. At various points this season, the young quarterback was throwing to practice squad receivers signed off the street, and it showed in his confidence to deliver the ball.

Daniels suffered a knee sprain in the second week of the season in a 27-18 loss to the Green Bay Packers. He missed two games and came back to lead Washington to a 27-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers but then went down with a hamstring injury two weeks later in a 44-22 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

He came back two weeks later when, with the Commanders losing 38-7 to the Seattle Seahawks, Daniels suffered a dislocated left elbow midway through the fourth quarter and Quinn suffered a barrage of criticism for having Daniels in the game in that situation.

Four weeks later, Daniels came back to face the Minnesota Vikings, only to go down again, aggravating his elbow after being blocked on an interception he threw in 31-0 defeat.

Despite being held out of the rest of the game, Quinn said he could have returned. A few days later, though, Quinn told reporters that doctors advised against putting Daniels on the field against New York.

Now they have raised the white flag. Enough was enough.

Moving forward, Daniels himself faces questions about his ability to protect himself.

When Quinn was asked where Daniels can grow as a player, he said the quarterback needs to “know when to get down, when to slide, when to throw it out of bounds.”

A preseason game against Cincinnati may have been a warning sign of what was to come.

In that meaningless game, Daniels pulled the ball down for a 14-yard touchdown run, breaking tackles along the way instead of sliding. When asked about it after the game, Daniels answered, “I’m playing football. I’m out there … at the end of the day, it’s a game to me, whether preseason, regular season or playoffs. I had the opportunity to score. Other people probably didn’t like it, but, hey, it is what it is.”

He didn’t return to the game. When asked if anyone said anything to him about not sliding, Daniels answered, “They took me out after that, so.”

Asked after the game about Daniels’ failure to slide, Quinn answered, “You think those conversations haven’t already been told? It’s part of his game, and it is what makes him a special player.”

Now he’s a spectator.

• Catch Thom Loverro on “The Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast.