September 11, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) and Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) shake hands after an Eagles victory at Lincoln Financial Field.
He is learning an entirely new offense that will feature much more under center formations, a heavy dose of pre-snap motion, an emphasis on play action passing, and his offensive coordinator is a young, former NFL journeyman backup quarterback and play calling novice who has only coached in the NFL for two seasons but has been taught and influenced by some of the league's most brilliant offensive minds.
This is a Jalen Hurts story, but this story isn't about Jalen Hurts.
This just happens to be the same scenario confronting Hurts' counterpart in Week 1, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
They are mirror images this season, as their respective teams took similar paths in the offseason to fix their offenses after disappointing seasons in 2025, although Washington's 5-12 season was far more discouraging overall than Philadelphia's, which ended in the first round of the postseason.
Both teams fired their offensive coordinators and sought an entirely new philosophy. The Eagles hired Sean Mannion to design a playbook influenced heavily by Sean McVay, who Mannion played quarterback for earlier in his journeyman backup career, and by Matt LaFleur, who Mannion coached under for just two seasons before the Eagles hired him.
The Commanders fired Kliff Kingsbury and replaced him with in-house assistant David Blough, who spent the first three seasons of his four-year NFL career with the Lions, learning under then-coordinator Ben Johnson, who is entering his second season as Bears head coach after winning the NFC North over LaFleur's Packers last year.
Blough will be borrowing similar offensive concepts from Johnson, who like McVay and LaFleur, incorporates many elements of under center, pre-snap motion, multiple tight end usage, and play action.
Blough's offense will attempt to help Daniels become more of a ball distributor and less responsible for doing all of the work, which could keep Daniels healthier.
As a rookie in 2024, Daniels willed the Commanders to 12 wins and a surprising spot in the NFC Championship before the dream died with a blowout loss to Hurts and the Eagles. Last year, Daniels felt the sting of being the lone playmaker on an aging offense, as he suffered knee, hamstring and elbow injuries that limited him to seven starts.
If Blough's offense works as the Commanders expect, Daniels should be more protected – even with the long-term loss of left tackle Laremy Tunsil – and should have more pitch-and-catch opportunities from the playbook, with the help of new slot wideout Stefon Diggs and new flex tight end Chig Okonkwo.
The Commanders only played Daniels and most starters in one preseason game, and Daniels attempted just two passes on three snaps before heading for the sideline.
Like the Eagles, who played no starters on offense for the entire preseason, the Commanders weren't trying to showcase much of Blough's offense to the rest of the league, but on their second snap against the Lions with Daniels in, all the components of their new offense were on display – under center, wideouts condensed to the line of scrimmage, and bootleg play action off a wide zone blocking scheme.
Unfortunately for Daniels, tight end John Bates allowed inside pressure to Lions outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum, and Daniels got dropped for a 10-yard sack. Daniels then handed off to rookie Kaytron Allen on 3rd-and-20, and that was the end of his preseason action.
Under Kingsbury, the Commanders were a no-huddle-centric offense that leaned heavily on quick game, RPOs and screens to move the chains. Under Blough, the Commanders will huddle much more often and combine RPOs with conventional West Coast routes.
It promises to look different, but Daniels and Hurts will both ultimately have to answer the same question – is different better?
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