Commanders Training Camp Report: Dan Quinn ‘the Right Guy for that Job’

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones encouraged the former Atlanta head coach to take over the historic franchise. Plus, Jayden Daniels impresses the Jets.

Quinn's first order of business as the head coach of the Commanders was getting rid of an old Astroturf field: "That was the starting point. Let’s get this field out of here. Let’s get out of the mud and go for it." / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Another NFL training camp practice, another team in the books. We’ll talk Jayden Daniels against a great New York Jets defense in a moment, but first …

After a Washington Commanders-Jets joint practice Thursday, there was no more popular individual than new head coach Dan Quinn, who was born just a few miles away from the Jets’ Florham Park facility in Morristown. Fans with distant familial connections to the Quinn family were lining up for rain-soaked selfies and Quinn, seemingly never in a bad mood, was happy to oblige. 

As Quinn crossed the turf practice field, he talked about the road here from division-rival Dallas. After rediscovering his love of coaching with the Dallas Cowboys, he waited for the vibes to align for his next (and, by his admission, final, since “you don’t get a third,” he says) head-coaching opportunity. He had chances to leave after each of his three seasons with the Cowboys but it was the words of Dallas owner Jerry Jones that made Quinn feel as though he made the right choice. 

“When I left Dallas, Jerry Jones pulled me aside and said, ‘[Washington] is a really important franchise,’” Quinn says. “He knew from competing against them through all those years, he said that I’d find the community would go crazy for me. Jerry said, ‘You’re the right guy for that job, for that city, the NFL needs Washington and Washington needs the NFL.’”  

Quinn continued: “It was just cool for [Jerry], a Hall of Fame owner, GM, to say that it was the right spot for me, to go kick ass. It was nice to hear that from his perspective, as an old head, to say, ‘Hey, man, it’s a cool place.’” 

Quinn was famous in Atlanta for his signage and his creation of a culture. Like mentor Pete Carroll, his attention to surrounding stimuli was legendary. The messages on the walls. The attitude of the staff. Everything had to be perfect. I asked him if there was any such undertaking in Washington so far and his response was interesting: You can’t just create a culture for culture’s sake. 

“[The Commanders facility] was really stuck in the mud,” Quinn says. “They had an old Astroturf field that still had the old logo on it, so we dug it up. It’s a new time, it’s a new space and, more than anything, I wanted to make sure we would capture anybody, anywhere, anytime. We were going to go battle for it. A team of guys who go for it. That was the starting point. Let’s get this field out of here. Let’s get out of the mud and go for it.

“We work hard at the culture, but the purpose of it is to have a good team. It’s not just to have a culture to have a culture. Like, the purpose behind it—to see the guys starting to trust one another, to believe in one another here. That’s why we work hard at the person behind the helmet.” 

One more question for Quinn before he hits the door. When he arrived in Atlanta, Matt Ryan was already established. So I asked him what it is like starting over with a rookie quarterback and his early impressions of Daniels? 

“Jayden has this cool balance of confidence and humility,” Quinn says. “He’s this incredibly hard worker for a young guy but he doesn’t have all the answers. But on the field, he’s got this cool swag about him. He strikes the right balance of both. You don’t want to be overconfident and sound like a jerk or selfish but you don’t want to be so deferential like yes sir, no sir, either. He has this really cool balance of hard-working young guy who doesn’t have all the answers yet. But, like, you can count on me to get s--- done. I’ve really enjoyed coaching him and spending time with him.” 

Daniels handles the elements

I would assume Thursday was logged as a win for the Jets defense. Sauce Gardner had a high-profile breakup of one of Daniels’s last 11-on-11 passes of the afternoon. There were some drops, not surprising due to the conditions and a handful of scattershot passes. But here’s what drew me in on the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft. 

Just as the rain really started to pick up around 11:30 (practice ended just before noon ET), Daniels was in the pistol and dropped back to throw a ball to Terry McLaurin. The wide receiver was covered by Ashtyn Davis, who had a clear jump on the route and was standing directly between Daniels and his target. But Daniels let it rip and, with a low and away ball, managed to throw McLaurin open. He did that at least three times that I saw Thursday, possessing the ability to manufacture some completions in situations where they may not otherwise exist. Far more than an incredible touch throw he made to Dyami Brown, which we knew he could do already, I thought Daniels’s ability in unfavorable conditions was impressive and noteworthy.

Jayden Daniels threw a beautiful pass to Dyami Brown who made the impressive one-handed catch 🔥🎯

(🎥:@Commanders) pic.twitter.com/nYv0T43fl7

— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) August 8, 2024

We may forget—because, after all, the Jets are the Jets—that this could end up being the best defense in the NFL this year. 

Daniels, like Quinn, had plenty of visitors today. Aaron Rodgers, who did not practice because of the rain, came over and spent some time with the rookie quarterback. Gardner and Solomon Thomas also made their way over during practice to chat with the former LSU star.  

Song of the day

Because of the rain, I did not have access to the Shazam app and, thus, could not gather any of the information that may have helped me decipher what was playing. No old-school jams. Nothing from any of my playlists. This may have been the oldest I’ve ever felt at an NFL training camp practice. Age 36 hits you hard. With Rodgers here, I thought I’d at least hear some Bon Iver.