Commanders head coach Dan Quinn isn’t showing all his cards heading into the 2024 NFL draft, but he is acknowledging the obvious: They’re probably going to draft a quarterback.
“I would say it’d be fair to envision we’d be taking a quarterback,” Quinn told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. “To say where it’ll be happening, I think that’s a better question for [general manager] Adam [Peters]. As the next weeks unfold there’ll be a lot of discussion, and that’s why we’ve had a great trip out seeing some guys, we’ll do that some more in the weeks ahead, but I’ve enjoyed that process with Adam, and going through it. He’s somebody that is an absolute expert at this position, what it looks like, where to go, and so going through that process has been really cool.”
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels is widely expected to be the Commanders’ pick at No. 2 overall. Quinn said the Commanders are getting close to setting the top of their draft board, but haven’t finished evaluating the quarterbacks.
Quinn did say the Commanders’ phone is ringing in trade talks and the Commanders will listen, but it sounds unlikely that anyone would offer enough to get them to move down.
“Yes, I would say it’s ringing, and because, like you said, of the talent of the group this year,” Quinn said. “And so I would anticipate him fielding these calls as it goes through, and usually it’s not necessarily later than No. 6 or 7, but those people who are usually in the top four or five, there’s somebody that somebody has targeted, and I think it’s mostly like ‘Well, I’ve got to take a shot!’ A lot of times it’s no, like ‘Thanks for calling’ but it is part of the process, and you have to do your due diligence to listen and to find out just to make sure, like is there something that you just couldn’t refuse.
“I certainly walked past it in the hallway when I was with the Cowboys, years ago for a trade that involved Herschel Walker and many draft picks and changed a lot of their organization. So, I think anybody in personnel with the skills of Adam, they’re going to listen, but there’s only so many things that you’d consider, and it’d better be really good.”
Realistically, if the Commanders think there’s a quarterback available at No. 2 who is going to be their franchise quarterback for years to come, it’s hard to imagine any offer good enough for Washington to move down. Washington keeping the pick at No. 2 and drafting its next quarterback is the most likely outcome.