Commanders' Kliff Kingsbury Wants His 'Patrick Mahomes' in Washington
The Washington Commanders remain the most intriguing franchise entering the NFL offseason. Armed with the No. 2 overall pick, the most cap space in the league, and a new regime hellbent on bringing success to the embattled NFC East organization, it will be a fascinating storyline.
While the hire of Dan Quinn was met with crickets as the move wasn't deemed flashy, but the hire of Kliff Kingsbury as the team's offensive coordinator made people sit up and take notice. Why?
The Commanders will likely take a quarterback in the upcoming draft, and Kingsbury was a Senior Offensive Analyst at USC last year...where Caleb Williams was the quarterback. So people put two and two together.
But what characteristics does Kingsbury look for in a quarterback?
“The Chiefs quarterback," Kingsbury said with a smile at his introductory press conference. "No, I do think the game, as you can see, you watch those guys, [San Francisco QB] Brock [Purdy] and him at the end, like when the money's on the table, you got to be able to make some plays, with your feet move around enough to escape a bad play.
"It doesn't mean you got to run like [Baltimore Ravens QB] Lamar or [Arizona Cardinals QB] Kyler Murray, but you better be able to move a little bit and buy yourself some time because the D Line, the rushes the defense these days are so good. And then the intangibles, you want that player to be the hardest worker on your team. You want them to lead those guys each and every day when he shows up in the building, you want them to lift the building up and that's why those guys make the type of money they do.”
Michael C. Johnson, USA TODAY Sports
With three options in Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake May thought to be the main choices, exactly which way Washington will go is going to tell us a lot about how it envisions the offense looking under Kingsbury.
Sam Howell isn't the answer based on his lone season as the starter, but if the draft wasn't stacked with quarterback talent, then he might have gotten another chance.
But with the talents that are potentially on offer, Washington has a chance to take a quarterback that will shape the direction of the franchise for the next decade.
All of what Kingsbury described in what he's looking for in a quarterback, Williams, Daniels, and Maye all have, so his comments don't shed light either way on which way the team is possibly thinking of going.
But Kliff knows what he wants in a quarterback and the evaluation process would no doubt have started already.
It will be a big decision, but one that general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn will likely have input in. The Commanders need a quarterback and there are three to choose from with Kingsbury knowing exactly what he wants.
