The NFL Draft is less than a week away and, like with previous drafts, there’s a lot of controversy and conflicting reports when it comes to what a team will do with their first-round pick.
We already know that Caleb Williams will be chosen as the No. 1 draft pick, but the fight for No. 2 has begun and the consensus for the past few weeks has been LSU Tigers QB Jayden Daniels. Now, that might be up in the air.
The Heisman winner was thought to be a shoo-in with the Washington Commanders. That is, until they decided to interview other top quarterbacks, which seemed to tick off Daniels and his agent.
ProFootballTalk called out the Commanders for interviewing other quarterbacks in the draft at the same time. That apparently did not sit well with Daniels’s agent, Ron Butler, who liked a series of tweets put out by the publication.
PFT said the Commanders bringing all four top quarterback prospects for a group visit, rather than bringing them each in individually, was “diluting its ability to maximize its time with each prospect.”
Washington's decision to dilute their ability to study four top QB prospects by bringing them in for a visit on the same day makes no sense. https://t.co/MpKEwBPLD1
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 18, 2024
Butler responded with a thinking face emoji. ESPN’s Adam Schefter seemed to confirm reports that the Daniels’ team was not happy.
Adam Schefter on Daniels’ agent being annoyed by Commanders’ process. pic.twitter.com/gHDKZRwk23
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) April 19, 2024
“It didn’t seem to go over too well with the agent for Jayden Daniels, Ron Butler, who sounded off on social media last night that he didn’t seem particularly pleased with the process,” Schefter said on Get Up. “I think Jayden Daniels thought it would be a visit with just him meeting with the Commanders. Many people think that Jayden Daniels will wind up being the No. 2 overall pick. But the Commanders essentially opened up the process.”
Commanders general manager Adam Peters told ESPN he didn’t think bringing in all four top quarterback prospects at the same time was a bad idea.
“What’s cool is we got to see them all together in a group setting,” Peters said. “They all got a lot of time individually with coaches and with us. They were staggered coming in, too. It was a great blend of that and working everyone together in a fun environment.”
It’s not unheard of for other teams to take a look at other prospects even though they intend to draft a specific player. It happened last year with the Carolina Panthers with Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud. While most NFL experts expected Young to go No. 1 with the Panthers, they brought in Stroud for an interview. It didn’t seem to bother either prospect.
Maybe it’s because they are friends and that both were going to end up at No. 1 or No. 2. For Daniels, it may be not only a sense of pride but money. He’s going to make millions for being a first-round draft pick, but if his reputation is damaged and he falls, that is going to be a problem for him and his agent.
If history is any indication, Daniels and his agent have nothing to worry about because he most likely will be picked at No. 2.
[Pro Football Talk, Commanders Wire, John Keim, Adam Schefter]
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.