Dallas City News

Four things to watch during Commanders training camp – Zach Selby, Commanders.com

Now the rubber meets the road for Jayden Daniels to prove himself as QB1.

After months of waiting, the Washington Commanders’ first training camp under the new regime is set to begin on Wednesday, and like every year, there will be plenty of storylines to watch as the team prepares for the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Here are four things to watch over the next month.

1. Jayden Daniels

The Commanders have known more struggles than victories at the quarterback position for the better part of three decades. They believe that part of their history is over now that Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels is the future of the position.

We don’t know when head coach Dan Quinn is going to officially name a starter for the 2024 season, but there’s nothing from Daniels’ play on the field that would suggest he is unprepared for the role. He looked sharp in practice, handled press conferences like a veteran and impressed his teammates with his work ethic and desire to improve.

But OTAs are obviously different from training camp. If the offseason workout program was Daniels’ time to affirm that Washington made the right choice in picking him, training camp is when Daniels needs to earn the right to be under center in Week 1. It will be another test for the No. 2 pick, as practices will get more physical, faster and closer to what he will experience in an NFL game.

Daniels hasn’t done anything yet to rattle the team’s confidence in him; rather, his athleticism and dedication indicate that he is more than ready to take on the task. Still, every rep will be dissected over the next month to see if Daniels is ready to be QB1 as a rookie.

If Daniels looks the way he did during OTAs — delivering on-target throws to his receivers and commanding the offense — then the competition between him and Marcus Mariota should be a formality.

Why Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni reported ‘disconnect’ isn’t Eagles biggest camp issue – Martin Frank, DelawareOnline.com

Adjusting to a new offense is the most intriguing training camp storyline in Philly.

It’s usually an exercise in futility to parse what Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts says or doesn’t say in order to figure out his mindset.

Did his non-answer last month about head coach Nick Sirianni’s new role as a CEO coach mean that Hurts is glad he and the Eagles aren’t running Sirianni’s offense anymore?

Does a recent report in The Athletic that ”there was some disconnect between (Hurts and Sirianni)” last season because of their different personalities mean anything? After all, Sirianni is fiery on the sidelines, while Hurts, to some, always appears calm to the point of being perceived as aloof.

The article also suggests that Hurts might have been frustrated with Sirianni’s “conservative offense,” which Sirianni admitted had grown “a little bit stale” during the Eagles’ 1-6 finish to last season.

But none of that is necessarily new, nor is it relevant to the Eagles’ success in 2024.

This is: As the Eagles report for training camp Tuesday, with Kellen Moore coordinating an offense that Hurts himself called “95%” new, all of it depends on Hurts mastering that offense as quickly as possible.

That makes Hurts the No. 1 most interesting Eagles player heading into the 2024 season.

Hurts, in one of his rare detailed answers, gave a sense of what his new responsibilities at quarterback might entail while speaking from a coach’s perspective:

“The Xs and Os, the lines on the paper, may very well be what they’re supposed to be,” Hurts said. “But how I coach and how I detail these routes, how I coach the quarterback, what I want his timing to be, where I want him looking, where I want his eyes.

Again, reading between the lines of Hurts’ answer might give the impression that those “checks and adjustments” weren’t there last season. At least not nearly often enough. That was evident when Hurts struggled against the blitz, when he threw a career-high 15 interceptions, or 9 more than he threw in 2022.

Cover 3: Biggest question heading into training camp – Staff Writers, Giants.com

Despite free agent acquisitions, questions remain up front and under center in New York.

The Giants.com crew discussed the biggest question heading into the start of training camp this week:

John Schmeelk: What is the offensive line going to look like in Week 1? Will it be what we saw in the spring? Andrew Thomas is the incumbent at at left tackle and John Michael Schmitz at center, while newcomers Jon Runyan and Jermaine Eluemunor look to lock down the guard spots. Evan Neal’s health and performance will dictate the final variable at right tackle.

The Giants hope Neal can progress enough to stick outside, but his health has been an issue in his first two seasons. His performance in camp, at the joint practices and in the preseason games will dictate what happens. His play could impact two or three other positions and players. It makes the offensive line my biggest question heading into training camp.

Dan Salomone: The biggest question is about the most important position: quarterback. Daniel Jones surprised some people when he participated in 7-on-7 drills at the start of spring practices. While the plan never included full team periods this spring, Jones, who has been rehabbing a torn ACL, is on track for the start of training camp and thus Week 1.

“The knee feels good, really good,” Jones said last week before the Giants wrapped up spring practices. “I think every week I’ve continued to feel better and better and taking steps. Doing a lot of the same things I’ve been doing, but doing them better and feeling sharper, cleaner with a lot of my cuts. Kind of working on getting that explosiveness back and then taking steps in improving my change of direction and cutting from even where it was before the injury.”

Jones added, “I expect to be ready to go the first day of training camp.”