Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye: Daniel Jeremiah details Commanders' 2024 NFL Draft decision

Caleb Williams seems like a lock to go No. 1 in the NFL Draft, doesn’t he? The drama is whether the Chicago Bears chunk Justin Fields to select the former USC star.

But what about No. 2? The Commanders, you’re on the clock. New coach Dan Quinn and his offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury likely are going quarterback with the second selection of the NFL Draft. Sam Howell hasn’t panned out. So will Washington go for another North Carolina QB in Drake Maye? Or maybe the Commanders pick LSU’s dazzling Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy because of his play-making skills.

Daniel Jeremiah, the draft guru for the NFL Network, thinks Washington will favor Maye.

“To me, it’s more about kind of the ceiling of what you think they can be,” Jeremiah told reporters. “Drake Maye, with just having a little more prototypical size and playing in kind of a rugged division, that might be more of a decision-making point more so than the offense would be.”

Maye is 6-4, 225 pounds. That makes him 15 pounds heavier than Daniels’ listed weight. Heights and weights will all become official next week when draft prospects gather in Indianapolis for the NFL scouting combine. The league doesn’t fudge those numbers when so much money is on the line.

And if the Bears let Williams slip, Washington would snap up the Trojans star, who grew up in the D.C. area.

Meanwhile, another new coach will make his first selection with pick three. Jerod Mayo, who took over for Bill Belichick as head coach in New England, also likely will be thinking about quarterback at No. 3. Maybe he dips back into the SEC to fill the need, selecting Daniels. The Patriots are likely to move on from former Alabama star Mac Jones, their No. 1 pick from 2021.

Jeremiah says that New England needs to take a quarterback in the NFL Draft if only to liven up Gillette Stadium.

“To me, it would be tough to pass on a quarterback,” Jeremiah told reporters. “You’re not guaranteed to be up (at No. 3) again.

“Just being in that stadium last year, it was kind of — I didn’t recognize it,” Jeremiah said. “Obviously, the team wasn’t good. But there had been so much energy and juice in that building every other time I had been there, and it was just so flat. It wasn’t just a bad team, it was a boring team. There was no juice, no excitement whatsoever.

“Whichever (quarterback) is there, if it’s any one of those top three quarterbacks, those guys would bring so much energy and life to your franchise. It just feels right. You’ve got new leadership in place. It’s kind of like this whole new chapter for the New England Patriots.

Jeremiah believes New England ultimately will take Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr with the third selection of the NFL Draft. But these elite quarterbacks won’t drop very far.