Getty

A Jimmy Garoppolo comparison works for the Washington Commanders and star quarterback Jayden Daniels in a new offense.

If Jayden Daniels needs a template to help him learn the system being installed by new Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator David Blough, he can look to the surprising figure of Jimmy Garoppolo for inspiration.

Daniels has been compared favorably to one-time supposed Tom Brady heir apparent Garoppolo, whose career only took off when he joined the San Francisco 49ers. Playing for the Niners let Garoppolo lead a Kyle Shanahan-coached offense, and that scheme features many of the same concepts Blough is having Daniels learn.

Paulsen appeared on ‘The John Keim Report‘ on Tuesday, June 23 to make the point, “when I was with Kyle in San Francisco and Jimmy Garoppolo got there, and he was like, the release of Jimmy Garoppolo surprises you, and I think there’s a little bit of that with Jayden, too. There was whatever, it was a couple OTA practices ago where he kind of slid this ball into Ben (Sinnott) and you know that looked like the defender was in a good spot, looked like the safety was in a good spot and he just lasered that thing right in there. I think the release, the timing, the footwork is all there.”

This is a credible viewpoint when Paulsen spent five seasons suiting up for the Burgundy and Gold, four with Shanahan calling the plays, before Paulsen reunited with his first NFL OC in San Francisco in 2017, the same year Garoppolo arrived in the Bay Area.

Paulsen’s seeing a lot of what Shanahan does show up in Blough’s install this offseason. That’s a good thing because Paulsen believes Daniels has the right physical attributes to overcome any difficulty learning the new offense.

Jimmy Garoppolo Comparison Works for Jayden Daniels

Garoppolo may not seem like the ideal frame of reference for the 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, but the comparison actually works for Daniels. Mostly because of the concepts Garoppolo quickly mastered with the 49ers, concepts Blough is sure to use with Daniels this year.

Many of those concepts start with playing from under center and moving the pocket after the snap. Fortunately, Paulsen believes Daniels has “got the skill set, like the, again the footwork in the pocket, the footwork on the boots and the play-action stuff. And then couple that with the natural arm talent that he’s got, which isn’t like the strongest arm, but it’s the snappy release, the ability to get good velocity on it, good RPMs on it, I think he’s going to have a really productive year.”

Daniels can make a quick start to life in the new scheme, despite having spent most of his playing career, both at the collegiate and pro levels, in pistol and shotgun formations. It’s the same problem once faced by another Heisman Trophy winning quarterback who played for now ex-Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury.

What’s interesting here is how Garoppolo faced a transition different in X’s and O’s, but similar in scale, when he joined Shanahan almost a decade ago. Garoppolo had been with the New England Patriots, playing in a classic, dropback scheme and learning the ropes from Brady, arguably the greatest pocket-passer ever.

Brady never relinquished the mantle to Garoppolo, but the latter still forged a successful career once he switched offenses. Garoppolo led the 2019 49ers to the Super Bowl and to another appearance in the NFC Championship Game two seasons later.

The Commanders would take a similar level of success from Daniels. There are already signs he’s going to try and win the same way as Garoppolo.

Commanders Using Familiar System

Daniels is going through the same crash course Garoppolo underwent when he got to San Francisco. The core elements of that offense are evident in what Blough is teaching Daniels, according to Paulsen, who told Keim, “There’s more motions, more shifts, kind of the stuff you’d expect to see from Ben Johnson, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay.”

Paulsen’s reference to McVay is significant. He’s the man who succeeded Shanahan as offensive coordinator in Washington, back in 2014, and McVay took the same offense with him to the Los Angeles Rams, even recruiting Garoppolo to be his QB2 for the last two seasons.

The parallel is clear. Garoppolo retrained himself from playing quarterback one way to doing things differently, and it worked.

Daniels is doing the same thing, learning new tricks in a more sophisticated offense than the one he ran under Kingsbury, but a scheme better suited to the core talents of the Commanders’ most important player.