As a club with a new head coach, the Washington Commanders have been able to get an early jump on a lot of things this offseason—and, as such, their organized team activities got started last week, a week ahead of most of the rest of the NFL.
So when Dan Quinn talks about what he’s looking for in the de facto start of football practice for the 2024 season, he’s not talking in hypotheticals.
“Two things,” Quinn quickly answers, on his way home Friday. “One, first thing, man, what a time to either sharpen your skills or develop them. So I think, number one, top of the pile, that’s really important in our game. Even if you’re already great at something, like, ‘Can I be the best at it?’ So I’m saying, it’s important for Terry McLaurin—and he’s an excellent player already—but it’s still important to sharpen his skills. Certain things, the running, training on your own, lifting, that doesn’t do it for these specific football skills. …
“And then, two, no team is the same year to year. This is not the NBA, where you get to keep a team. So that chemistry, the connection, Albert, gets really important because you don’t start at the same spot every single year. This team here, we’ve got a lot of new faces that we’re adding. So that connection, that chemistry, to get to speed it up, that’s good.”
In other words, this is when 2024 really starts for teams.
So with the Commanders and Atlanta Falcons getting that head start, and the Bengals waiting another week, this week is when 2024 begins for 29 of the NFL’s 32.
Of course, there is plenty the coaches and players won’t be able to sort out until the pads go on, full-contact practices start and preseason games commence in July and August. But between now and mid-June, the groundwork for that will be set, and the rules of engagement for what’s ahead will start to materialize, as those in charge sort through what they’ve got on hand.
In Cincinnati, there’ll be much focus on the right wrist of Joe Burrow. In Kansas City, for the third straight offseason, it’ll be figuring out to whom Patrick Mahomes will be throwing. Same goes, this time around, for Josh Allen and Buffalo. In Philadelphia, how old pieces fit new coordinators Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio will start to come to life. In Baltimore, there’s a reworked offensive line. The Jets, you may have heard, have a quarterback on the mend.
And then, there are the rookies. Every year, this is when everyone, coaches, team execs and fans alike, get to the stars of tomorrow in an NFL context for the first time. There’s a lot of excitement for so many of them, with every team. But above the rest, it’s the quarterbacks.
So in this week’s MMQB, we’re going to go in with the coaches of the teams that took quarterbacks at picks Nos. 1, 2 and 3 to give you an update on where they are going into OTAs.
That’s with info on how each might fit into his team’s plans for 2024.
