NFC Notes: Brian Daboll, Jayden Daniels, Commanders, Eagles, Giants

Commanders

Commanders HC Dan Quinn isn’t ready to name first-round QB Jayden Daniels the starter, but he’s been very impressed with how Daniels has performed this spring. 

“Well, in true competition, that’s why we set it up as we did to have Marcus have some (first-team reps) and Jayden to have some,” Quinn said, via Eric Edholm of NFL.com.

“There’s no doubt that Jayden’s making unbelievable progress here, and we’ll have a really fun camp, but he’s earned that opportunity to go compete. We wouldn’t have given him those spaces and those times and those reps if he hadn’t. But it was really clear that he’s put in the work and he was ready to do that. So, it was by intention for sure that he was able to do that.”

Eagles

Eagles WR A.J. Brown expects CB Isaiah Rodgers to have a really good season and said it doesn’t seem like he was away from the game for a year while he served a gambling suspension.

“For a guy that has not played football for a year, coming back, he looks like he has been playing nonstop,” Brown said, via PFT. “He’s flying around, and he’s going to do special stuff for us this year.”

Giants

Giants OC Mike Kafka has called plays for the past two seasons, at least officially. Giants HC Brian Daboll yo-yo’d those duties from Kafka in 2023 and, while he hasn’t confirmed it officially, seems to be taking over for Kafka in 2024. Daboll was calling plays during OTAs and minicamp while Kafka was in a different role. 

“I’m just complementary to Dabes, helping out with offensive drills,” Kafka said via ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. “You’ll see me walking around and being an asset to the coaches and the players wherever I can. Whether it’s fundamentals, technique, whether it’s thoughts and ideas on routes or protections, stuff like that. So doing whatever I can to complement those guys.”

• Kafka interviewed for two head coaching vacancies this offseason but was blocked from teams interested in interviewing him for offensive coordinator, even though the Giants stripped play-calling duties. The team added assistant head coach to his title but an anonymous executive for another team told Raanan that was just to paper over issues: “It doesn’t set a great precedent. It’s almost like a make-up present.”
• Raanan says there was not a good working environment on Daboll’s coaching staff last year, with serious issues between Daboll and former DC Wink Martindale.
• Raanan reports Daboll interrupted one of Martindale’s defensive meetings during the Week 13 bye referencing a report from former scout John Middlekauf that the staff couldn’t stand Daboll. He yelled: “So, you think I’m a clown?”
• Other coaches on the staff indicated they felt Daboll stopped trusting his staff in 2023 compared to 2022, his temper outbursts got worse and there was constant finger-pointing, per Raanan: “It was like, ‘Are we on the same team?’ It sure doesn’t feel like it.” 
• Raanan added that his coaching sources said Daboll was particularly bad on the headsets and his tendency to cuss people out made it harder for other coaches to do their job: “It was hard to think.” 
• Giants GM Joe Schoen listened in over the headsets for four games from Week 11 to Week 15. Raanan notes Martindale and his favorite assistants knew and used code words to tip each other off, and that Daboll was more restrained during those games. One non-defensive coach told Raanan: “You could tell when [Schoen was on the headset] because Dabes’ demeanor was totally different.” 
• Daboll announced after the season that he expected both Kafka and Martindale to be back. However, Raanan says he didn’t talk to either coach before telling the media that. Martindale didn’t want to be back and Kafka was hoping for a head coaching job. 
• Mike Payton reports the Giants and Titans have been in contact with UFL KR Juwan Manigo.