New Commanders offensive coordinator David Blough details why Jayden Daniels will move away from the shotgun-heavy approach of the Kingsbury era.

ASHBURN, Va. — After two years in which we saw Washington Commanders quarterbacks play mostly out of shotgun formations, it sounds like we’re going to see much more play from under center starting in 2026.

While Kliff Kingsbury, the previous Commanders’ offensive coordinator, didn’t subscribe to the thought that playing under center had any benefits that playing in the shotgun didn’t have, new coordinator David Blough sees it differently.

“We’re still kind of building some of the things together. But this is going to be an aggressive, balanced attack, but that will probably have more under center than we have in the past,” Blough said in his introductory press conference, also sharing that he and quarterback Jayden Daniels have had at least surface discussions of what they want to achieve. “That’s also for run action and play passes to generate explosive plays. And so, we’re going to try to feature every part of Jayden in the way that makes him unique and special. But also, the run action and the runs and the play action game that goes with it, those are all things to generate explosive plays.”


Kingsbury led NFL in shotgun usage

In 2025, Kingsbury’s offense was in shotgun 87% of the time, most in the NFL. In 2024, that number reached as high as 91%, again most in the league. It was a little lower this season because, after Daniels was injured, some of the veteran backups who stepped in preferred playing under center to shotgun.

Blough seems to be more on the same page with those veteran backups, guys like Marcus Mariota and, even more so, Josh Johnson, than he was with Kingsbury, at least in this arena.

“I think it opens up some different schemes in the run game, some things that I believe in. It opens up different play actions and keepers, and gets him on the perimeter in different ways. I think there’s a level of communication that happens under center. I think there’s just, there’s different ways to go about things, and it’s something that I’m convinced about that, with his skillset, his fundamentals, the things that we absolutely loved about him when he first got here still ring true.”


Under center play opens “lanes” for running backs

One thing the Commanders’ offense struggled to do as well in Daniels’ second season compared to his first was getting him into open space on the outside of the pocket. Too often, defenses focused their efforts toward building a wide pocket and keeping the young quarterback in it, and they were successful. 

Forcing defenses to at least play the run without the ball being yards deep in the backfield and with Daniels’ back to the defense at times will help counter that defensive approach. As defenses stay wide, lanes will open for running backs to gain yards. As the defense constricts to stop that, the edges of the pocket will soften, allowing Daniels to use his athletic ability as a weapon once again.

“And as we grow and develop, you know, I think a lot of teams that you saw even playing deep into the playoffs, you know, it was something that was a foundation of what they did. I think that is something that we will like to implement with him and, and get him in that position,” Blough continued.

It sounds like a big swing from the way things were done to the way things will be. But Blough is confident the leap isn’t too far for Daniels and is well worth the effort.
“From a 30,000-foot level, when we teach quarterback play, not to dive too far deep into it, it’s simple things. Taking a seven-step drop instead of taking a five-step drop or taking a seven-step instead of a three-step. And so there’s just basic fundamentals that go into that.”


Daniels began transition with Josh Johnson reps

And it sounds like Blough and Daniels got a head start on the process of bridging that gap before they broke for the offseason as well.
“[As] the last couple weeks of the season went on, he just got more experience at it with a little bit of a transition from our offense with [QB] Josh [Johnson] playing at the end of the year, and even when there were scout team reps that we had when we were working it, this has been a work in progress all the way through,” Blough shared. “So, it won’t be completely new to him. He’s got a ton of time with coaches that he has worked with in California to kind of grow in that area. And we’ll hit the ground running on that.”

In addition to the ‘banked reps’ they’ve already taken, and the work Daniels will undoubtedly put in during the offseason, Blough’s confidence in his quarterback’s ability to adjust and thrive with the change isn’t based on hope; it’s rooted in reality.

“He’s got an uncanny ability to just absorb anything you share with him one time. So, the challenge to that is, ‘Okay, how can we stack on that the second time? Where can we take his teaching and not assume that he has already reached his capacity to learn? How can we continue to build and take it from when he first got here, and in 2024, the 101 level classes, and how do we take him to every time he takes a field Sunday, he’s beating people between his ears and at the highest level just able to put our offense in the best position possible with his brain.’”

Blough explained the coach-to-player relationship as one in which the coach is the deliverer of the message and the player is the consumer. Having been on the consumer side himself as an NFL quarterback, he’s excited about the challenge of delivering now to Daniels. Along with it, the challenge that he and his staff face in helping Daniels become the best quarterback he can be is not daunting; it’s exhilarating.

But he also knows he can’t let his best intentions get the best of him while he does it. “I had a wise coach share, ‘It’s about strong convictions, lightly held.’ And so I think there’s an adaptability that will be fluid, and we’re gonna do what our guys do best. There will be staples of what our identity will look like, but there’s gonna be some things that are easy for us and hard for defenses. We’re gonna make the same things look different and different things look the same, and teach in a creative way. And there are things that I think will be really evident when they come to life on the field.”

Coming to life on the field is something the Washington offense did with Daniels in 2024, and less so in 2025, with or without the quarterback on the field. 

With Blough at the controls, the message is that things are going to be different, and that could be different from year to year or game to game, whatever it takes.