In the NFL, good vibes are fleeting.
Just 19 months ago, the Eagles and Commanders entered the offseason feeling like they had world beaters at quarterback. Philadelphia had just taken the football world by storm, blowing out the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX with Jalen Hurts taking home MVP honors.
Washington, meanwhile, was fresh off its first NFC Championship Game appearance in more than 30 years, with rookie phenom Jayden Daniels leading the way. Life was good, and that conference championship game looked like the first installment of the NFL’s next great quarterback rivalry.
The 2026 season opener will be the first time Hurts and Daniels have met since that playoff game, and there has been significant change on both sides of the game. Both quarterbacks are coming off disappointing 2025 seasons that may have cast some doubt on their long-term futures with their respective teams.
Hurts and Daniels will be seeking massive contract extensions this offseason. At that point, Hurts will have one year left on the extension he signed through 2023, and Daniels will be entering his third offseason, when first-round quarterbacks either sign their first big-money extension or end up in contract purgatory, a la Bryce Young in Carolina.
So the stakes are clear for both quarterbacks in 2026: A bounce-back season will be rewarded with a big payday. But if last year’s struggles end this season, contract talks could be delayed.
The mark for a successful season is lower for Daniels than for Hurts, with Washington expected to finish in the bottom half of the NFC East.
If the third-year pro can stay healthy for the full 17 games, that will be considered a win. If Daniels stays healthy and rediscovers his 2024 form, Washington will write him a blank check in the spring. It’s just hard to imagine a repeat of that magical rookie season given the current state of the Commanders’ offense.
Jayden Daniels faces an important season ahead amid uncertainty surrounding the Commanders roster. (G Fiume/Getty Images)
The offensive line was a problem last season and will be worse in 2026 with star left tackle Laremy Tunsil out indefinitely with a torn triceps. It will also be up to first-year offensive coordinator David Bugh, who is only three seasons into his coaching career, to work around this massive weakness.
It would be understandable if Daniels doesn’t make it all the way back, but Washington may be reluctant to make a bargain-basement deal for a player coming off two disappointing seasons, especially if more injuries crop up. The Chiefs wouldn’t have to move on from Daniels, but they would likely push contract talks into next offseason, which is usually a bad sign for a first-round quarterback.
Daniels had trouble with the mid-court target in 2025, but it was less about his reluctance to take those shots and more about his inability to finish them. According to Pro Football Focus, his accuracy rate on intermediate throws dropped by nearly 10% compared to his rookie season. In his 2025 film, there were many ill-placed permissions.
But the statistical decline can’t be pinned entirely on Daniels, who was in stronger windows last season. With wide receiver Terry McLaurin injured, the Commanders were moving some messy receiving groups there. It got to a point where tight end Zach Ertz became Daniels’ best option against man coverage. Ertz is still a useful player, but when a 35-year-old is your most reliable option on key passes, it’s extremely difficult to play quarterback.
Daniels’ regression from Year 1 to Year 2 can be mostly explained by his performance against man coverage and the blitz, which are closely related. Washington didn’t have receivers who could punish a defense for playing aggressively, and Daniels loses accuracy when forced to make a throw in tight coverage. He’s one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks when he throws between the zone defensive lines. He just couldn’t do it often last season.
Washington’s offense should be better equipped to handle aggressive coverage in 2026. Stefon Diggs, who joined via free agency, was one of the NFL’s most productive receivers against tight man-to-man coverage last season. McClaurin is healthy again. And the team prioritized explosive athletes to complement the rest of the receiving corps, including third-round rookie Antonio Williams and former first-round pick Treylon Burks.
Even with the upgrades, this isn’t a world-beating receiving corps, so Daniels will have to step up as an intermediate passer to make it work.
Last week, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman defended Hurts and denied that the clock was ticking on his time in Philadelphia, despite the team’s struggles over the past few seasons. “I think the bottom line for us … is winning football games,” Roseman said in a recent appearance on the “Move the Sticks” podcast. “And all (Hurts) does is win football games … to me, the barometer is winning football games.”
I don’t expect Roseman to get into the nuances of quarterback evaluation during a podcast hit, but it’s a reductive view of Hurts that also suggests his value to the team is directly tied to his winning percentage. If the Eagles have a down year and the passing game doesn’t improve, will Hurts’ first look change? If that’s the case, then it feels like there’s a lot of movement this offseason regarding his future with the team.
Last season ended for Jalen Hurts with a home loss to the 49ers. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The linebacking talent is less of a concern for Hurts — who is still surrounded by blue-collar players even after the team parted ways with his leading receiver, AJ Brown — but he’ll also get his play calls from an inexperienced offensive coordinator with Sean Mannion coming over from Green Bay.
While Hurts is no stranger to OC changes, this is the first time in his NFL career where he will have to learn an entirely new offense from the ground up. Mannion is Nick Sirianni’s fifth offensive coordinator in Philly, but it’s his first time outside his coaching tree to hire.
This will not be a subtle rebranding. The attack of the eagles will be a completely new thing. Hurts won’t play in the shotgun nearly as much and there will be fewer spread formations. It will look more like the 49ers and Rams offenses, with the quarterback under center, tight formations and lots of play-action passing.
That’s the hope, at least.
In April, ESPN dropped one REPORT on the team’s growing frustration with Hurts’ reluctance to step outside of his comfort zone, which created many of the issues that have plagued Philly’s passing game over the past three seasons.
Here’s a key excerpt from the report: “He has pushed back on changes that would diversify the scheme, sources said, including when it comes to passing more under center. He has shown a reluctance to let it rip at times, especially against zone coverage.”
Jalen Hurts faces a potentially huge adjustment to new Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion’s offense this season. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The report also covered Hurts’ butting with former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore over the use of the pre-snap move. Moore, who has called plays for NFL offenses since 2019, is a big proponent of the tactic but declined to use it in 2024 to suit Hurts’ preferences.
ESPN also cited sources close to Hurts who denied the claims, but this season will give us a clear answer. Mannion’s offense is built around all the tactics that are supposed to be outside the quarterback’s comfort zone. This system does not work without prior movement. It doesn’t work without going through the center. And it doesn’t work when the quarterback is reluctant to “let rip” up the middle of the field against zone coverage.
Hurts’ reluctance to throw up the middle of the field isn’t just theoretical at this point. According to Next Generation Stats, Hurts targeted the league’s lowest middle third of the field in 2025. It was the fifth consecutive year he has achieved this success. He’s had four different offensive coordinators during that span, so there’s a clear common denominator.
My theory: Hurts doesn’t have high arm strength, but he makes up for it with a keen understanding of his limitations. Hurts avoids the middle of the field for the same reason Jared Goff doesn’t shoot on the run: it’s not his game. Making throws into the windows of narrow areas with repeated success is not in his wheelhouse and is not a winning strategy for him. It can sometimes contain the offense, but it limits turnovers. Here’s an example from the Eagles’ loss to the Broncos last season.
You can see Hurts consider throwing the stick to wide receiver DeVonta Smith between two zone defenders before thinking better of it and settling for a layup out of the field.
But when the windows are clearer — or the Eagles are in recovery mode late and turnovers are less of a concern — Hurts will run his shots up the middle.
If this scheme change is going to work, one of two things has to happen: Either Mannion is Shanahan’s secondary and consistently provides Hurts with clear throwing windows over the middle, or Hurts gets more chances, even if it leads to a small bump in his interception total.
Sunday’s opener will be our first look at the new offenses in Washington and Philadelphia. While it’s important to give these first-year coordinators some grace and give their quarterbacks time to adjust to their new digs, the game will provide a perfect stress test for Daniels and Hurts thanks to the defensive matchups on both sides.
How will Daniels fare against an Eagles secondary that shuts down throwing windows as well as every defense in the league? Will Hurts look comfortable going under center and turning his back on the defense in play-action defense against a Washington scheme built around pre-snap disguises and post-snap mayhem?
The answer to these questions will have ramifications that extend beyond the final result on Sunday. They will determine how far the Eagles and Commanders can go in 2026 and how much faith they should have in their franchise quarterbacks beyond this season.
