ASHBURN, Va. — Jayden Daniels says he didn’t watch “Quarterback.”“I heard it was a hit,” he said Wednesday when asked about Season 3 of the Netflix series, which premiered earlier this month. The 25-year-old was one of this year’s quartet of featured NFL quarterbacks, joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield, the Tennessee Titans’ Cam Ward and the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Flacco. The show detailed Daniels’ pro sophomore campaign, so you can understand why he might not be keen on reliving it.Seven starts, three serious injuries and a 5-12 season that claimed the Commanders’ offensive and defensive coordinators. Not a lot of laughs. Washington also overhauled its locker room, getting younger, faster and bigger at almost every position.But it’s still about No. 5.For Washington to bounce back to the team that earned its way to the NFC title game in 2025, the Commanders need their lodestar to again play light and with joy — and to throw seeds past opposing defenders’ earholes on the way to his receivers’ hands, the way he did in his historic 2024 rookie season, when he was the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. The dazzle, the swagger, the hope that the franchise can compete again year in and year out in the NFC, the new stadium that will now rise where RFK once stood: It all emanates, first, from Daniels.But Daniels didn’t play like a franchise quarterback last season, even on the rare occasions when he was relatively healthy. Something was off.Jayden Daniels started just seven games last season because of three separate injuries. (Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)It might have been the lack of work he was able to get in camp last season with Terry McLaurin, his top target in 2024, who was amid a contract hold-in that kept him out of last year’s OTAs and didn’t end until training camp was almost over. It could have been the drop-off in production from Noah Brown, another of Daniels’ top targets in ’24, who was injured and out for much of last season. Certainly, defenses had a better read on what Daniels and former offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury wanted to do every week. Whatever the reason, Daniels wasn’t Daniels. And Washington cratered.A new year presents another chance.Daniels got healthy, working out with his longtime trainer and quarterback coach, Taylor Kelly, who works at the development group 3DQB in Huntington Beach, Calif. He organized separate workouts for his offensive skill players in Los Angeles: one in April, and the second just a couple of weeks ago at UCLA. McLaurin, Dyami Brown and other receivers, along with tight ends and running backs, took part in on-field drills and off-field bonding with Daniels and third-string quarterback Sam Hartman.David Blough, the Commanders’ former quarterbacks coach with whom Daniels is extremely close, is the new OC. The 30-year-old Blough will take some from Kingsbury and some from Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson, who was just starting his meteoric rise in Detroit as a quality control coach for the Lions when Blough was playing QB there. Johnson also helped Blough learn the nuances of then-Lions OC Darrell Bevell’s offense. As you almost certainly know by now, Daniels will be under center more in Blough’s offense, which will also feature more huddles and more play-action passing.