Prior to the 2021 NFL season, the Washington Commanders had some stability under center. Chase Roullier had just signed a four-year contract extension, and Washington was supposed to be in good form at the key position for years to come.
Unfortunately, Roullier was injured in 2021 and 2022 and only played 10 games combined over those two seasons. Washington waived him last year and he has since retired.
During that time, the Commanders have had to replace their center multiple times due to injuries, and heading into this offseason, general manager Adam Peters was bound to make a significant investment in the center position, especially with a rookie quarterback on the way.
One of the Commanders’ first moves in free agency was signing Dallas center Tyler Biadasz. The fourth-year veteran became the Cowboys’ starting center late in his rookie season and never looked back. When Peters hired Dan Quinn as head coach, Quinn and Peters made acquiring Biadasz a top priority.
The Commanders also needed a left tackle, but Washington’s search for a veteran center to replace Jayden Daniels was even more urgent.
Following Wednesday’s OTA practice, Biadasz spoke with Daniels about the practice and how the process is going.
“Yeah, you do that,” Biadasz said when asked about building that trust. “Take snaps. Seriously, take snaps. Literally go out on the field and say, ‘Hey, I want to get like 20 snaps,’ or ‘What do you think about this? What do you think about that?'”
More details from Biadasz.
“It’s a developing relationship, like brothers just coming out of college. So that’s one of the things you have to focus on the most, even though on the OTA side, we’re going to have a break now, but it doesn’t stop. It’s a relationship that never ends, so you have to be consistent and keep working on that craft. I think it’s one of those things you have to keep putting the time into every day…keep that mindset of getting 1% better every day…and he’s done a great job on his side.”
I like this one line Commanders new center Tyler Biadasz had to say about developing chemistry with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
“It’s a relationship that never ends. You have to keep putting in the time every day,” Tyler said. pic.twitter.com/10KWg0kcJw
— Scott Abraham (@Scott7news) June 5, 2024
Biadasz noted that Daniels was the first to arrive at Washington’s building each day and was always working with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury in the film room.
The consistent message with Daniels has been that he’s not going to lose on effort, and when you have a player of Daniels’s caliber as the No. 2 overall pick, that’s exactly the trait you want in your new franchise quarterback.
The Daniels-Biadasz relationship is important because if Daniels turns out to be the player the managers hope he will be, they could be together for many years.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire
