Dan Quinn was asked to play “word-association” Wednesday on 106.7 The Fan.
The Commanders’ new head coach was a guest on the “Sports Junkies” and was asked to give the first word that came to mind regarding possible Washington quarterbacks in 2024.
Quinn volunteered that he had competed against quarterback Sam Howell the last two seasons and is convinced that Howell is a tough, aggressive, talented player.
At the end, when John-Paul Flaim asked Quinn to play some word association, Quinn responded as follows:
- Terry McLaurin: “explosive”
- Jonathan Allen: “dominant”
- Sam Howell: “tough”
- Drake Maye: “athletic”
- Caleb Williams: “DC”
- Jayden Daniels: “Game changer”
It’s impossible to know, from a mere concise description, how to interpret what Quinn is thinking about the three top quarterbacks in this draft. But he did give more praise to Jayden Daniels than Drake Maye in this instance.
On the other hand, Quinn had already stated in the interview he places importance on getting to know the man beyond the player. Quinn is more concerned with what makes his players motivated, their values, and their character.
Earlier, Eric Bickel had asked Quinn about why he was attending the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Quinn replied, “In my opinion, you have to get to the man before the ball player. If you can do that, you will have a much better chance of reaching the ball player. That’s why having these interviews and getting in front of these players is important…the most important part of this for me is getting to know these guys.”
It was also interesting to learn that Jason “Lurch” Bishop had actually interviewed Quinn way back in 1993 while Quinn was playing for Salisbury. For the record, Pro Football Reference lists Byron Westbrook as the only Salisbury player to play in the NFL and Dan Quinn as the only former Salisbury player to have become a head coach in the NFL.