In his first season as the head coach of the Washington Commanders, Dan Quinn has clearly made a decision to reset the team’s quarterback room. That started with drafting Jayden Daniels out of LSU in the first round and culminated with adding Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman as an undrafted free agent.
Now, while at Rookie Minicamp, Quinn has shared what Washington saw in Hartman to bring him in.
“Number one, you’re always looking to push to see where you can get to, what does it look like,” Dan Quinn said. “Going through that process, we weren’t just looking at these four or five quarterbacks. You went all the way through it. So, you’re always trying to develop the next, the next, the next to see where it would go, and we were really impressed by what we saw from Sam.”
Quarterbacks were in high demand during the NFL Draft, with six going in the first round and 11 throughout the draft. That included big names like Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye going one, two, three. That’s where Washington picked up its quarterback for the future with Daniels. However, in the scouting process, they still saw Sam Hartman and liked how he performed.
“So, we actually were there on one of the visits that we took, Adam and I, to California and Michigan and Louisiana, and North Carolina. We also went to Notre Dame and spent a day and a half or two days there as well. So, during that process, we got to know him better, found out more, and so those were important dates for us not just for the selection that we made at two, but down the road as well.”
Shortly following the NFL Draft, Sam Hartman signed with the Washington Commanders as an undrafted free agent. In a move that proved how much Washington liked him, they gave him one of the biggest deals among undrafted players, with a $20,000 signing bonus and $225,000 base salary guarantee.
Sam Hartman played at Notre Dame in 2023 and at Wake Forest for five seasons before that. Over the course of his career, he completed 59.8 percent of passes for 15,656 yards and 134 touchdowns. He also ran for 978 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Now, Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders are hoping that the experienced college quarterback can transition to the NFL and develop into someone who can contribute in the coming years, even if that means contributing behind Jayden Daniels.
