The Washington Commanders didn’t exactly end 2023 on a high note, losing their last nine games to finish the season 4-13.

The Commanders did, however, select LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick of the NFL Draft, providing them with significant hope for the future.

But will Daniels be able to lift the struggling Washington franchise out of the doldrums?

The Commanders have made the postseason just six times since 1993 and have not won a playoff game since January 2006. What’s more, they have posted winning records just thrice since 2008.

Here are three major questions facing Washington heading into 2024.

Will the Commanders’ revamped defense be able to stop anyone?

A big reason why the Commanders were so awful last season was because of their porous defense.

Washington ranked last in the NFL in both yardage and points allowed, surrendering a hefty 30.5 points per game in 2023 (for reference, the Arizona Cardinals were second-worst, giving up 26.8 points per game).

The Commanders made a concerted effort to repair their defense this offseason, adding names like Bobby Wagner, Frankie Luvu, Dorance Armstrong Jr. and Jeremy Chinn in free agency. On top of that, they selected defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton and cornerback Mike Sainristil in the second round of the draft.

That’s a whole lot of new faces, and it will be interesting to see how new defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. implements all of them.

Perhaps Washington’s defense will be considerably better than it was last year (hard not to be), but it still doesn’t look like this unit will be very effective at keeping opponents off the scoreboard.

Is the offensive line going to be able to protect Jayden Daniels?

The Commanders allowed 65 sacks in 2023, which was tied for the second-worst in football.

The problem is that Washington did not really do a whole lot to rectify its miserable offensive line this offseason.

Yes, the Commanders did sign center Tyler Biadasz, which was a good move. They also selected TCU’s Brandon Coleman in the third round of the draft.

But this is still probably the worst offensive line in the NFL, and it is going to make life very difficult for Daniels and Washington’s backfield come September.

The Commanders had a ton of holes going into free agency, so they obviously couldn’t fill all of them. But they probably should have put more of a concerted effort into addressing their offensive line knowing that they were going to be drafting a quarterback.

It’s a good thing that Daniels is athletic, because he is probably going to have to use his legs a lot during his rookie campaign.

Can Jayden Daniels be the Commanders’ savior?

When was the last time Washington had a franchise quarterback?

The closest it came was probably with Robert Griffin III back in 2012, but a knee injury ended up sabotaging his career. The Commanders also had Kirk Cousins, who relieved Griffin and then left the team via free agency in 2018.

But otherwise? Names like Taylor Heinicke, Jason Campbell and Patrick Ramsey are littered about an incredibly unenviable list of signal-callers unlike almost any other in the league.

Can Daniels put an end to the Commanders’ seemingly unending misery under center?

Some actually feel that Daniels is the most polished quarterback in this year’s draft class, which isn’t too surprising given that he is already 23 years old and spent five years in college.

Daniels won the Heisman Trophy in his final NCAA campaign, and he brings tremendous versatility as a lethal dual-threat quarterback to the nation’s capital.

He also has some decent weapons on hand in the form of wide receivers Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson, and the Commanders added versatile (but aging) running back Austin Ekeler in free agency. The team is also hoping that rookies like wide out Luke McCaffrey and tight end Ben Sinnott can help make Daniels’ transition to the pros easier.

Given all of the missing pieces on Washington’s offense, especially along the offensive line, it certainly won’t be smooth sailing for Daniels early on. We’ll see how he adjusts and adapts.