Athan Kaliakmanis said two words when Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters called to let him know he was going to be their final pick of the 2026 draft: "No way."
It was a genuine response from the former Minnesota and Rutgers quarterback, and there were a few reasons why he had that reaction. For one, it doesn't sound like he expected to be drafted. The seventh round was coming to a close, and he was getting interest from other teams about being signed as an undrafted free agent. The other reason was that he genuinely wanted to play for the Commanders, despite knowing that there wasn't any real chance of him being a starter outside of an emergency situation.
It wasn't about getting starting reps for Kaliakmanis. The Commanders won him over because of the culture they preached during their meetings with him as well as an opportunity to learn from a young but experienced quarterback room.
"The competitive spirit inside the building," Kaliakmanis told Bryan Colbert Jr. on the first episode of "Raising Hail with the rookies." "It just fit me. It reminded me of my time at Minnesota [and] my time at Rutgers; a culture-fit team, and that's exactly what Coach [Dan] Quinn has here."
Kaliakmanis, who spent the last two seasons of his college career at Rutgers, was taught about having a "chop" mentality by the Scarlet Knights' coaching staff. The idea is that players need to be consistent and "hit that same spot over and over" to get results on the field and in life. They taught him to come to practice with intention and be more focused on the moment instead of what could come in the future. His only goals were to get himself and his teammates better so they could perform during games.
Kaliakmanis said that philosophy helped him grow as a person and quarterback, and the results showed up on the field. After two seasons, Kaliakmanis was one of the most productive players in Rutgers history with 5,820 passing yards, which ranks seventh all-time for the school, to go with 38 passing touchdowns. He also had 442 completions on 763 attempts with 6,045 total yards of offense, all of which rank seventh in their respective categories. He became the first Rutgers quarterback to throw for at least 2,500 yards in back-to-back seasons.
Kaliakmanis saw a similar mentality in the players around the Commanders' facility, and it all stemmed from Quinn.
"The players love him; the coaches love him," Kaliakmanis said. "We all are gonna work together. We're gonna get better, and it's just an amazing experience so far. That's what I can say so far. I love it here."
Kaliakmanis is joining the Commanders' roster with no mystery about his role. Jayden Daniels is the undisputed starter on the team, and Marcus Mariota is the primary backup. Kaliakmanis is here to compete for the third spot on the depth chart -- a role that will require him to play few, if any, reps in the best circumstances. If he wins that job from incumbent Sam Hartman, he will learn the offense and focus on his development to possibly compete for the primary backup role in the near future.
Kaliakmanis isn't shying away from that. It's actually what excites him the most that he can learn from the "greatness" he said exists in the Commanders' quarterback room.
"These are great QBs with historic stats," Kaliakmanis said. "All three of them have historic stats. I'm excited to learn from them. I'm excited to come in and compete but learn; take as much as I possibly can from each one of them. They've done great things in their careers, and one day, I hope to do what they do."
And when it comes to what he can bring to the room in the immediate future, it's a lot of what already exists: competitiveness, a good work ethic and his intelligence.
"I feel like I'm getting smarter as a football player," Kaliakmanis said. "If they have questions or if I have questions, we're just gonna work together as a team, and we're gonna help each other get better."
Check out the full episode of "Raising Hail with the rookies" above to get the full conversation.
