We're a long way off from getting the full picture of what the Washington Commanders' offense will look like in 2026. The team is still in the early stages of installing the system, and no one -- neither players nor coaches -- is giving away any of their larger plans for the season.

What we do know is that the players seem to be big fans of the changes.

"I love the offense," quarterback Jayden Daniels said May 27. "I love what [offensive coordinator David] Blough's doing. I love how he's creating and designing different things, and then we're going from there."

That's not a knock on the system the Commanders ran under former play-caller Kliff Kingsbury, but the team felt that a change was needed for the upcoming season. They wanted to find a scheme that utilized a more balanced rushing attack, implemented more play-action and moved the quarterback under center more often. It's a significant shift for several players, but they see the vision Blough is trying to create and believe it can help elevate their skill set in an important year for the franchise.

Of the changes that coaches and players have been open about -- it's a limited list of topics -- putting Daniels under center and making calls in a more traditional huddle have been the most obvious differences. It's an older style of formation that isn't used as often in modern offenses. Daniels, for example, rarely ran plays under center during his first two NFL seasons and even less so in college at LSU. Right tackle Josh Conerly, who is used to the more common fast-paced, no-huddle style in college, said that the last time he was in an offense that huddled up before a play might have been during his little league years.

Despite the lack of familiarity with players on the roster, there are clear advantages that the Commanders think will expand their playbook, particularly with play-action passes. It provides more convincing fake handoffs for linebackers to consider, which should give Daniels more time to find options when combined with his ability to scramble. The Commanders utilized play-action passes at a lower rate than almost any team in the league, according to Pro Football Reference, ranking 27th in number of pla- action pass attempts but closer to league average in yards gained off such plays.

Players like Daniels and Sam Cosmi acknowledged that it's a significant departure from previous years, but they shrugged off any perceived difficulty with adjusting to the change. Daniels knew the change would come at some point in his career, so he's been practicing taking snaps under center on his own to prepare for it. Cosmi added that the change is going to be beneficial and that for the offensive linemen, at least, it doesn't change many of their responsibilities.

"I would say it's obviously more of a traditional style offense," Cosmi said. "So for us, you're gonna have your same concepts that you have in every other offense ... It's not really that difficult."

Where lining up under center should help the most is in the run game, where the Commanders were already one of the league's better teams averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Commanders ran the ball 484 times last season, which ranked ninth in the NFL, and that number should bump up a little bit in Blough's system.

But it doesn't sound like the Commanders are limiting their options to just a power running scheme. They have multiple athletic players on their offensive line, and they intend to let them use that skill set to get them in space.

"I feel like that's how he [Blough] caters to us," Conerly said. "Getting us moving side to side and really just allowing us to go out there and be the athletes that we are."

Another difference that comes with the new offense: the verbiage. Unlike with Washington's previous no-huddle scheme, which allowed for shorter play calls on the field, Blough's system requires Daniels to make longer calls. Daniels' teammates have been impressed with his retention of the calls, with players like Jaylin Lane saying it feels like Daniels is one of the offense's original architects. Cosmi kept it simple when describing the calls, saying they're "not the longest I've heard." Conerly took it a step further by saying that learning the verbiage has actually been "the easiest part."

"There's a lot of similar verbiage, so that helps," Conerly said. "I feel like it's been a lot easier to get clear communication."

Comfort level has been an important component for Blough in his first season as a play caller. He wants to provide his players "good solutions" to problems on the field, and he's willing to hear ideas from everyone. One player -- an offensive lineman -- sent him a picture from a 2003 Wing T high school playbook. Who knows if that particular play will be implemented, but Blough likes the collaboration to build a new system.

"As we grow, we're a sum of everything that we've kind of taken in," Blough said. "So, there's been things that I've really liked along the way from other places that we will certainly look like. There's things that we did here that I really like that you guys will see as well."

Regardless of where the ideas come from, the goal is still to give players options and different ways to succeed. Wideout Terry McLaurin, who primarily lined up to the left of the offensive formation over the last two seasons, can already feel that in the route tree Blough has given him. Not only could he be moved around more often, but routes are going to look similar in some ways and different in others. That gives a player like McLaurin, who is already known for his route-running ability, with even more flexibility.

"Just having those types of variations in your route tree is just an unbelievable weapon to have as a route runner and as a receiver," McLaurin said. "So we're just trying to home in on the details, be where we need to be to make sure we're on the same page as the quarterback."

And the more options players like McLaurin have, the more potent they can be for opposing defenses when the system is fully installed for Week 1.

"It's just been really fun and refreshing to just be able to be moved around all parts of the football field in stacks and motions, and Blough's really creative," McLaurin said. "It's just about us now trying to execute and make it start coming to life."