“At first we didn’t know what position I would play,” McCaffrey recounted. “We actually talked about safety, we talked about playing running back, talked about just being a gadget guy, a special teams guy.”
That McCaffrey had the athleticism and skill set not just to change positions but have his pick of almost any skill position he wanted said plenty.
All Bloomgren knew was he wanted McCaffrey on his team, some way, somehow.
“It was one of those things where it was just like, ‘Hey, if you really want to continue this journey at quarterback, we’re here for it,’” Bloomgren said. “‘But if you’re open to a position switch and if that’s what you want to do, let’s do that. It’s your choice, man.’ … He ended up getting back to me over Christmas break and said, ‘I think I want to take a look at receiver.’”
McCaffrey, selected by the Washington Commanders with the 100th overall pick in April, was a third-rounder because of what he did after his transition.
In only two seasons as a college wide receiver, McCaffrey finished his time at Rice among the program’s top 10 in catches (129), receiving yards (1,715) and touchdown grabs (19). He was voted first-team all-American Athletic Conference and led the conference with 13 touchdown catches in 2023. He was named a team captain.
Not bad for a four-star quarterback who received offers from Michigan, Ohio State and UCLA, among others, and began his collegiate career as a backup at Nebraska.
“To become first-team all-conference and to be drafted in the third round of the National Football League — that just speaks to the ridiculous athlete that he is,” Bloomgren said.
The Commanders took McCaffrey to bolster a wide receiving corps that, outside of leading wideouts Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson, lacks a clear hierarchy. The room needed an infusion of talent and depth, and McCaffrey’s impressive start to training camp has all but solidified his place as No. 3 in the room.
The Commanders — and Bloomgren — believe his ceiling at the position isn’t even in sight.
“He’s doing a really good job,” McLaurin said. “He’s a sponge. Every rep that we get, he always has a question, and I can tell he’s really watching everything that I do. … For him to be a rookie coming in, he just carries himself like a pro. Like, I look at his notebook — I sit behind him in meetings — and his notebooks are filled up. He’s engaged. He always knows what he’s doing out here.”
Added Coach Dan Quinn: “You can see he’s curious about learning and finding new ways to do things. Perhaps playing quarterback had an impact on that, in terms of concepts and depth and the importance of that. But the individual skill part, he’s really coming on.”
McCaffrey played primarily out of the slot in Rice’s pro-style spread offense. But throughout offseason workouts and training camp, the Commanders have used him everywhere — inside, outside, occasionally in the backfield and on special teams.
He has rare athleticism, gifts from his parents, Ed McCaffrey, a three-time Super Bowl champion wide receiver who spent most of his career with the Denver Broncos, and Lisa McCaffrey, a former star soccer player at Stanford. Their four sons have competed at the highest levels. Max McCaffrey, the oldest, was a wide receiver at Duke and is now an offensive assistant for the Miami Dolphins. Christian McCaffrey set the NCAA record for all-purpose yards at Stanford, where Bloomgren was his offensive coordinator, and is the reigning NFL offensive player of the year with the San Francisco 49ers. And Dylan McCaffrey was a five-star recruit who played quarterback at Michigan and Northern Colorado.
“We’ve always talked about being a football player in our house from the time they were 6,” Ed McCaffrey said. “You’re a football player first, meaning that you’ll do whatever the coach asks you to do if it’ll help the team. … It was his decision to switch to receiver. … I thought he was a really talented quarterback, and I think if he kept at it, he would have been successful at quarterback. But he really wanted to just be on the field. And it looks like it was a pretty good decision.”
McCaffrey’s highlight reel at Rice includes acrobatic contested catches — one-handed, with his helmet falling off, over two defenders, diving, over-the-shoulder. The months leading up to the draft provided confirmation he played with both toughness and awareness, a trait some believe comes from his quarterback background. He knows how to identify defensive coverages and adjust his routes accordingly.
Not sure how we’ve gotten to pro-day season and there’s still such little buzz on younger brother of reigning NFC Offensive POY.
Usually siblings get over-hyped but Rice’s Luke McCaffrey continues to fly under radars, even after strong @seniorbowl week and Combine.… pic.twitter.com/3kwc9p5Ruf
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) March 9, 2024
“A lot of young, inexperienced receivers have to learn that in their first couple of years in the league if they’re not used to identifying coverages,” Ed McCaffrey said. “But as a quarterback, that’s something he’s been doing his whole life.”
His 40-yard dash at the NFL combine bested his brother Christian’s time by 0.01 seconds (it’s a subject of healthy debate in the McCaffrey household, Ed McCaffrey said), and his times in the three-cone drill and short shuttle ranked among the top three of all participants this year.
“For a guy that’s almost 6-foot-2, he moves like a guy who’s maybe 5-10 in terms of his quickness,” Commanders General Manager Adam Peters said after the team selected McCaffrey. “And he’s tough, he’s got great hands and he’s got an incredible mindset, too. Seeing him get better and better throughout that process tells us that he’s only going to get better [here].”