By STEPHEN WHYNO | Associated Press

ASHBURN, Va. — Luke McCaffrey has big shoes to fill as the son of Ed and brother of Christian, and he’s about to become the fourth member of his family to play in the NFL, joining his brother Max.

McCaffrey knows exactly what it means to have a famous last name, and now he’s trying to make a name for himself in professional football as a rookie wide receiver for the Washington Commanders.

The converted quarterback has already developed a strong bond with Jayden Daniels and expects his upbringing on and off the field to help him adapt to the next level.

“I learned everything from them,” McCaffrey said of what he learned from his father and brothers. “A big part of life comes down to education and becoming a product of your environment. And I was lucky to grow up in such a beautiful environment.”

Ed won a total of three Super Bowls with San Francisco and Denver during a career that spanned over a decade, catching passes for the New York Giants, 49ers and then Broncos. Christian is a two-time All-Pro running back who has appeared on the cover of the latest Madden video game, the reigning AP Offensive Player of the Year and consistently among the top fantasy football picks in leagues around the world. Max appeared in six games in 2017 and 2018 before moving into coaching, where he now works as an assistant with the Miami Dolphins.

McCaffrey, a third-round pick by Rice who previously played at Nebraska, calls growing up in such a successful family “the biggest blessing I never received,” given the resources he’s had throughout his life.

College coach Mike Bloomgren said that McCaffrey “broke all the norms” in part by switching from quarterback to receiver.

“Is it because he has a father who played 13 years in the league and a brother that he can lean on and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing on this? What’s your mindset? How are you preparing for X?’ Sure,” Bloomgren said in a phone interview. “All of those things help. But they’ll also help with this transition.”

Bloomgren, who was Stanford’s offensive coordinator when Christian played there, said he met Luke more than a decade ago and has gotten to know the family very well. As a former New York Jets assistant who has coached Rice since 2018, he isn’t the least bit concerned about the McCaffrey name getting stuck on Luke.

“Maybe the pressure that comes with being Ed’s son or Christian’s brother gets lost with Luke somewhere because he’s so hard on himself,” Bloomgren said. “You have to remind him to go to the next game because he’s such a perfectionist. Great guys can recognize that and strive for perfection, but let it be water on a duck’s back so they can go to the next game and understand that this game that just went well or went badly can’t affect them in the next one. And I think Luke has grown tremendously in that.”

Bloomgren said McCaffrey struggled at quarterback, which in part led to the position switch ahead of the 2022 season. McCaffrey has since made 129 catches for 1,715 yards and 19 touchdowns, while rushing for nearly 400 yards while being a dual threat like Christian, a running back who is just as reliable as a receiver out of the backfield.

McCaffrey believes his background and history have helped him most in communicating with quarterbacks, whether in college or since being drafted and dealing with Daniels, Marcus Mariota, Jeff Driskel and Sam Hartman in Washington.

“He’s come up as a quarterback and knows how much time you have to put into the playbook,” Bloomgren said. “That was really cool for him to get experience as a receiver and not only learn how to learn and prepare, but also understand what the quarterback wants from a receiver.”

Washington coach Dan Quinn believes that this helped McCaffrey learn concepts and route depth faster than expected, making him a better pro receiver than expected at the time. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury appreciates how McCaffrey’s path has shaped the 23-year-old’s mindset.