The surprising rise of Jayden Daniels shouldn’t have been a surprise at all

Ralph Vacchiano

NFL Reporter

It took 10 weeks for Jayden Daniels to complete what should have been the simplest of passes for him. No pass rush in his face. No defense in coverage. Just a wide-open target in the end zone, 30 yards away.

Finally, last week, he did what all the other quarterbacks on his team, and even some of his coaches had already done during their weekly competition at their Friday practice. He dropped back and floated a pass that landed perfectly on target in the back corner of the end zone — right into the yellow trash can.

So yes, it turns out that there is one thing that the Washington Commanders rookie sensation isn’t very good at doing.

“Yeah, there’s no doubt,” said Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. “He’s not great at the trash can drill.

“But he’s really good on the field, so I think that’ll work out for him.”

So far, everything has worked out for Daniels during his rookie season — far better than the Commanders probably could have imagined when they took the 23-year-old Daniels with the second overall pick of the NFL Draft in April and he was anointed the savior of a franchise just beginning to claw its way out of the depths of despair. With some sensational play — not to mention seven wins in his first 10 games — Daniels has given a jolt of energy to a franchise that has little over the past few decades.

He’s also given a sense of security and stability in the knowledge that they might have finally found the quarterback they’ve seeking for decades. He was the eighth different quarterback to start on opening day for the franchise in the last eight seasons — a stretch that included 14 different starting quarterbacks overall. And despite an off-day on Sunday — 17 of 34 for 202 yards, and just five rushing yards on three carries in a 28-27 loss to the Steelers — he’s well on the way to both leading the Commanders to their first winning season in eight years, taking them to the playoffs, winning the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, and maybe even getting some votes for MVP.

Ten weeks into the season, Daniels’ numbers are divine. He has completed 186 of his 257 passes (72.4 percent) for 2,171 yards and nine touchdowns with just two interceptions. And he’s run 85 times for 464 yards and four touchdowns, too.

There wasn’t much doubt around the NFL that Daniels would be good. The surprise is that, playing for a team that was supposed to be rebuilding, he’s been this good, this soon.

“He’s as mature of a ‘rookie’ as I’ve ever been around,” said Commanders tight end Zach Ertz. “I think you see how comfortable he is every Sunday. The coaches, him and Kliff are in synch. There’s not a play Jayden goes out there and doesn’t have answers.”

“Yeah, just he has a fearlessness about him when he plays,” Kingsbury added. “He cuts it loose and believes. And in practice it’s not like he’s just trying to complete it, he’s trying to make the perfect throw and he judges himself on that, which the great ones do.”

Jayden Daniels is living up to the expectations of savior of the Commanders. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

The great ones also do magical things, like the Hail Mary he threw to Noah Brown on the final play of the game that beat the Chicago Bears 18-15 three weeks ago. There was a lot of luck involved there with a pass that tipped backwards to a completely uncovered Brown. It was far from the best play or even the best throw of Daniels’ season.

But it was a sign of how good things just seem to happen when he’s playing. It was an affirmation of the confidence his teammates have built in him. They’ve developed a trust that he knows what he’s doing, that he can make the right play at the right time — the kind of trust teams rarely have in a rookie quarterback just 10 games into his career.

“Yeah, it is rare because it has to be proven over and over,” said Washington coach Dan Quinn. “And Jayden has continually done that during his time here, to show a veteran, ‘Hey, is this guy going to help us?’

“You’re just constantly being put to the test to see how you’ll respond.”

To Daniels, it’s no mystery how he’s come this far, this fast. He’s been putting in the work since he was a teenager, when he first began working with Ryan Porter, his private quarterback coach. He had a raw athletic ability that combined with a disciplined work ethic made him a high school sensation and a star at Arizona State. And eventually it led to him winning a Heisman Trophy at LSU.

It was clear to everyone who saw him how special he was.

“He’s a smart quarterback, a great team leader,” said New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers, who was Daniels’ LSU teammate in 2022-23. “His running ability is great. His arm talent is crazy.”

It was his work ethic, though, that helped put him over the top — particularly his embrace of virtual reality technology while at LSU. He didn’t just go through simulated games every week, he went through them at the top speed allowed by the settings. By the time he got to the actual game on the weekend, everything seemed to slow down for him.

Daniels credits that training for his sensational Heisman Trophy season, when he threw for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns in 12 games — the first time in his five college seasons that he topped 3,000 passing yards or 20 touchdowns. It was a remarkable leap in production and performance that vaulted him from a likely mid-round pick to the top of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Former LSU teammates Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers remain tight despite now being NFC East rivals. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

And VR is still part of his routine in the NFL, which is part of why Kingsbury said “the game’s starting to slow down for him a little bit more each week.” It’s also why he’s so calm beyond his years in the waning minutes of a game when everything is on the line.

“Some people can feel tight in those spots,” Quinn said. “I think quite honestly, he really energizes up for that spot. And I felt that (in Week 2) when we played the Giants in a close game. Here’s the last drive to go, and he had that smile about him, like ‘Alright, this is the time.'”

Daniels was 23 of 29 for 226 yards in that 21-18 win over the Giants, while running for 44 more. More importantly, when the Commanders got the ball back at their own 23 with 2:04 remaining, he calmly led them right down the field for the game-winning field goal, completing both his passes for 42 yards and running for 14 along the way.

It was only his second career start, and it made a powerful statement to his teammates. And he’s been making more ever since, including when he bounced back from a painful rib injury he suffered on Oct. 20 against Carolina and played the next week, even completing his miracle comeback to beat the Chicago Bears.

He has proven to be a constant in a sea of chaos, always seeming to make the right decision on whether to run or throw. And he rarely makes mistakes, which is why he’s among the NFL leaders in completion percentage and has not thrown an interception in the last five games.

“He’s playing the position well, not just throwing it well,” Quinn said. “I see him growing and getting stronger as it goes. That is one of the things I’ve been most impressed about — playing the position and all that goes into that quarterback spot.”

And when that is combined with his remarkable athletic ability, Daniels becomes a quarterback that is hard to stop.

“He creates problems in different kinds of ways,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said before Daniels completed 24 of 35 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-23 loss in Baltimore in Week 6. “He’s throwing the ball downfield at a very efficient rate. He’s hitting all of the quick-out throws, the RPO throws and the quick-game throws very effectively. He gets the ball out fast on those throws. And then, if it’s not there, he’s creating plays on the run with his legs. He’s not just running, but he’s also throwing on the run and making plays that way. He’s doing it in all those different ways.”

Added Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr: “We don’t look at him as a rookie. We look at what we see on film and we see one of the top quarterbacks in the league.”

The Commanders always believed that’s what he would be — at least eventually. So did many others around the league. Giants coach Brian Daboll famously told general manager Joe Schoen they should try to trade up in the draft for Daniels (as seen on HBO’s “Hard Knocks”) even though there was no chance the Commanders were going to let him slide.

Jayden Daniels captured the 2023 Heisman Trophy after a sensational final season at LSU. (Photo by Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Quinn and GM Adam Peters identified Daniels early as the future of their franchise. It’s just hard to believe that anyone in Washington thought the future would come so soon.

“I’m not surprised … but it is surprising,” said Commanders running back Brian Robinson. “He can be whatever he wants to be. I want him to be the greatest quarterback that ever played this game if that’s what he aspires to be.”

Daniels’ goals at the moment seem a bit more in immediate reach. He wants to win and make his teammates better. His press conferences have been a lesson in humility, with him constantly deflecting credit to others around him. He calmly downplays all that he’s done so far, saying “I still have some ways to go. I’ll sit back and reflect after my rookie year is done.”

Those that have witnessed his rise, though, don’t shy away from the excitement.

“He’s really earned that respect from his teammate,” Quinn said. “And that’s why they also want to fight so hard for him. Some of that does come from his humility. You do see him pushing it all back to the guys, and that is a skill in itself that he has. His teammates just absolutely would just fight at the drop of a hat for him. They just, that they respect him that much.”

“He’s only in his first year in the league,” Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin said, “and I just feel like we have a lot of great things going forward.”

That part shouldn’t be surprising at all. His future has always been a bright one, even if it arrived a little sooner than some expected.

“I mean he’s a winner,” Nabers said. “I don’t see nothing different. He still is leading his team to victory. Still taking care of the football — everything I know that he’s (always) been doing in my eyes.”

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.