Jayden Daniels couldn’t have asked for a better start to his NFL career. The Washington Commanders rookie threw for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns last year, while also adding 891 rushing yards and six more scores on the ground. Oh, and he led his team to a 12-5 record and their first NFC Championship Game appearance in 33 years, rightly earning NFL OROY honors in the process.
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Yet surprisingly, not everyone is convinced that Daniels’ rise will be sustained, including Cam Newton.
In a recent episode of Funky Fridays, the 2015 NFL MVP raised concerns about Daniels potentially becoming a one-hit wonder. Newton compared Daniels’ breakout season to Robert Griffin III’s historic rookie year in 2012 and his subsequent fall from grace.
“There’s nobody who had the game in a chokehold like Robert Griffin III,” Newton said, referencing RGIII’s electric debut before injuries derailed his career. “I see that same thing happening for Jayden. Do you fear that?”
Wale, a D.C.-born rapper and die-hard Commanders fan, was the guest on the podcast, and immediately pushed back to Cam’s question. “Nah,” he replied firmly. “He loves the game too much. You got people that don’t love the game, they love what comes with it. That boy loves the game.”
But Wale was blunt enough to acknowledge the lingering trauma that Washington fans carry after years of disappointment. “We got PTSD of not winning for so long,” he admitted.
“We don’t even know how to have good things. It’s easy to think, ‘When is the honeymoon over?’ But I gotta believe in the new organization and the new GM. We’re going in the right direction.”
Unsurprisingly, this intriguing conversation picked up steam on social media over the weekend. Even former Cowboys star Dez Bryant chimed in to show his support for Daniels.
“Jayden Daniels is here to stay,” Bryant wrote on X. “Nothing about how he plays the game of football shows he’s a one-hit wonder. Out of all athletic dual-threat QBs who have played the game, Jayden Daniels reads the defense the best. He doesn’t rely on his athletic ability, and that’s what makes him dangerous.”
Jayden Daniels is here to stay. Nothing about how he plays the game of football shows he’s a one hit wonder. Out of all athletic dual threat QBs who have played the game, Jayden Daniels reads the defense the best…He doesn’t rely on his athletic ability, and that’s what makes him… https://t.co/KFgDciyFPd
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) July 5, 2025
And it’s hard to argue with Bryant’s point because, based on preseason evidence, Daniels hasn’t just picked up where he left off; he’s pushing his game even further. Coaches and teammates, for instance, have noticed the difference.
“He’s not thinking as much, he’s playing fast and letting his natural gifts take over,” Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury explained recently, pointing to the quarterback’s quicker decision-making and growing command of the offense.
Head Coach Dan Quinn also heaped praises on Daniels for maintaining the same hunger in his sophomore year, despite unprecedented success in his debut season: “There is no flinch in Jayden Daniels. He’s as focused and relentless as you could be.”
Even inside the locker room, his growth hasn’t gone unnoticed. Center Tyler Biadasz summed this feeling best: “Every single day, that guy grows. He keeps raising the bar—for himself and for the team.”
And the best part, during the offseason, he has bulked up naturally. It’s already showing in his throws, with noticeably more velocity and sharper ball placement.
Safe to say, there is a high chance that Jayden Daniels is well on his path to rewrite the definition of sophomore slumps.
