Much has been made of Jayden Daniels’ Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign in 2024. He won the award in a landslide, and that didn’t even take into account his epic playoff run. Daniels became just the third rookie QB to lead his team to the Conference Championship Game after two road wins.
Advertisement
But was that first year maybe a little too good? Will it be tough for Daniels to live up to that legendary campaign? Most QBs experience a second-year slump after winning Rookie of the Year, and Daniels could very well go through the same, despite all the great moves Washington made this offseason to help him avoid just that.
Teams get tape on you after a full year. They start to pick up on your tendencies. Former Carolina Panther Cam Newton, who also struggled in his second year after winning OROY in 2011, believes Daniels is in danger of going down a Robert Griffin III path, which would likely be considered blasphemy by most Washington Commanders fans.
“Do you fear Jayden Daniels could be a potential one-hit wonder?” Newton asked his guest, Wale, a DC native rapper and well-known Commanders fan.
Newton then added, “Seeing a lot of success as a rookie season … Ima say it in this way. There is nobody who had the game in a chokehold like Robert Griffin III, but RG3, I have to tip my cap to him. And so, I see that same thing happening for Jayden.”
RG3 was a Pro Bowler and OROY winner in 2012, the year after Newton. Unfortunately for Griffin, injuries decimated his career, starting with the end of that rookie year. He eventually lost his starting job to Kirk Cousins and went down as a one-hit wonder in the pages of NFL history.
Fortunately for people from the DMV, Wale was the one Newton was talking to. While the On Chill hitmaker acknowledged that he and the rest of the fanbase have been hurt so often that it’s hard for them to trust and believe, this new regime is giving them hope they haven’t felt in a while.
“[Jayden] loves the game too much. You’ve got people that don’t love the game, they love what comes with the game? That boy loves the game… But I think you always fear. I mean we’ve got PTSD of not winning for so long, so we don’t even know how to have good things. Like, ‘Damn, okay, when is the honeymoon over?’ It’s easy to think like that, but I gotta believe in the new organization… We’re going in the right direction.”
Cam Newton discusses with Wale of the possibility of Jayden Daniels being a “one-hit wonder” and similarities between him & RG3
Some viewers believe Cam is jealous and hating on Jayden.
Thoughts?
(:@FunkyFriday) pic.twitter.com/saDg61Smpi
— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) July 5, 2025
We could certainly see Daniels regressing slightly next year. Kind of like what happened with C.J. Stroud in 2024. But there’s no way he goes down the RG3 path like Newton was suggesting.
We see the similarities with both players taking the league by storm with their dual-threat abilities in a Washington jersey, but Daniels doesn’t have RG3’s injury history.
Not to mention the Commanders’ brass seems to know exactly what they’re doing. They’ve stocked up their wide receiver room and offensive line with a bevy of proven veterans to help make Daniels’ life easier. Even the defense saw a few major boosts in various areas during this offseason, so even if Daniels regresses a touch, the Commanders should still be in playoff contention.
