Jayden Daniels was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. So people were expecting him to be good. But not this good. He became just the third rookie QB ever to win two road playoff games and led the Washington Commanders to their first NFC Championship appearance since 1991. Much of that success traces back to Daniels’ upbringing and his mom, Regina Jackson.
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Daniels is obviously gifted physically, but he’s also very smart. He focuses on football and nothing else, to the benefit of the Commanders. His mom is a big reason for that. She remains ever-present in his life, helping him avoid distractions and scandals as he navigates his newfound fame. Especially when it comes to so-called “gold diggers,” which she has been vocal about.
Knowing her son was headed to the big stage, Jackson earned her NFLPA agent certification in 2024, just as Daniels entered the league. Now she’s watching over him not only in his personal life but his professional one too. And who do you trust more with your money than your mother?
Unfortunately, the media has created a negative narrative that’s painting Regina as overbearing. She recently addressed those criticisms on The Pivot podcast.
“Because you’re a public figure, your dollar amount is associated with your name. So you never know who really is there for you and who’s really against you. And our thing is, I want Jayden to date, I don’t want everybody to say, I’m putting it on record. My son can date, he can live freely, he makes his own decisions,” she said.
Regina then clarified that while she does not limit Jayden in his personal life, the 24-year-old does “value” the opinion of his mother, just because of the journey they’ve been on as a family.
“However, the relationship we have, he does value my opinion. Because, you know, when my kids were little, I did a lot for them, and my kids saw that. I worked too hard to allow to anybody at any moment.”
ESPN pundit Cam Newton reacted to Regina’s statement on his podcast, 4th & 1. The former NFL QB believes the backlash she has received for simply being a supportive and present parent has a lot to do with her skin color.
“I don’t think this is nothing new. I think it’s just new that—the propaganda of the media has put out this image of Black parents as absent. There’s always been some type of connection to villains being created with parents that want the best for their children,” he argued before adding,
“They use words like nepotism, but that’s like a cultural thing, in every single ethnicity … we see it. But for Black people it’s been something that’s been looked down upon.”
Newton makes a great point here, and he went on to list a few examples to back himself up. The most notable of these is LaVar Ball. There’s no doubt he was loud-mouthed and wild, but many labeled him a bad father during his heyday. However, in the end, he went 3-for-3 — two sons made the NBA, and one became a rap star, largely on the back of LaVar’s wild press tour and his support as a father.
Often, Black athletes are celebrated for overcoming the obstacle of a single-parent household, or even a no-parent household. It reinforces the notion Newton was referencing about absent Black parents.
It pushes the idea that Black people are less responsible or apathetic when it comes to their kids. So when someone like LaVar Ball or Regina Jackson goes the other way and proves to be a good and present parent, they are “villainized.”
The same narrative has been applied to Deion Sanders and the fathers of Tiger Woods and Venus and Serena Williams. One has to wonder: why is there always such a big problem when Black parents step up for their children?
