Jayden Daniels has gotten some seriously high praise from Rich Eisen. No rookie starting quarterback has ever led their team to the Super Bowl. But the Washington Commanders’ signal-caller looks to be on the precipice of doing just that. As he gears up to battle the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship, Eisen couldn’t help but gush about the QB’s credentials.
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Daniels is just the sixth rookie quarterback to take his franchise to a conference championship. He sits alongside Shaun King, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, and Brock Purdy in that regard. However, to Rich Eisen, there’s one notable difference between Daniels and that quintet: he carried the bulk of the load.
“All the other rookies who have gotten to the conference championship level – including Ben Roethlisberger, who didn’t lose… until the championship game – they were all game managers. Or at least that was the way their coaches were coaching them. These coaches are like, ‘keep doing it, Jayden’… they want him to do that, and now they expect him to do that.”
Eisen called Daniels “the best rookie quarterback” he has ever seen. If Daniels plays well in a victory over the Eagles, he may cement himself as the undisputed best rookie signal-caller anyone has ever seen.
Even if the Commanders lose to the Eagles, Daniels has already had a historic season. He recorded 891 rushing yards during the regular season, setting a record for the most rushing yards by a rookie quarterback.
In the postseason, he has completed 46 passes, which is also the highest number for any rookie. Furthermore, if he accumulates just six more passing yards in the postseason, he will break the existing record as well. Daniels has seen a rise perhaps unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, and Bruce Feldman watched it all unfold.
Bruce Feldman discusses Jayden Daniels’ rapid rise
Feldman is one of the biggest insiders in college football. He has bylines with FOX Sports and The Athletic. He watched Jayden Daniels ascend from a talented, flawed passer at Arizona State to a Heisman Trophy winner at LSU. And he knows a good narrative when he sees it.
“It’s a great story. When he was at Arizona State… it was a mess… there was all kinds of screwball stuff going on there… and he was a good player, but I don’t think anybody saw this.”
Daniels didn’t have the structure proper around him with the Sun Devils. That changed at LSU, where he began utilizing VR training. He made the Commanders invest in the product as a condition for drafting him.
Their decision has paid off handsomely, to say the least. Daniels has already led Washington to its best season in three decades. He has given Commanders’ fans their cake. Now, he wants to allow them to eat it, too, by defeating and ending a hated rival’s season.
A Super Bowl win would then function as the cherry on top. He’ll try to finish baking something spectacular at 3:00 p.m. E.T. on FOX.
