Jayden Daniels… Jayden Daniels… Jayden… It seems the football world can’t stop talking about the Washington Commanders’ star rookie quarterback. Although Washington lost 55-23 against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Daniels made the history books again. He is the sixth rookie quarterback to take his franchise to a conference championship. That’s a club with some elite members in it. Rich Eisen has placed him above them all, though, calling Daniels “the best rookie quarterback” he has ever seen.
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Daniels now sits alongside Shaun King, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, and Brock Purdy as quarterbacks who earned playoff stripes in their debut season. However, Eisen noted one remarkable difference between Daniels and the quintet: he carried the bulk of the load for his team throughout the season.
“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,” said Eisen.
“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,” he added.
Indeed, Daniels set a high benchmark as far as expectations were concerned. And, he delivered too. The LSU alum recorded 891 rushing yards during the regular season. That’s a new record for the most rushing yards by a rookie quarterback. In the postseason, he threw for five passing TDs which is the most by any rookie.
Daniels’ rise in stature is perhaps unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. And Bruce Feldman watched it all unfold from up close.
Feldman discusses Daniels’ rapid rise
Feldman, a regular columnist with FOX Sports and The Athletic, is one of the biggest insiders in college football. And he had the privilege of watching Daniels’ ascension from a talented, flawed passer at Arizona State to a Heisman Trophy winner at LSU.
“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,” said Feldman.
Daniels didn’t have a proper structure around him while he was with the Sun Devils. That changed at LSU, where he began utilizing VR training. He also made the Commanders invest in the technology. In fact, it was one of the conditions he set for drafting him.
Their decision has clearly paid off handsomely. Daniels has already led Washington to its best season in three decades.
While the end of the season was disappointing for the fans, it is still a monumental achievement. Moreover, he has given many in the American capital hope for a possible Bowl-winning season in the near future.
