CNN
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Almost every choice an NFL team makes has the potential to make a significant impact on an organization’s future. But when it comes to picking a quarterback, a decision really can be ‘franchise-altering’ – for better or worse.
This is a fact that the Washington Commanders know all too well. Entering the 2024 season, it had been a long time since the franchise had had any stability, let alone any signs of promise under center.
The Commanders have watched long-term investments Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins fail to produce any postseason success and have cycled through journeyman quarterbacks like Case Keenum, Taylor Heinicke and Carson Wentz in recent years. So when Jayden Daniels landed in the US capital and injected a shot of life into a tired franchise, fans rejoiced.
Selected second overall in the 2024 Draft, Daniels has helped turn the Washington offense into one of the most exciting in the NFL, despite having only played a handful of games. Under head coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, both hired in the offseason, the team appears reinvigorated.
Although they recently suffered a three-game skid, the Commanders are 8-5 on the year, despite some preseason sentiment that they would be among the worst teams in the league after finishing 4-13 last year.
The leap from college to the pros has not seemed to have fazed Daniels in the slightest.
“It would be easy to imagine getting your confidence thrown because it is a jump of a level,” Ben Standig, Commanders writer for The Athletic, told CNN Sport. “We’ve seen none of these issues so far, going back to when they began practicing in the spring. He’s the guy that they talk about that gets there, like, 4:30 in the morning, five in the morning before the vets get there.
“He’s very relatable with these guys in the locker room. He doesn’t come across as a diva or anything like that. He’s a teammate, a friend, I guess, to a degree. And you know, then in terms of on the field, he just doesn’t seem to get rattled … week over week, you’ve just seen the improvement.”
A new type of quarterback
Coming into the draft, Daniels was heralded for his dual-threat ability, providing as much threat as a rusher as he does through the air.
During his 2023 Heisman-winning campaign, 1,134 of his NCAA-leading 4,946 total yards came on the ground, and he is the only player in FBS history to record 12,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing in their college careers.
Though Daniels is a talented runner, rushing ability is not exactly a unique skill anymore. Players like Michael Vick, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton helped to redefine the quarterback position in modern times, showing that there is more to being a QB than pocket passing. Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are now the faces of a movement that is forcing signal-callers to make plays with their legs on a regular basis.
It is becoming a league-wide prerequisite for quarterbacks to be above-average athletes in order for their team to succeed, though Daniels still manages to stand out.
“It just seems like he just has such a good feel for what is happening around him that allows him to make these plays,” said Standig. “I think it’s probably almost, maybe more that he’s able to combine the cerebral with the athletic that gives him so much capability out there.”
QBs who shine as rushers can often appear raw in the passing game, though Standig argues that Daniels came into the league with that figured out already.
“He’s a passer more than he is a runner, and he looks for his guys downfield and eventually finds them,” he explained. “He’s also incredibly accurate with the ball, so he is able to keep his focus on the play itself but still has the ability to take off and run when he needs to, and that’s what puts so much pressure on the defense.”
Daniels is fourth among starting QBs in completion percentage and in the top 10 in yards per attempt, showcasing both his accuracy and his ability to create a big play downfield. He has also kept turnovers to a minimum, throwing only six interceptions through his first 13 games and losing zero fumbles.
Maybe one of the secrets behind Daniels’ early success is his unique training regime. To prepare for games, he utilizes a virtual reality system that simulates all elements of a live matchup, from the incoming pass rush to the location of the play clock in opposing team’s stadiums. He began using the system while at LSU.
“He says he makes the speed of the plays as high as you can possibly go,” said Standig. “I don’t know if that’s 200 miles an hour, but then when it goes back to normal, or he actually plays the game, it just seems that much slower.
“They always say for athletes; when the game slows down, that’s when everything starts to click – that you feel what is happening around you. And clearly, he seems to do that.
“It’s fascinating, and the team is embracing it. They are. It’s not something widespread in the NFL. I don’t even know if anybody else is doing it, but they are embracing it and see the benefits of it.”
What’s next?
For much of the early part of the season, it seemed like everything that Daniels touched turned into gold. Nothing exemplified that more than in Week 8 against the Chicago Bears. With Washington needing a touchdown to win the game, a handful of seconds left on the clock and Daniels troubled by a lingering injury, the QB launched a 52-yard Hail Mary pass towards the end zone that was tipped by the Chicago defense and somehow found its way into the grateful grasp of Commanders receiver Noah Brown.
More than anything else, that play confirmed that things were going to be different in DC this year.
After the setting the league alight through the opening half of the season, the Commanders have come back to Earth slightly, suffering a three-game losing streak between Weeks 10 and 12. With the Philadelphia Eagles having already snatched the NFC East crown, Washington is under pressure to honor its electric start and win as many games as possible to secure a Wild Card spot.
The Commanders will need their budding franchise quarterback to be at his dynamic best, but more than anything, they need him to be healthy.
In his college years, Daniels had a penchant for scrambling out of the pocket and putting his rushing ability to good use, exposing himself to big hits in the open field from defenders in the process. With his relatively lightweight frame – he’s officially listed at 210 pounds – concerns over Daniels durability arose prior to the draft.
The 23-year-old suffered a rib injury in Week 7 against the Carolina Panthers that visibly hampered him against the Bears the following week. For now, Daniels’ best ability is availability.
He will also need to continue to steer clear of the dreaded ‘rookie wall.’ Players that show promise during their first season can often tail off towards the end of the campaign. For example, Daniels’ completion percentage and QB rating have come down from his historic red-hot start though that was likely to be expected.
Regardless of how the season ends for Washington, the culture has already started changing in the nation’s capital.
“This was the first year that the new ownership group could really put their stamp on things,” said Standig. “It definitely is making people who have been hiding and stopped their fandom and went into caves, start to creep out and they’re like: ‘Is it okay to come back out? Can I really believe in this?’
“The players who’ve been here for a few years, they look as perplexed as a lot of us do.
Like, ‘Wait, what’s happening? This is bizarre. We’re winning, we’re having fun.
We’re not looking silly.’”
It would be unfair to the coaching staff and the rest of the offense to claim that Daniels is solely responsible for the franchise’s rapid turnaround, but the young signal-caller is at the forefront of a revolution in DC, heralding a new beginning only a handful of games into his NFL career.