Ralph Vacchiano

NFL reporter

It took Jayden Daniels ten weeks to complete what should have been the easiest pass for him. No pass rush in his face. No defense in coverage. Just a wide open target in the end zone, 30 yards away.

Finally last week he did what all the other quarterbacks on his team, and even some of his coaches, had already done during their weekly competition during their Friday practice. He dropped back and slipped a pass that landed perfectly on target in the back corner of the end zone – straight into the yellow trash can.

So yeah, it turns out there’s one thing the Washington Commanders starting sensation isn’t very good at.

“Yes, there’s no doubt about it,” said the commander’s offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury. “He’s not very good at drilling trash cans.

“But he’s really good on the pitch, so I think that will work well for him.”

So far, everything has worked out for Daniels in his rookie season – much better than the Commanders probably could have imagined when they took the 23-year-old Daniels with the second overall pick of the NFL Draft in April and he was anointed their savior. of a franchise just beginning to claw its way out of the depths of despair. With sensational play – not to mention seven wins in his first 10 games – Daniels has injected a boost of energy into a franchise that has little in recent decades.

He has also gained a sense of security and stability knowing that they may have finally found the quarterback they have been looking for for decades. He was the eighth different quarterback to start on the franchise’s Opening Day over the past eight seasons – a span that has included a total of fourteen different starting quarterbacks. And despite a down day on Sunday — 17 of 34 for 202 yards, and just five rushing yards on three carries in a 28-27 loss to the Steelers — he’s on pace to both lead the Commanders to their first winning season in the to lead the US. eight years, going to the playoffs, winning the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year Award and maybe even getting some votes for MVP.

Ten weeks into the season, Daniels’ numbers are divine. He has completed 186 of his 257 passes (72.4 percent) for 2,171 yards and nine touchdowns with just two interceptions. And he’s also run 85 times for 464 yards and four touchdowns.

There wasn’t much doubt within the NFL that Daniels would be good. The surprise is that, playing for a team that needed to rebuild, he was so good so quickly.

“He’s as mature a rookie as I’ve ever been,” Commander Zach Ertz said. “I think you see how comfortable he is every Sunday. The coaches, him and Kliff are in tune with each other. There isn’t a play that Jayden goes out there and doesn’t have answers.”

“Yeah, he just has a fearlessness when he plays,” Kingsbury added. “He loosens it up and believes. And in practice, it’s not like he’s just trying to complete it, he’s trying to make the perfect throw and he judges himself on that, which is what the greats do.”

Jayden Daniels lives up to expectations as the Commanders’ savior. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

The greats also do magical things, like the Hail Mary he threw to Noah Brown on the final play of the game that defeated the Chicago Bears 18-15 three weeks ago. There was a lot of luck involved with a pass that tipped back to a completely uncovered Brown. It was far from the best play or even the best throw of Daniels’ season.

But it was a sign of how good things seem to happen when he plays. It was an affirmation of the trust his teammates have built in him. They’ve developed the trust that he knows what he’s doing, that he can make the right play at the right time – the kind of trust teams rarely have with a rookie quarterback just 10 games into his career.

“Yes, it’s rare because it has to be proven over and over again,” Washington coach Dan Quinn said. “And Jayden has done that continually throughout his time here, to show a veteran, ‘Hey, is this guy going to help us?’

“You’re just constantly being tested to see how you’ll respond.”

For Daniels, it’s no mystery how he got so far and so fast. He’s been at it since he was a teenager, when he first started working with Ryan Porter, his private quarterback coach. He had raw athleticism that, combined with a disciplined work ethic, made him a high school sensation and a star at Arizona State. And it ultimately led to him winning a Heisman Trophy at LSU.

It was clear to everyone who saw him how special he was.

“He’s a smart quarterback, a great team leader,” said New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers, Daniels’ LSU teammate in 2022-23. “His running ability is great. His arm talent is insane.”

However, it was his work ethic that put him over the top, especially his embrace of virtual reality technology while at LSU. Not only did he play simulated games every week, he played them at the fastest speed allowed by the institutions. By the time he got to the actual game this weekend, everything seemed to slow down for him.

Daniels credits that training for his sensational Heisman Trophy season, when he threw for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns in 12 games — the first time in his five college seasons that he surpassed 3,000 passing yards or 20 touchdowns. It was a remarkable leap in production and performance that took him from a likely mid-round pick to the top pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Former LSU teammates Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers remain tight despite now being NFC East rivals. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

And VR is still part of his routine in the NFL, which is part of why Kingsbury said, “The game is starting to get a little slower for him every week.” That’s also why he is so calm beyond his years in the final minutes of a match, when everything is on the line.

“Some people can feel tight in those places,” Quinn said. “I honestly think he’s really getting fired up for that spot. And I felt that (in Week 2) when we played the Giants in a close game. Here’s the last drive to go, and he had that smile about him , like ‘Okay, this is the moment’.

Daniels was 23 of 29 for 226 yards in that 21-18 win over the Giants, while gaining 44 yards. More importantly, when the Commanders got the ball back at their own 23 with 2:04 remaining, he calmly led them down the field for the game-winning field goal, completing both of his passes for 42 yards and running for 14 yards along the way. .

It was only his second career start and it made a powerful statement to his teammates. And he’s been making more and more since then, even as he recovered from a painful rib injury he suffered against Carolina on Oct. 20 and played the following week, even completing his miraculous comeback by beating the Chicago Bears.

He has proven to be a constant in a sea of ​​chaos and always seems to make the right decision whether to run or throw. And he rarely makes mistakes, which is why he’s among the NFL leaders in completion percentage and hasn’t thrown an interception in the past five games.

“He plays the position well and not only throws well,” Quinn said. “I see him growing and getting stronger as he goes along. That’s one of the things I’m most impressed with: playing the position and everything that comes with being at that quarterback spot.”

And when that is combined with his remarkable athletic ability, Daniels becomes a quarterback who is difficult to stop.

“He creates problems in different ways,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said before Daniels completed 24 of 35 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-23 loss at Baltimore in Week 6. at an efficient pace. He hits all the quick throws, the RPO throws and the quick play throws, he gets the ball away quickly on those throws it’s not there, he creates plays on the run with his legs. Not only does he run, but he throws on the run and does it in all these different ways.

Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr added: “We don’t look at him as a rookie. We look at what we see on film and we see one of the best quarterbacks in the league.”

The commanders always believed he would be, at least eventually. So did many others in the league. Giants coach Brian Daboll told general manager Joe Schoen that they should try to trade up in the draft for Daniels (as seen on HBO’s “Hard Knocks”) even though there was no chance the Commanders would let him slide.

Jayden Daniels captured the 2023 Heisman Trophy after a sensational senior season at LSU. (Photo by Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Quinn and GM Adam Peters identified Daniels as the future of their franchise early on. It’s just hard to believe that anyone in Washington thought the future would come so quickly.

“I’m not surprised … but it is surprising,” said Commander Brian Robinson. “He can be whatever he wants to be. I want him to be the best quarterback to ever play this game, if that’s what he wants to be.”

Daniels’ goals seem a little more within reach at this point. He wants to win and make his teammates better. His press conferences have been a lesson in humility, constantly deflecting credit to others around him. He calmly downplays everything he’s done so far, saying, “I still have a ways to go. I’ll sit back and reflect after my rookie year is over.”

However, those who have witnessed his rise do not shy away from excitement.

“He’s really earned that respect from his teammate,” Quinn said. “And that’s why they want to fight so hard for him. Part of that comes from his humility. You see him pushing everything back to the guys, and that’s a skill in itself that he has. His teammates just absolutely would just fight for him. They just have so much respect for him.”

“He’s only in his first year in the league,” Commander wide receiver Terry McLaurin said, “and I feel like we have a lot of great things in the future.”

That part shouldn’t be surprising at all. His future has always been bright, even if it came a little sooner than some expected.

“I mean, he’s a winner,” Nabers said. “I don’t see anything different. He still leads his team to victory. He still takes care of the football – everything I know he has (always) done in my eyes.”

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He covered the Giants and Jets for SNY TV for the past six years New Yorkand before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter @RalphVacchiano.

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