Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels put Arizona in the rearview mirror when he transferred from Arizona State to LSU in 2022 and now, a little over two years later, the 23-year-old quarterback (24 in December) is taking the NFL by storm and playing like a grizzled veteran rather than a starry-eyed rookie.
On NBC’s Football Night in America Sunday, former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said of Daniels, “The big thing for me is his poise as a person and a quarterback. He’s a rookie, but he’s making it look like he’s been doing it at this level his whole life.”
In a span of six days, Daniels engineered two road victories over the Bengals and Cardinals in which the Commanders scored 80 points and he rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns, while completing 47-of-53 passes for 487 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
The latter against the Cardinals is the only blemish in his first four games and is the team’s only turnover of the season. Had that been an incompletion rather than a pick, his passer rating would have been 110.0 instead of 96.3.
Asked about Daniels’ poise, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said, “I had told him earlier that I was really proud of him. I knew there were some extra stories being here back at ASU. And much like Kliff (Kingsbury), you would never have known that. There was a history here. I just thought he stayed steady all the way through in terms of the preparation.
“He and the quarterbacks and the guys, there were many late nights in the room watching tape together. They were just one office down from mine in the hotel and all the way through the week including last night, just putting in the extra time going into it. They just kind of stayed around and were talking through all the stuff, so I think that speaks to their preparation.”
Tight end Zach Ertz, who played for the Cardinals during Kingsbury’s tenure and with Kyler Murray, said much the same thing as Garrett in describing Daniels.
“The kid is special,” said Ertz, who had three receptions for 22 yards in the game plus a two-point conversion catch. “Obviously, as far as his game, you can’t just anoint him by any means. He’s going to work his butt off to continually improve, but he and Kliff are so in sync right now. They’re dialed in.
“It seems like they’ve been playing together in the player-OC relationship for four, five, 10 years the way they are operating right now.”
But, the seasoned pro that Ertz is, then said, “We can’t get too high. We probably have one of the best defenses coming into our stadium next Sunday with the Browns. It’s going to be a great game and that’s all our focus now.”
Said Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon after Sunday’s loss, “That’s a good player. He’s dynamic. We had a couple of times we had him wrapped up; he got out of it, made some plays with his legs. He gets the ball out and he’s accurate. He’s a good player; give him a lot of credit. But we gotta do a better job affecting the quarterback.”
What might be scary is how Daniels and wide receiver Terry McLaurin are getting on the same page. In the first two games, which included a season-opening 37-20 loss to Tampa Bay, McLaurin had six catches on 12 targets for only 39 yards. That had the everything-should-happen-now crowd getting apoplectic similar to the reaction here when rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. had only one reception for four yards on three targets in the first game of his pro career.
So, it was that Daniels and McLaurin hooked up four times on six targets for 100 yards with a long of 55 and a dime in the end zone for a 27-yard score that gave the Commanders a 12-point lead over the Bengals with 2:10 remaining in the game.
“I think it was just a matter of continuing to be patient,” McLaurin said after the Monday night win. “Trusting the process. I knew Jayden and I and our offense had clicked in camp and it was just a matter of doing it when it mattered most.”
Sunday, he was targeted 10 times and while his seven receptions netted only 52 yards, a 10-yard touchdown on third-and-goal got the Commanders a three-score lead with 8:30 remaining in the game.
“I think he’s really confident in what he’s seeing,” McLaurin said Sunday. “I think his preparation is very unique for a guy who’s just got into the league, and that was him (from) the first day we met him when he got here in the spring. His preparation, the way he attacks practice, the way he is starting to conduct the film sessions at the end of the week for the receivers and the tight ends. It’s no surprise when he goes out there and he executes at a high level.
“I think last week and the weeks leading up (to it); he’s just gotten better and better. He is really trusting what he is seeing. He is giving us chances to make plays down the field. As playmakers, we just have to continue to come through for him. I think he is seeing the field well. He is extending plays when he needs to extend plays, but he is also keeping his eyes down the field when scrambling. That just adds another element to our offense when a quarterback can hurt you from in and outside the pocket.”
Daniels is confident his rapport with McLaurin is growing, even considering the second-quarter interception by Cardinals cornerback Garrett Williams was a remarkable catch and was on a pass intended for him.
“It’s just communication,” Daniels said of what happened. “I threw a pick, threw it behind Terry. Just something that we haven’t talked about. I saw it differently, but I guess you could say I kind of got greedy. In this league, that’s going to happen if you have tips or overthrows. They’re good players, so they’re going to be able to pick the ball off. It is just, how can we bounce back?”
They did that emphatically.
On the other side, everyone wonders if the Cardinals will be able to with road games in the next two weeks against San Francisco and Green Bay.
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