Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels can’t stop winning Rookie of the Week awards, much to the chagrin of Chicago Bears fans. Chicago fans believe Caleb Williams should have won the award.
On Thursday, Daniels won the Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week for the fifth time in six weeks. Bears fans called it meaningless, while Washington fans reveled in seeing another fan base upset for once.
Meanwhile, the Rookie of the Week award may be meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but Daniels is playing at an elite level only six weeks into his NFL career.
From Troy Aikman to Tom Brady to Lamar Jackson, everyone is impressed with Daniels. The No. 2 overall pick has broken several records through six weeks, both NFL and team records, and is well on his way to being the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Daniels is also doing something else remarkable. He’s cracking the top 10 of numerous quarterback power rankings every week — as a rookie.
In the latest QB Index from NFL.com, Daniels checks in at No. 6:
The Commanders lost to the Ravens, but Daniels made only one noticeable mistake in the passing game (he overthrew his target for an incompletion), and it didn’t end up playing a big part in the outcome. Otherwise, Daniels looked as good as he has for most of his nascent NFL career. He’s poised beyond his years, appears to already have a high-level understanding of how to manipulate defenses with his eyes (SEE: his touchdown pass over Marcus Williams to Terry McLaurin) and continues to execute Kliff Kingsbury’s offense at a high level. The scrambling opportunities weren’t nearly as frequent against Baltimore as they’d been against other opponents, but Daniels was surgical with the football, dotting all areas of the field nearly perfectly with confidence and precision. The designed run game was a little bumpier than usual, due to the way the Ravens defended it, but overall, he played quite well once again.
Daniels was phenomenal in Sunday’s loss to the Ravens. He’s elevating the play of those around him, keeping the Commanders in every game, and the team is winning because of him — not in spite of him.
As long as Daniels remains healthy, he will continue climbing these lists.
As for Williams, who played well last week, he checked in at No. 19.