In his latest mock draft for The Athletic, Bruce Feldman made no outlandish predictions. Feldman, one of the most respected writers with high-level connections in college football and the NFL, has USC quarterback Caleb Williams going No. 1 overall to the Chicago Bears.
Who does Feldman project going No. 2 overall to the Washington Commanders?
That would be LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels. There are no surprises here. Regardless of what you hear about Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, Washington is expected to choose between Daniels and North Carolina signal-caller Drake Maye.
Why does Feldman see Daniels landing in Washington? He calls it a hunch — which is not a report. As we mentioned, Feldman is well-connected.
Where it got interesting was what Feldman said regarding the “coaching intel he received on Daniels. Here’s the first bit of intel he provided:
I tell people this: Outside of Patrick Mahomes, I haven’t coached against someone like this. He’s just very hard to defend. We tried to force him to run it to take it out of his hands. The throws he makes and the timing he has, I thought was second to none. He throws the deep ball extremely accurately.
This isn’t Feldman comparing Daniels to Mahomes. The coach told Feldman that preparing against Daniels was almost as difficult as preparing to face Mahomes. Washington has lacked a quarterback that puts fear into opposing defenses for years.
The next coach:
As a junior (in 2022), he would just hang onto the ball, but he got so much better playing quarterback. Without him, with as bad as they were on defense, I think they’d win six games. Tops. If there’s a concern if you’re an NFL team, it’s that he will take some shots and he is narrow. How well will he hold up?
This is the type of improvement that encourages you about Daniels. He improved in each college season before his tremendous 2023 season. It’s reminiscent of former LSU — and fellow Heisman Trophy winner — Joe Burrow’s rise.
Finally, more talk on Daniels’ improvement:
He improved a lot. He’s a really good deep ball thrower with more than above-average arm strength. Those 15-, 20-yard touch throws were better than I thought. He didn’t look like he was that fast, but he just glides and runs by people, and he outruns their angles.
It remains to be seen if Daniels will be the pick. There is a lot of time remaining until the 2024 NFL draft. Could he be the leader? Sure. But so could Maye or even McCarthy. General manager Adam Peters has kept this close to the vest, which is unlikely to change. It’s doubtful anyone will know who the pick is until the Commanders turn the card in on April 25.