Just forget about Topgolf and that thinking face emoji seen around the world. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is a Washington Commander and roughly $37 million richer, a reward befitting one of the highest-pressure jobs in the D.C. area.
The Commanders selected the 23-year-old Heisman Trophy winner with the second pick Thursday night and promptly tasked him with turning around a franchise after more than 20 years of disappointment.
No big deal.
“I’m just coming in and competing,” Daniels said. “I’m coming in and really just trying to play my role, whatever that is. I just want to be the best teammate to help the team win. And we can bring back some victories back to D.C., the DMV, and have some fun.”
For many, Daniels seemed bound for Washington for months leading up to the draft. But no outsiders knew Washington’s true intention until the selection was announced in Detroit. General Manager Adam Peters, in one of his first feats, plugged the leaks and ensured no one tipped off his plans. Not even Daniels knew for sure where he was headed.
“Honestly, they did a pretty good job not showing their hand too much,” he said. “But the conversations I had, I was pretty confident basically off the conversations that we had [that] I was able to come here and fit into the Commanders’ team. I’m here now, and I can’t wait to get to work.”
Months of closed-door meetings in Ashburn resulted in Daniels and former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy sitting atop the Commanders’ list for the No. 2 pick, but in reality, it was never close. Peters admitted after the draft that the team had settled on Daniels “a while ago” and it was “almost unanimous” within the building.
“To us he’s special in every way — on the field, off the field,” Peters said. “I talked to him a couple times I told him kind of what I told you guys the other day. I didn’t really watch a lot of quarterbacks hard during the season, being with the 49ers, and then turned on Jayden for the first time here and I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe how good he was.”
Daniels completed 72.2 percent of his passes in his final season at LSU and posted the highest passer rating in Football Bowl Subdivision history at 208.0. Commanders executives believed he was the best deep-ball thrower in the draft, and his ability to make pinpoint throws under pressure or while taking a hit stood out.
“Just the way he processes, the way he can see the field and go through reads, deliver on time, deliver with pressure in his face, take a hit and deliver a third-down pass and move the chains,” Peters said. “He’s the best deep-ball thrower, we thought, in the draft. And that’s even before you start watching him run.”
Among quarterbacks, Daniels ran for an FBS-high 1,134 yards last season, and in his three seasons at Arizona State and two at LSU, Daniels became the only player in FBS history to pass for at least 12,000 yards and rush for at least 3,000.
But those numbers represented more than just speed.
It’s “slashing,” Peters said.
“He just kind of takes your soul as a defense,” Peters added. “You think you got him and then all of a sudden he rips off a 40-yard run.”
Daniels will try to use both facets of his game to end Washington’s carousel at the position. Over the past 10 seasons, the Commanders have started 14 quarterbacks and finished above .500 twice.
In searching for a solution, first-year coach Dan Quinn spelled out the qualifications he coveted in the team’s next quarterback, which include accuracy (especially on deep passes) and mobility. Above all, Quinn wanted a player with an elite mental processor.
How fast can he make the right decision? Can he speed up his processing when blitzed? Is he able to anticipate blitzes? Can he get out of a broken play?
And is he the type of quarterback who might create havoc for defensive coaches such as Quinn, a former defensive coordinator?
“There’s so much information that comes from that position,” Quinn said in March. “Like quite honestly, most of my time as a [defensive] coach was trying to change the look for the person so they had to process after they had the ball in their hands.”
Daniels fit that qualification — and many others.
NFL Network’s draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah described Daniels as “poised and comfortable in the pocket” and a quarterback who can throw with “anticipation, touch and accuracy” and “manipulate safeties with his eyes to create separation downfield.”
Jeremiah added: “He needs to do a better job of protecting himself, though, as he took some huge hits in the games I studied. Overall, Daniels took a massive leap in 2023 and now offers both a high floor and ceiling.”
Daniels will probably need to fill out his lean frame and will have to work to minimize the unnecessary hits he takes in the pocket. But the focus for Peters and the Commanders was clearly on his dynamic ability.
“I’m so thrilled and excited to welcome Jayden Daniels to the Commanders family!” Commanders limited partner Magic Johnson wrote on X. “I’m looking forward to all the wins we will celebrate this season and years to come with you as our leader. I know you’ll lead our franchise not only as our quarterback, but also in the locker room and the DMV community!”
Daniels said Peters lauded his “journey” and work ethic when he called to inform him of Washington’s selection.
Yet much of the week leading up to the draft was centered on Daniels’s top-30 visit to the Commanders, which was shared with roughly 20 other players, including three quarterbacks. His agent, Ronald Butler, posted a “thinking face” emoji on social media that seemed to imply he wasn’t fond of the group visit, but Daniels and his publicist immediately tried to quash any notion that he would be unhappy in Washington.
“Oh, I’m excited,” Daniels assured Thursday night before ticking off the names of many of his future teammates. “I’m excited to come in and get to work. I knew [Washington wide receiver] Jahan [Dotson] previously. We’re kind of around the same age. Obviously, what Terry [McLaurin] has done. At the next level, you got a great running back in Brian Robinson, Austin Ekeler. Those guys are very explosive players. New additions with Zach Ertz. I’m just happy to come in and learn how to be a pro. I’m excited to get to work, and I’m excited to meet my new teammates.”
The feeling seems to be mutual.
“ELITE pick,” Dotson wrote via text message.