Jayden Daniels has taken the league and football community by storm and with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend, Daniels would have, arguably, the greatest season by a rookie offensive player in NFL history.
Jayden was the second pick in the 2024 draft behind Caleb Williams, the consensus number one pick at the time.
Despite being behind Williams on draft boards, many thought Daniels had the talent and chance to be a special player after watching him dominate at LSU, which played in the strongest conference in the country. In his first year with the Tigers, he set the school record for QB rushing yards (885) and rushing TDs (11) and led them to a 10-4 record. In his final season, Daniels threw for 3,812 yards with 40 TDs and 4 INTs and was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Year, First Team All-SEC, a Consensus All-America and won the Heisman Trophy.
While his NFL career began with a loss to the Bucs, Daniels quickly adjusted and completely turned the franchise around.
He led the Commanders to a 12-5 regular season record and was being mentioned in the NFL MVP conversation. Then he shocked everyone when he led Washington to playoff wins over the Bucs and the heavily favored Lions, who were Super Bowl favorites, despite being underdogs both times.
On Sunday, they again play the underdog role against the Eagles in Philadelphia, a team they split the regular season with.
And if they beat the Eagles, they would most likely maintain their underdog status against either the Chiefs or Bills.
Despite being an underdog, Jayden Daniels has led the Commanders to their first NFC Championship game in 33 years. The last time they were in a game this big was during the 1991 season in which they went to their third and last Superbowl.
It’s been an incredible season for Daniels, especially when you consider that Washington was 4-13 last season, the last under the tumultuous ownership of Daniel Snyder.
Daniels has played so well that the competition is praising his efforts, maturity and development.
“To see what he doing as a rookie, I will say he’s the greatest rookie quarterback ever,” said Eagle defensive back Darius Slay Jr.
“In my opinion, he’s had the best rookie season of all time,” said Texans QB CJ Stroud.
Many players around the league have already given Jayden Daniels his respect and flowers and his first season isn’t even over yet.
Although we all saw him dominate at the collegiate level, not many predicted he could be this dominant at the NFL level, especially this early in his career.
Jayden Daniels’ rookie season is compared to the likes of the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, the Colts’ Andrew Luck and the Panthers’ Cam Newton.
But if he beats the Eagles and advances to the Super Bowl, he will be the first rookie to do so and will be cemented in NFL history as the greatest rookie quarterback.
