As the NFL season kicked off on September 5th, headlines have been surging around the signal caller in Washington: Jayden Daniels.
Jayden Daniels was born in San Bernardino, California which is about an hour away from Los Angeles. Jayden’s dad was a football player for the Iowa State Cyclones in 1998. When Jayden was younger, he played soccer, flag football and basketball before going to Cajon High School in 2015. At first, Javon wanted young Jayden to play the cornerback position but Jayden ultimately decided with being a quarterback.
In his high school campaigan, Jayden didn’t start for varsity until his Junior year. During this year, Jayden got two offers from Arizona and Florida State. But, it wasn’t until his senior year when he took off. He left high school with 25 offers and a 4 star rating. After high school, Jayden decided between Cal, UCLA, Arizona State and Utah. He chose to roll with Arizona State Sun Devils for his college career.
His college career did not get off to a good start. He was struggling during the game and didn’t bring that explosive game he had in high school. Daniels decided to transfer to LSU, after struggling at Arizona State for three years. But controversy rose after a video of ASU teammates trashing the contents of Jayden’s locker. He had played 3 years and was not expected to start yet at LSU. LSU decided to redshirt Jayden for his 4th year meaning he had a 5th year of eligbility. In 2023, Jayden became the only FBS player to pass for 12,000 yards and rush for 3,000 yards. Jayden won the Hesiman trophy over the likes of Michael Penix Jr, Bo Nix and Marvin Harrison Jr.
With the 2nd pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Washington Commanders picked Jayden Daniels from LSU. Jayden Daniels was a highly-touted quarterback during the draft, even bringing in comparison to the likes of Lamar Jackson and Robert Griffin III.
In Jayden’s first five starts he has brought Washington to a record of 4-1. He has beaten impressive feats and outperformed his expectations. In the first 4 games, Jayden had a completion percentage of 82.1% which is the most by any rookie in NFL History. Using his dual threat ability of precise deep passes and a blazing speed, Jayden has lead the Commanders to 31 points on average, giving them the #1 offense in the NFL.
As Jayden is rejuvenating the region of the DMV, I decided to ask Sports Insider Talkin Sports 100K, also known as J, about how he feels about Jayden Daniels. When asked about how he thinks about Jayden’s performance so far, he stated, “Jayden Daniels is playing like he is the next Lamar Jackson, but with better passing accuracy.” I also asked J about how far Jayden can lead this team and fanbase. He feels like that Jayden can actually lead Washington to a championship and deep in the playoffs unlike Lamar. J believes that “Washington will win a playoff game or two but that’s probably it…” J did say that Jayden will be the franchise quarterback for “years” and that Washington has a future leader to have hope in.
