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Jayden Daniels
American football player (born 2000) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jayden Daniels (born December 18, 2000) is an American professional football quarterback for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). Daniels is considered a dual-threat player, being adept at both passing and running. He played three seasons of college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils (2019–2021) and two with the LSU Tigers (2022–2023). He won the 2023 Heisman Trophy among other player of the year awards after scoring 50 touchdowns with nearly 5,000 total yards.
Daniels was selected by the Commanders with the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. His rookie season is regarded among the greatest in NFL history, with him named Offensive Rookie of the Year after setting the rookie quarterback record for rushing yards in a season and leading the Commanders to their most wins in a season and first NFC Championship Game appearance since 1991. Daniels also threw a Hail Mary touchdown during the season, a rare feat, to win on a play known as the Hail Maryland.
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Early life
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Daniels was born on December 18, 2000, in Fontana, California, and was raised in nearby San Bernardino.[1][2] He began playing flag football at the age of five and tackle football by seven, briefly at the cornerback position before moving to quarterback.[1][3] He also ran track and played basketball and soccer as a youth before starting his freshman year at Cajon High School in 2015.[4][5] Daniels initially needed a medical note to play due to being considered undersized for the position at 125 pounds (57 kilograms).[1] He started on Cajon's varsity team as a freshman and led the team to the CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS) Inland Division playoffs that year before being eliminated in the semifinals.[6]
In the first game of his 2016 sophomore season, Daniels broke the little finger of his right hand attempting to recover a fumble but played the rest of the season.[7] He set a state record in 2017 with over 6,400 total yards during his junior season, leading Cajon to a Citrus Belt League (CBL) championship and an appearance in the Division 2-AA state finals.[8][9] He led Cajon to another CBL championship and an appearance in the CIF-SS Division 3 championship as a senior in 2018.[10] He was the men's recipient of the Ken Hubbs Award, given annually the top high school athletes in the San Bernardino area.[11]
He played 53 games at Cajon and set CIF-SS records with 210 touchdowns[c] and over 17,600 total yards.[d][8][11] Daniels also participated in hurdling and the 100-meters, 200-meters, 400-meters, and 4 × 100-meters relay sprints at the school.[4][12] He participated in the 2018 Elite 11 quarterback skills competition, sitting out of the finals due to a practice injury, and threw the game-winning touchdown in the 2019 Under Armour High School All-America Game.[13][14] Daniels was ranked a four-star prospect and the top dual-threat quarterback of his class by college recruiting website 247Sports and received 25 college football scholarship offers before choosing the Sun Devils of Arizona State University (ASU) in December 2018.[8][15] He graduated from Cajon and enrolled at ASU in January 2019.[8]
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College career
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Arizona State (2019–2021)
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Daniels was named the starter for the Sun Devils' 2019 season after winning a quarterback competition against Joey Yellen in the offseason. He was the first Sun Devils freshman quarterback to start opening week.[16][17] He suffered a minor knee injury against the UCLA Bruins and missed the following game.[18] Daniels earned Pac-12 Conference offensive player of the week honors for week 13 in a 31–28 upset win over the No. 6 ranked Oregon Ducks after passing for 408 yards and three touchdowns, including an 81-yard pass to Brandon Aiyuk with under four minutes remaining.[19][20] He was named the most valuable player of the 2019 Sun Bowl in a win over the Florida State Seminoles.[21] Daniels set the Sun Devils' freshman passing yards record and was named to ESPN's freshman All-American team.[22][23]
In the 2020 season, Daniels and the Sun Devils played only four games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[24] He earned offensive player of the week honors against UCLA in week 5 of the 2021 season with two touchdown passes to Ricky Pearsall of over 50 yards.[25][26] He led the Pac-12 in completion percentage (65.4%) for the season and led the team to a 8–4 record and an appearance in the 2021 Las Vegas Bowl.[27][28] After the season, several of the team's coaches resigned or were fired following an NCAA investigation into COVID guideline violations that prohibited hosting recruits and off-campus travel for team staff; Daniels' mother Regina was also implicated in helping pay for flight tickets.[29][30] Daniels entered the NCAA transfer portal in February 2022.[27]
LSU (2022–2023)
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Daniels transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU) to play for the Tigers in March 2022; he was named the starter for the season after beating out Garrett Nussmeier in camp.[31][32] He threw two touchdowns and ran for over 100 yards with three touchdowns in a win against the No. 7 ranked Ole Miss Rebels, giving them their first loss of the season and earning Southeastern Conference (SEC) offensive player of the week honors.[33][34] Daniels earned another player of the week honor the following game against the No. 6 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide after running for a 25-yard touchdown in overtime with a two-point conversion pass to win 32–31.[35][36] He led the Tigers to a 9–3 regular season record and an appearance in the 2022 SEC Championship Game against the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs.[37] Daniels, playing on a sprained ankle, left the game after being sacked by Jalen Carter late in the second quarter.[37][38] He returned for the Citrus Bowl against the Purdue Boilermakers and caught a touchdown pass thrown by wide receiver Malik Nabers in a 63–7 win.[39] Daniels was named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award and was voted the team's most valuable player after accounting for 28 touchdowns and nearly 3,800 total yards.[40][41]
Daniels was named a team captain for the 2023 season.[42] He earned SEC offensive player of the week honors for week 3 and 4 after scoring four total touchdowns each against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Arkansas Razorbacks.[43][44] Daniels earned another player of the week honor two weeks later with four total touchdowns against the Missouri Tigers.[45] He sustained a concussion from a hit by Dallas Turner in a week 9 game against No. 8 ranked Alabama and left the game.[46] Daniels returned the following week against the Florida Gators and became the first player in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history to have 350 passing and 200 rushing yards in a game.[47] He tied an SEC record a week later against the Georgia State Panthers with eight total touchdowns.[48] For the season, Daniels threw for 40 touchdowns and rushed for 10, led the NCAA with nearly 5,000 total yards, and set the FBS single-season passer rating record.[49][50] His performance earned him the 2023 Heisman Trophy and Walter Camp Award among other college football player of the year awards,[51][52][53] making him the third LSU player to win the Heisman after Billy Cannon in 1959 and Joe Burrow in 2019.[49] He also won the Davey O'Brien,[54] Manning,[55] and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards,[56] earned Consensus All-American and All-SEC honors,[57][58] and was named the SEC's offensive player and male athlete of the year.[59][60] Daniels sat out of the ReliaQuest Bowl in January to prepare for the NFL draft.[61] He finished his college career with 16,000 total yards in 55 games, ranking top ten in FBS history.[62]
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Professional career
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Washington Commanders
Daniels was selected second overall by the Washington Commanders in the 2024 NFL draft.[64] He was the second of six quarterbacks taken in the first round, tying the 1983 draft for the most in NFL history.[65] In the offseason, Daniels and former LSU teammate Malik Nabers received guidance from the league on its gambling policy for proposing a friendly $10,000 bet on which of the two would earn Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.[66][67] He acquired uniform number 5 in a non-monetary arrangement with Tress Way, who had worn it with the team since 2014.[68] Daniels signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $37.75 million fully guaranteed, on June 14, 2024.[69] He was named the Commanders' starting quarterback by the end of training camp.[70]
Daniels scored two touchdowns in his NFL debut in a loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; his first win occurred the following week against the New York Giants.[71][72] In a week 3 Monday Night Football win against the Cincinnati Bengals, he earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after scoring three touchdowns and setting the NFL rookie completion percentage record (91.3%).[73] He was named later named the Offensive Rookie of the Month for September after completing the highest percentage of passes (82.1%) over a four-game span in NFL history.[74] Daniels suffered a minor rib fracture against the Carolina Panthers in October after two defenders landed on him at the end of a 46-yard run in the first quarter; he was later ruled out for the rest of the game.[75][76] He returned the following week against the Chicago Bears and threw a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown as time expired to wide receiver Noah Brown to win 18–15 on a play known as the Hail Maryland.[77] The play was later named the NFL Moment of the Year.[78] In December he became the sixth rookie in NFL history to throw five touchdowns in a game, doing so in a 36–33 comeback win against the eventual Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles.[79][80]
Daniels finished the regular season having the most points per game (28.5) and highest completion percentage (69%) by a rookie in NFL history, additionally setting the NFL rookie quarterback rushing yards record (891) and the Commanders rookie passing yards record (3,568).[e][81][82][83] He also threw a rookie-record 12 touchdown passes in the fourth quarter or overtime.[84] Five of which occurred within the final 30 seconds or as walk-off touchdowns, the most by any player since the AFL–NFL merger in 1970.[84] The Commanders finished with a regular season record of 12–5, their best since 1991, and entered the 2024–25 playoffs as a sixth-seed Wild Card.[85] The team broke their 19-year postseason win drought with road victories over the third-seeded Buccaneers and first-seeded Detroit Lions before losing to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game,[86][87][88] with Daniels recording the most passing yards (822), rushing yards (135), highest passer rating (116.2), and highest completion percentage (69.7%)[f] by a rookie quarterback in playoff history.[89] He was named the Offensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowl reserve while garnering some votes for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award,[90][91][92][93][94] with his season regarded among the greatest by a rookie in NFL history.[95][96][97][98]
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Player profile
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Often compared to Lamar Jackson, Daniels employs a dual-threat style of play highlighted for his vision and accuracy as a drop-back passer and his speed and evasiveness as a rusher.[4][101][102][103] His composure and calm demeanor, particularly in late-game situations, are also regarded as strengths.[104][105][106] Daniels' physique is described as "slender" and "lanky" at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 metres) tall and weighing around 210 pounds (95 kilograms).[7][101][105] He cites basketball player Kobe Bryant and football players Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, and Reggie Bush as athletic inspirations, choosing 5 as his uniform number after McNabb and Bush.[3][107][108] Daniels has worked with Ryan Porter, a former Arena Football League (AFL) player, as his personal quarterback coach since the age of 10.[109][110][111] He uses virtual reality (VR) as part of his training, using software designed for VR headsets by the German company Cognilize that allows for custom formations and plays to be used and opposing players, teams, and their stadiums to be represented.[112][113] He began the practice at LSU in 2023 and continued to use the technology in the NFL, often using it at higher speeds.[113] Daniels warms up before games with a basketball; he learned the routine from childhood friend and fellow NFL quarterback C. J. Stroud and cites it as helpful preparation with footballs feeling smaller and lighter afterwards.[107]
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Personal life
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Daniels was born to Javon "Jay" Daniels, a college football cornerback for the Washington Huskies and Iowa State Cyclones in the late 1990s, and Regina Jackson, who acts as his business manager and became an NFLPA-certified agent in 2024.[114][115][116] He has an older sister named Bianca.[114] Daniels' paternal grandparents died of COVID-19 in early 2021.[109] He is Christian and is open about his faith.[117][118] He earned an undergraduate degree from Arizona State in December 2021 and pursued a Master of Liberal Arts degree at LSU.[5][119][120] San Bernardino mayor Helen Tran declared January 20, 2024, "Jayden Daniels Day" and presented him with a key to the city and the naming of Cajon High School's football stadium after him.[121] Rookie trading cards of Daniels are considered valuable, with one acquired by Commanders owner Josh Harris in 2025 for $500,000.[122][123][124]
Daniels signed name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals in college with Raising Cane's, Powerade, Beats by Dre, and Urban Outfitters.[125][126][127][128] Daniels was featured on The Money Game: LSU, a six-part NIL-focused docuseries by Prime Video that followed him, Angel Reese, Flau'jae Johnson, Livvy Dunne, Alia Armstrong, and Trace Young through LSU's 2023–24 sports season.[129] The series was nominated for Outstanding Documentary Series (Serialized) at the 46th Sports Emmy Awards.[130] He is signed to Agency 1 Sports.[115] Daniels signed an deal with apparel company Nike in April 2024; he was featured in the 2025 launch advertisement for the Hyperboot recovery shoe.[131][132]
Daniels threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game in June 2024.[133] He presented the Best Play Award alongside Dunne and rapper Lil Wayne to Lamar Jackson at the 2024 ESPYs the following month; Daniels also accepted the Best College Athlete, Men's Sports award at the event.[134] He attended Fanatics Fest in June 2025, speaking at the QB Playbook panel with NFL Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Dan Marino and the Command the Room panel with Josh Harris.[135][136] Daniels also finished 40th in the inaugural Fanatics Games, a tournament of eight skill games between 100 professional athletes, fans, and celebrities at the event for $1 million.[137][138]
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Notes
- AP • PFWA • The Sporting News
References
External links
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