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ASHBURN, Va. — Back in the spring, well before Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels had been named the team’s starter, veteran teammates such as tight end Zach Ertz and wide receiver Terry McLaurin had a feeling the rookie would excel in the NFL.
By the end of training camp, they were certain.
“I was telling everyone that would listen how good he would be,” Ertz said. “Just something got me really excited. I knew there would be some growing pains, but his ability to work and his humility to get better is what sets him apart.”
Now, the rest of the NFL is catching up.
Daniels has been a transformational player for the Commanders this season, helping the franchise rebound from a 4-13 campaign in 2023 to a 14-5 record (including the playoffs) and playing in its first NFC Championship Game since the 1991 season. And if they can beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox), he will become the first rookie QB to start in a Super Bowl.
During the regular season, Daniels ranked fourth in QBR, behind MVP front-runners Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. Over his two postseason games, he has the highest Total QBR (86.8), throwing for 567 yards passing and four touchdowns and amassing another 87 yards rushing while fueling Washington to road upsets over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and top-seeded Detroit Lions in the wild-card and divisional rounds, respectively.
Teammates, coaches and members of the organization say Daniels’ on-field success was sowed by what he has shown them behind the scenes since his arrival. They’ve observed a diligent student who loves to prepare, an inquisitive mind with attention to detail uncommon for rookie QBs, an instinctual leader, a cool head who embraces — and excels in — big moments and a competitor who’s also able to have fun in any situation.
During a minicamp session in June, McLaurin — who had played with 10 different starting quarterbacks in Washington from 2019 to 2023 — was asked about Daniels. He beamed as he spoke about the rookie’s preparation and desire for extra reps after practice.
A day later, as McLaurin warmed up on the sideline before practice, a reporter told the six-year pro that he had never looked or sounded so enthusiastic about a quarterback.
“He’s the real deal,” McLaurin said.
SHORTLY AFTER THE organized team activities began in late May, Ertz had seen enough of Daniels to make a bold comparison.
“I compared him to Andrew Luck, which is the ultimate compliment,” Ertz said.
Luck, the former No. 1 overall pick in 2012 who was tabbed as a generational quarterback prospect, played with Ertz at Stanford.
“Andrew had a gravitational pull. Guys just wanted to be around him,” Ertz said. “He just wanted to be one of the guys and Jayden is very similar. Guys just want to be around him because he doesn’t view himself as anyone other than one of the guys.
“His approach to the game has really been different compared to a lot of people I’ve been around. A lot of times when you’re young there’s a lot of trial and error and oftentimes, you’re reactionary in terms of how your process is: ‘After I fail a couple times maybe I’ll do X, Y and Z more.’ Whereas Jayden from the moment he first got here he was the first one in the building studying as much as possible.”
Washington’s plan in the spring was to have Daniels earn the starting job through his preparation, habits and play throughout the offseason program. As a result, Daniels worked with the second unit while veteran Marcus Mariota took snaps as the starter.
But for Ertz, it was clear early Daniels would be QB1 when the 2024 season started (the Commanders made it official on Aug. 19). Daniels’ eagerness to learn stood out. The rookie was constantly talking to veterans during practice, from Ertz to McLaurin to 11-time All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, peppering them with questions.
Anticipating Daniels’ eventual promotion, Ertz said he began asking to run with the second-team offense in two-minute drills to get more time — and a head start — with Washington’s future quarterback.
“The physical tools stood out immediately,” Ertz said, “the way the ball popped out of his hands. [But] it was the stuff that not everyone sees that stuck out the most.”
Washington guard Sam Cosmi saw it too. When he signed a four-year, $74 million extension days before the season started, he cited Daniels as one of the reasons he was thrilled to have his future tied to the franchise.
“We got a special, special dude,” Cosmi said in September. “That makes me excited to be here.”
Daniels got the coaching staff’s attention early as well. During a rookie minicamp session in early May, passing game coordinator Brian Johnson was left in awe as he watched Daniels operate in practice.
“He came out here and it was like bang, bang, bang, bang,” Johnson said. “Just completion after completion and the ball didn’t hit the ground. He had the install completely dialed and locked in. You become impressed, not only by the results [but] by the work and the action. It’s not what you say, it’s what you do — and he goes out there and does it every single day.”
Daniels has continued his impressive displays to teammates throughout the season. During a late November practice, safety Jeremy Reaves played a coverage in a way that surprised Daniels. After practice, Daniels asked Reaves why he had done it that way, and, “Do I need to do better with my eyes here? From a concept standpoint how can we make it [better]?”
“It’s refreshing,” Reaves said. “You don’t see that a lot.”
Ertz agreed.
“I’ve been around high draft picks — they feel they have all the answers,” Ertz said. “Jayden was the complete opposite. He’s asking me about certain plays, why I ran a certain route this time, how could the timing be a little better. It was the humility that stood out to me.”
IN WEEK 5 against the Cleveland Browns, McLaurin finished with four catches for 112 yards. But up 31-6 in the third quarter, he couldn’t hang onto a pass in the corner of the end zone. It was not officially ruled a drop, but McLaurin considered it one and he had already fumbled that quarter.
It bothered him on the bench, and Daniels noticed.
“I expect a lot of myself,” McLaurin said. “He came over to me and sat down and talked to me and was like, ‘First of all, we’re winning. You’re playing great. You’re going to make that play nine times out of 10. We trust you and I trust you, so I’m going to continue to come back to you and don’t sweat the small mishaps.'”
Later in the season against Atlanta, McLaurin was held to one catch for five yards. Again, Daniels noticed. And again, after throwing a third-quarter touchdown pass to Ertz, Daniels ran over to McLaurin and said, “Hey, look at me. Stay in it. You’re going to make a play.”
McLaurin found opportunities to reciprocate. One week after beating the Browns, Washington lost at Baltimore 30-23. A visibly angry Daniels sat on a cooler next to the bench as the Ravens ran out the clock — it was a look McLaurin had not previously seen from the QB.
“I’ve never seen a quarterback that upset after a game,” McLaurin said. “He wasn’t throwing his helmet, he wasn’t cussing anybody out, but you could see how mad and frustrated he was. That spoke to me. You could tell how much he cares. … I told him, ‘I love seeing that in you; don’t ever lose that fire of hating to lose a game. That’s what’s going to make you different.'”
Daniels also has the ability to build relationships, which has especially been evident with Wagner — a Super Bowl champ and future Hall of Famer. The two developed a bond early on; Daniels talked often with veterans but became closer with the former leader of Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” defense.
The ease with which Daniels developed a rapport with such a star veteran was uncommon for a rookie, teammates and coaches said. They sit together front and center in team meetings. They also bicker like siblings, with Daniels unafraid to needle the 13-year pro who is 10 years his senior.
In a news conference earlier this month, Daniels began an answer about Wagner by saying, “He’s annoying” before praising Wagner’s leadership.
When asked what was annoying about Wagner, Daniels deadpanned to reporters, “Everything.”
On New Year’s Day, Wagner was asked about having Daniels and other rookies on their leadership committee. As he started to answer, Daniels walked past and said, “Shut up, Bobby.”
“See, I’m trying to give him a compliment and on cue he just messes it up,” Wagner said.
Daniels walked past again, and Wagner yelled to him, “Pull your pants up.”
The reply: “Bobby Wagner’s annoying.”
“This is how we’re starting the new year off,” Wagner said.
DANIELS ARRIVES AT the Commanders’ facility between 5 and 5:30 a.m. every Wednesday through Friday during the season to begin working on the game plan for the upcoming opponent.
Daniels spends around 30 minutes watching film, sometimes alone in the quarterbacks meeting room and other times on his iPad while soaking in the hot tub. Then, around 6 a.m., Daniels, Kingsbury and quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard head over to the practice bubble to walk through the approximately 60 to 70 plays on the game plan list for that week.
“I mean, 6 a.m. is early for a younger cat,” Kingsbury said, “[Daniels] wants to be there. That’s the thing I appreciate. I’ve never once felt that energy [from him] like, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ It’s like, ‘Let’s go!’ And that to me is the most impressive thing I’ve seen so far is just the want to be great and the competitive stamina to be … always open to learning.”
Indeed, Daniels does preparation with Washington’s virtual reality technology — something he started his last year at LSU — and work on the headset either before or after practice every day. But Kingsbury said, “He likes to be out there doing it, seeing it.”
“The best lesson in life is failure,” Daniels said of the extra reps the morning walk-throughs afford him. “So, I get to fail in those types of situations and move forward. So, by the time game time comes, I’m not thinking about [it], just going out there and playing.”
To simulate game situations, Kingsbury calls in the plays with his phone, then runs routes. Daniels, wearing a helmet, gets the playcall through his AirPods before receiving the snap from Pritchard. Before the snap, Kingsbury tells Daniels what coverage he should expect and reminds him about his drops and reads. The goal, they say, is to paint a mental picture so Daniels can visualize what it would look like in a game.
Kingsbury is often the primary receiver. Sometimes he’ll say he’s covered so Daniels has to find his next read. The three men go over various in-game scenarios: 30 seconds left, need a touchdown, red zone work. They’ll call out one-word plays that have multiple options and a specific snap count — a two-word play, Taylor Swift, resulted in a touchdown pass to rookie Ben Sinnott earlier this year.
Kingsbury and Pritchard said Daniels rarely needs a reminder of his responsibility on a given play.
“He’s had this material for less than 12 hours,” Pritchard said. “He’s really in tune with where we are already.”
Daniels receives the game plan from the staff around 6 p.m. Tuesday, studies it for 90 minutes and often draws out the plays in a notebook.
“When I can get here in the morning, I’m able to go in there and kind of just walk through it and I’ll visualize it, walk through this or the reads, footwork,” he said, “and if I have any questions? Kliff and [Pritchard] are answering them right then and there.”
Daniels’ meticulous game prep doesn’t end in the bubble. He texts Kingsbury about plays he’s seen in other games or watched on YouTube. Kingsbury likes that the plays he sends match Washington’s concepts.
On the morning of the season opener at Tampa Bay, Daniels asked Kingsbury for one more walk-through before heading to the stadium. So Kingsbury, Pritchard, assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough and quarterbacks Mariota and Jeff Driskel headed to a ballroom for one final round of mental reps. This scene has repeated itself every game-day morning since — a routine Kingsbury said he’s never seen before but helps explain what he’s seen from Daniels’ way of processing all along.
“His football knowledge is beyond what I think any rookie quarterback anybody could ever possibly expect it to be,” Kingsbury said. “He’ll bring up things and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I didn’t even think about that, but it’s a valid point.’ He’ll make corrections on plays that I’ve designed, I’ll f— him up and he’ll be like, ‘No, no coach, you were on this side when we were doing our walk-through.’ ‘Really? Yeah. OK. You’re right.'”
And a key part of that knowledge is homed in the bubble, ending around two and a half hours before the first team meeting of the day.
“All I know,” one assistant coach said, “is that when I get here they’re coming out of the bubble.”
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DANIELS HAS ALREADY become known for being a late-game hero. He has led six game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, which highlights the competitiveness and calmness under pressure teammates have seen from him all season.
There was the 27-yard pass to McLaurin in a Week 3 “Monday Night Football” win over Cincinnati with 2:17 left for a 38-26 lead. He led game-winning drives versus the New York Giants in Week 2; against Chicago in Week 8; against Philadelphia in Week 16; against Atlanta in Week 17; and at Tampa Bay in the wild-card playoff win on Jan. 12.
Daniels leads the NFL with six touchdown passes in the final four minutes of regulation (and posted a 95.6 quarterback rating).
“It’s what you live for,” he said. “I’m just competitive, man. I just want to win. I’m going to do whatever it takes to win.”
During practices, Washington’s quarterbacks will compete to see who the most accurate passer is while throwing into a net with three designated landing spots. On Fridays, they toss a ball from about 30 to 40 yards into a yellow garbage can positioned in the corner of the end zone. Afterward, Daniels and Blough play a game of horse with throws into the net.
“He likes to trash talk. He’s got a good trash talk game. I’ll give him that,” Blough said. “I’m only 29, but he makes me feel like an old man sometimes and he can tell I don’t have the same arm strength I used to and it’s the reason I retired. He’ll remind me of that.”
The joy Daniels brings while competing shows itself in each game. Washington guard Nick Allegretti said sometimes he’ll hear Daniels scream at the end of scrambles.
“It’s the excitement to yell,” Allegretti said. “It’s like you’re stealing yards, and it brings energy to the whole team. It definitely gives him juice. Whenever that happens the flow just starts to feel really, really good. He’s cooking.”
Teammates say Daniels, who could become the first rookie QB in history to start in a Super Bowl, is even-keeled in tense moments, which is a by-product, Daniels said, of all the work he’s put in behind the scenes — before the season and during.
After Washington beat Tampa Bay with a last-second field goal, Daniels sat stone-faced on the bench for a second, before standing up, smiling and then calmly walking to an interview.
“He has a very unique calmness about it,” Johnson said. “A silent assassin.”