Offensive Rookie of the Year (OROY) is one of the most coveted awards, but we may already have a runaway winner. The Washington Commanders quarterback (QB) Jayden Daniels has excelled in the National Football League (NFL) so far, and his talent has led to the Commanders sitting atop the National Football Conference (NFC) East. He is just a rookie but already looks like a seasoned player in the NFL. Compared to his counterpart Caleb Williams, who went first overall, Daniels is ahead of Williams right now and up to this point. Daniels is playing like a true franchise QB.
The 23-year-old, who is 6 ‘4 and 210 lbs. from Louisiana State University (LSU). was selected in this year’s NFL Draft by the Washington Commanders as the second draft pick. At LSU, he succeeded Joe Burrow, the Cincinnati Bengals QB, and had an exceptional season. He was sensational in college and led all Division 1 schools in total yards, passer rating, QB rating and many other categories (LSU). His resume is stacked and in addition, he won the Heisman Trophy in 2023: The most valuable college football award. Additionally, earlier this year at the Exceptional in Sports Performance Yearly Award (ESPYS), he won the best college athlete award in men’s sports.
Through ten weeks, Daniels is eighth in the league in completion percentage for quarterbacks at 68.7% and has the fourth-best QB rating at 71.3% (ESPN). Daniels has nine passing touchdowns, four rushing touchdowns, 2,147 passing yards and exactly 464 rushing yards (ESPN). He’s a dual-threat player, which is one of the many reasons he is so dangerous to play against. Daniels can make plays out of nothing, and his scrambling skill is excellent, which results in positive yards from lost plays. The Commanders are sixth in the league in yards per attempt at 8.2, they are sixth in total touchdowns at 30, fourth in yards per game at 377, fourth in points a game at 29 and are second in total yards up to this point (ESPN and NFL.com). All these great offensive stats are the result of Daniels’ strong quarterback play. He has blossomed Washington into one of the league’s best offenses, and the more points the team puts up, the better chance of winning they have each game.
In order for the Commanders to sustain their success, the LSU product has to maintain his play. He is doing a great job not giving the ball away, which gives Kliff Kingsbury, the offensive coordinator for the team, more chances to put up points on the scoreboard. Daniels is averaging 8.5 carries a game, and Dan Quinn, the head coach, would most likely want to reduce that number so he can limit his quarterback to the risk of injury. To this point, Daniels is clicking with Terry McLaurin, Washington’s star receiver, and I believe their chemistry will keep growing, and they will become one of the league’s best duos. I really like Daniels’ play, and he has been pretty mistake-prone through ten weeks. The real test for him will be the upcoming games against Dallas and Philadelphia, and that’s a really big make-or-break moment for him in his rookie season. The Commanders are 7-3, sixth in the NFC and are second in the NFC East, which is incredible, but they still have half the season left.
Not only is the LSU QB an amazing player, he is exciting to watch and gets fans off their seat. If he continues to dazzle, he could make a case for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and OROY which would be enormous for him in his first year in the NFL. He has already brought lots of hope to the organization already in year one, and it is pretty scary to the rest of the league in the coming years as he keeps growing. Daniels has been brilliant in the league and under him, the Commanders have a very real chance of bringing playoff football to the Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia area. You know Daniels is legit if NFL legend and current CBS broadcaster Tony Romo said, “He [Jayden Daniels] is a future MVP.”
Comments: Daniels injured his rib in the first quarter of the Commanders’ Week 7 victory over the Carolina Panthers, which kept him out for the rest of the game. The way Daniels plays, he could be more prone to injury, so he has to be more cautious in the coming weeks.
