Jayden Daniels is ahead of schedule in more ways than one.
Daniels led an overtime drive in which he told the Commanders offensive unit to jump on his back, leading Washington to a 30-24 win Sunday night at Northwest Stadium.
The walk-off win occurred when Daniels found tight end Zach Ertz in the end zone. This clinched the game and the Commanders’ playoff birth, improving their 2024 record to 11-5 going into the season finale at Dallas.
The Commanders’ rookie quarterback is also ahead of Bears’ rookie and 2024 first-overall selection Caleb Williams. You recall Williams went to the Bears, who actually won seven games in 2023, but had the first overall draft pick because the Carolina Panthers had given up the farm to the Bears in a 2022 trade.
The Commanders (4-13) chose Daniels second overall, and not a single NFL analyst declared Daniels had a better supporting talent on the offense than the Bears did for Williams. Yet, the Commanders are 11-5, and the Bears have lost ten straight, never recovering from their ‘Hail Mary’ loss to the Commanders.
Even more, did you know that looking at each of the other quarterbacks drafted No. 1 overall since 2016, Daniels has earned a playoff birth faster than every single one of them? Yes, not a single one of the seven rookie quarterbacks drafted first overall made the playoffs in their rookie season.
Now, of course, it might be argued that the first overall pick went to the worst team. It is true in cases, but it is also not true in cases where there was a trade (Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, Jared Goff).
Keep in mind Daniels was chosen by a Washington team that had not had a winning record since the 2016 season, and finished 2023 4-13, losing their last nine games, several in embarrassing blowouts.
- 2016 Jared Goff: (Playoffs year 2)
- 2018 Baker Mayfield: (Playoffs year 3)
- 2019 Kyler Murray: (Playoffs year 3)
- 2020 Joe Burrow: (Playoffs year 2)
- 2021 Trevor Lawrence: Playoffs year 2)
- 2023 Bryce Young: (Playoffs year ??)
- 2024 Caleb Williams: (Playoffs year ??)