Jayden Daniels' Commanders debut showcases one of the traits team brass extolled most

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — A little over three months ago, when the Washington Commanders plucked LSU’s Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 pick in the draft, general manager Adam Peters called back to his first impressions of the quarterback. Among many things, a particular trait stuck out.

“He’s the best deep-ball thrower in the draft,” Peters said last May. “And that’s even before we start watching him run — and the way he runs, he just takes your soul as a defense.”

More than three months later, Daniels took it upon himself to present an illustration in the first drive of his NFL career in the Commanders' 20-17 preseason loss to the New York Jets on Saturday.

Facing third-and-6 from his own 34-yard line, Daniels checked out of a screen pass into a deep go route along the right sideline, then dropped a perfectly arched deep pass to wideout Dyami Brown in single coverage.

After the 42-yard gain, he turned and looked at the sideline with a smile. Most likely because he didn’t ask to go off script at the line of scrimmage. Instead, he just did it.

Surely, it had to be an encouraging moment for new head coach Dan Quinn — if not the entire Washington Commanders franchise and faithful — as they pin their hopes to a player who has the potential to change the next decade and beyond.

“It’s an interesting question, checking into it. I thought of [the movie] "Top Gun," [when Tom Cruise asks] ‘Do I have permission to buzz the tower?’” Quinn said, drawing laughter. “[And the answer is] ‘No Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.’ I think on that one, [Jayden] wanted to ask for forgiveness and not permission, and then throw an absolute dime over the top to Dyami to go. It was a really cool play. I think it probably illustrates for him, the awareness and checks and things that go into it. So, yeah, he did not ask for permission. He went ahead and buzzed the tower anyway. … He was smiling back at us [on the sideline]. He knew he went off script.”

In a preseason where a multitude of teams are looking for encouraging signs of development from their young quarterbacks — and most especially the six teams that selected QBs in the first round of the 2024 draft — Daniels' moment on Saturday unquestionably stood out. Particularly on a drive that he ultimately finished by showcasing the running threat that Peters also extolled, with Daniels easily trotting in for a three-yard touchdown on a perfectly executed run option.

Yes, it was one drive. Yes, it was against a mix of Jets backup defenders. But as coaching staffs and front offices will tell you this time year, it’s about seeing quarterbacks how quarterbacks command the set of circumstances in front of them. And in Daniels' case, he not only performed nearly perfectly on his one drive of the game, but his willingness to change into a big play on his own — literally in his first time at the controls, in the middle of calling the play at the line of scrimmage — will raise plenty of eyebrows across the team. Especially after Daniels himself credited offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury with giving him some freedom in practices to check out of plays when he didn’t like the defensive look.

Taking that freedom over to the game? That apparently was something Daniels did himself.

“It’s just something throughout practice, throughout the time I’ve been here that Kliff was like, ‘If you don’t like this look, check it,’” Daniels said. “So, they came out in a certain look and we were running a play, I didn’t like it so I just checked it. … It was [supposed to be] a screen, but everybody was within five yards of the line of scrimmage, so it was going to be a dead play. So I just checked it and gave my guy a chance to make a play.”

And the smile to the sideline?

“They knew it was like, going out there and just having fun — I kind off talked about, hey, jokingly, ‘I might check a play,’” Daniels said. “And then, you know, it just happened.”

That’s not an unprecedented event in the history of rookie quarterbacks, of course. But it is unique when it happens in a rookie quarterback’s first drive ever — then results in a big win on the play. For the Commanders, it’s another step forward in Daniels’ development, and maybe the first small step away from a long, frustrating history at the quarterback position.