The Jayden Daniels Tracker

[Mooney44]

Has he improved his slide?

 

[RedWolf]

Has he improved his slide?

???

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Yep, I’m sure you know Manning was also famous for this. It was his biggest thing really, he just also happened to have a computer for a brain

They were actually remarkably similar. Bill O'Brien called Brady's brain "they IBM." Peyton could recall anything and everything. Both had good but not great arms, drilled fundamentals endlessly, were not exactly mobile, but were dead on balls accurate almost all of the time.

I really wonder if you flipped the two of their situations, does the success flip with them? I'm not sure.

I remember when Manning got to Denver, he made them run some of his footwork drills, and they were like, "why? that's an old drill?" And Peyton was like "BECAUSE I'M GOODAMN PEYTON MANNING AND I AM COMMANDING YOU TO RUN THE DRILLS I TELL YOU TO RUN!" And they did and he threw 39 TDs his first year and 55 the second.

Also, as I was looking up the TD numbers, I noticed something really odd: in Peyton's record setting year, 2013, he threw for 5,477 yards, 68% completion, 8.3 yards per atemp, 55 TDs and 10 INTs, and his QBR was 79.9. That actually seemed low, but then I looked at the top QBRs for the last several years, nobody has hit it: 2024 - Lamar Jackson 77.3, 2023 - Brock Purdy 73.4, 2022 Patrick Mahomes 79.0 (that's pretty close), 2021 - Aaron Rodgers 74.1, 2020 Aaron Rodger 79.8 (SO CLOSE), 2019 Lamar Jackson 83.0 And finally!

A few folks have hit it, but not many.

 

[mistertim]

It's interesting to see the differences in guys like Brady and Peyton and guys like Mahomes and (hopefully) JD.

Brady and Peyton are like elite classically trained world class concert pianists. They controlled everything that went on around them, obsessively practiced every single day - scales, arpeggios, progressions, any pieces they were working on. Consistency and precision were the ultimate expressions. The result was insanely precise and consistent performances.

Mahomes is like an improvisational jazz virtuoso. He knows the fundamentals and practices them, understand all the music theory, but uses it as suggestions instead of strict rules. Insanely high natural musical talent and just "feels" music as a second language. His technique may seem odd at times, but the results are amazing.

If his trajectory continues, JD could possibly be a fusion of these two styles.

 

[Conn]

It's interesting to see the differences in guys like Brady and Peyton and guys like Mahomes and (hopefully) JD.

Brady and Peyton are like elite classically trained world class concert pianists. They controlled everything that went on around them, obsessively practiced every single day - scales, arpeggios, progressions, any pieces they were working on. Consistency and precision were the ultimate expressions. The result was insanely precise and consistent performances.

Mahomes is like an improvisational jazz virtuoso. He knows the fundamentals and practices them, understand all the music theory, but uses it as suggestions instead of strict rules. Insanely high natural musical talent and just "feels" music as a second language. His technique may seem odd at times, but the results are amazing.

If his trajectory continues, JD could possibly be a fusion of these two styles.

Great post, well said.

I always thought of it like this: Brady and Peyton are living, breathing teaching tape. Mahomes is so talented that he’s elite while doing things you would never want to teach young players to do. I agree that Daniels could be a fusion of these two schools

 

[Conn]

Quick little interview snippet where Wagner says the thing that’s changed most since he entered the league is that OC’s basically micromanage the QB (I’ve seen this referred to as “holding the controller”), names Mahomes, Lamar, Burrow, Daniels as exceptions

 

[AngryChuckT]

I posted this on my social media last night. I don't think my Bears fan friend was too happy.

 

[Enforcer]

I posted this on my social media last night. I don't think my Bears fan friend was too happy.


View attachment 12294

HECK YES!! Love it. My wife's side of the family is from Chicago. After the Bears game in '23 when Fields And DJ Moore went bananas on us - her brothers were beyond annoying. And I couldn't really say anything.

But then after last season and especially after the Hail Mary game - I have thoroughly enjoyed clowning on them. Bahahaha

 

[mistertim]

If Caleb busts, or even just ends up as decent, and JD continues his trajectory and becomes a superstar top 2 QB, Bears fans will have to be put in a mental ward. They passed on Mahomes for Trubisky and then passed on Daniels for Caleb (though the Caleb thing is much more understandable...the Trubisky pick was just baffling).

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

It's interesting to see the differences in guys like Brady and Peyton and guys like Mahomes and (hopefully) JD.

Brady and Peyton are like elite classically trained world class concert pianists. They controlled everything that went on around them, obsessively practiced every single day - scales, arpeggios, progressions, any pieces they were working on. Consistency and precision were the ultimate expressions. The result was insanely precise and consistent performances.

Mahomes is like an improvisational jazz virtuoso. He knows the fundamentals and practices them, understand all the music theory, but uses it as suggestions instead of strict rules. Insanely high natural musical talent and just "feels" music as a second language. His technique may seem odd at times, but the results are amazing.

If his trajectory continues, JD could possibly be a fusion of these two styles.

As a former music major who studied conducting, I LOVE this analogy.

The one thing I would say, however, is the improvisational jazz artist has to be as technically sound as the elite classically trained musicians. In fact, if you put a piece of Bach in front of them, they could probably play it just as well as the classically trained musician.

The difference is the jazz virtuoso is ALSO creative. So they can play whatever you put in front of them, because they are technically that good.

But they can also take a theme, and then go off and improvise for 30 minutes and keep everybody's attention.

The skill the classically trained musicians have, typically, which the jazz players don't is the ability to memorize extremely large, long and complex pieces of music and play them on demand. You could walk up to Yo-Yo Ma, and say "play me (name anything) and he would play it. And then if you asked him to do it again, he would play it again, EXACTLY the same. In fact, there is a funny story, Yo-Yo Ma was invited to play during an episode of The West Wing. And the director said "you don't actually have to play, we can mix it in after, that way it's consistent through all the takes." And he replied, "oh, it's going to be exactly the same if I play it in each of the takes." And so the music you hear in the episode is him actually playing on set.

I actually believe JD5 might just be both of these types of musicians. When needed, he can play Tchaikovsky's piano concerto #1 from memory. Or he can riff off a tune. Whichever you want him to do, he can do either. That's very rare. And he's not there yet. He still has to improve and prove it for more than one year. But he could get there.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

If Caleb busts, or even just ends up as decent, and JD continues his trajectory and becomes a superstar top 2 QB, Bears fans will have to be put in a mental ward. They passed on Mahomes for Trubisky and then passed on Daniels for Caleb (though the Caleb thing is much more understandable...the Trubisky pick was just baffling).

I don't think Caleb is going to bust. But eh, you never know.

Though, Caleb Williams, apart from a very few people in the media, was pretty much the consensus #1 pick. You don't get fired for picking the consensus #1 pick. It's actually similar with Chase Young. Of all of Ron's transgressions, Young was absolutely the only player you could pick at #2 without the benefit of hindsight. You could trade the pick, but you couldn't pick any other player at #2.

The fan base which definitely needs to go to the mental ward, however, are the Bills Mafia fools. They are the ones which traded the #10 overall pick to the Chiefs so they could select Mahomes who has now essentially tortured them for half a decade.

Personally, I am fine with that because I hate Bills Mafia. I laugh at their distress and take enjoyment in their tears.

 

[Conn]

If Caleb busts, or even just ends up as decent, and JD continues his trajectory and becomes a superstar top 2 QB, Bears fans will have to be put in a mental ward. They passed on Mahomes for Trubisky and then passed on Daniels for Caleb (though the Caleb thing is much more understandable...the Trubisky pick was just baffling).

What’s not understandable is that they never even really met with Daniels or visited with him, they were so performatively locked into Caleb Williams that entire offseason due to the rumors that his camp would have him refuse to play for the lowly Bears. They spent months making him feel like the prettiest girl at the ball so as not to offend him. It prevented them from even engaging in a normal draft process and the hype on Williams was high enough at the time that almost no one criticized them for it.

That’ll make it look extra silly if Williams is a Trevor Lawrence type and Daniels is a superstar.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

What’s not understandable is that they never even really met with Daniels or visited with him, they were so performatively locked into Caleb Williams that entire offseason due to the rumors that his camp would have him refuse to play for the lowly Bears. They spent months making him feel like the prettiest girl at the ball so as not to offend him. It prevented them from even engaging in a normal draft process and the hype on Williams was high enough at the time that almost no one criticized them for it.

That’ll make it look extra silly if Williams is a Trevor Lawrence type and Daniels is a superstar.

Yeah I agree with this. They locked in early and just rode the wave. They should have r done more diligence on all of the QBs.

I think you could have argued any of Maye, Williams or Daniels could have been #1, and honestly all could be success in the right situations.

I think if Caleb had landed here there is a good chance he would have been better. He was in a terrible situation. Same with Maye.

I can’t recall 2 top 5 QBs having new coaches after their first year. In fact, I honestly can’t think of any top 5 picks whose coach was fired after their first year first year. Mostly because when you’re picking that high, it’s typically a new HC.

 

[Conn]

Yeah I agree with this. They locked in early and just rode the wave. They should have r done more diligence on all of the QBs.

I think you could have argued any of Maye, Williams or Daniels could have been #1, and honestly all could be success in the right situations.

I think if Caleb had landed here there is a good chance he would have been better. He was in a terrible situation. Same with Maye.

I can’t recall 2 top 5 QBs having new coaches after their first year. In fact, I honestly can’t think of any top 5 picks whose coach was fired after their first year first year. Mostly because when you’re picking that high, it’s typically a new HC.

We know the coaching sucked for Caleb last year, but this is sort of revisionist history because coming out of that draft the general consensus was that while they should have reset the organization, the roster was the best situation a rookie QB had EVER walked into, especially for a #1 overall pick. The perception was that they loaded him up with weapons around him, the OL and running game was considered good, and the D was supposed to be good.

We know they shouldn’t have let that desperate regime touch their #1 “generational” QB prospect but at the time he was considered to have walked into an unbelievable situation for a #1 overall QB, it was all anyone talked about

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

We know the coaching sucked for Caleb last year, but this is sort of revisionist history because coming out of that draft the general consensus was that while they should have reset the organization, the roster was the best situation a rookie QB had EVER walked into, especially for a #1 overall pick. The perception was that they loaded him up with weapons around him, the OL and running game was considered good, and the D was supposed to be good.

We know they shouldn’t have let that desperate regime touch their #1 “generational” QB prospect but at the time he was considered to have walked into an unbelievable situation for a #1 overall QB, it was all anyone talked about

You know, you might be right.

I went back and looked at something else, however, which I kidnof had forgotten until your post: when we played the Bears, they were 4-2. We were 5-2. Absent the Hail Noah, they get to 5-2 and we drop to 5-3, and who knows what happens the rest of the season.

Caleb didn't look as good as Jayden early, but both teams were winning.

Then after the hail mary loss, the wheels completely fell off the cart and they lost 7 in a row and the whole thing was a debacle.

Eh. You're right that Caleb walked into a good situation roster wise. But the coaching, even during the winning, was an absolute mess. The offensive scheme was a disaster.

 

[mistertim]

Yeah I actually recall that being said as well - that Caleb would be walking into possibly the best situation that a #1 overall QB pick could be in, because they weren't an awful team. They only had the #1 overall pick because of the trade with the Panthers the year before. Then Bryce Young was awful and the Bears were gifted the #1 pick in 2024.

The Bears had a pretty good defense, some good weapons on offense (though a very mediocre OL) and the thinking was that all they were missing was a competent QB. The fit seemed perfect.

Then when Caleb (and the Bears in general) struggled, revisionist history kicked in. Bears fans and even sports media were saying that it's not Caleb's fault because he walked into the worst situation possible, etc.

Now, it's true that the coaching was awful, as was the OL. But Caleb also caused plenty of his own problems. And it's still revisionist history, because that is definitely not what was being said before and right after the draft.

 

[skinsmarydu]

As a former music major who studied conducting, I LOVE this analogy.

Never knew this, me too.
And your analogy toward football was perfectly stated.

 

[Chris]

I can’t recall 2 top 5 QBs having new coaches after their first year. In fact, I honestly can’t think of any top 5 picks whose coach was fired after their first year first year. Mostly because when you’re picking that high, it’s typically a new HC.

Bryce Young qualifies. Like C. Williams he was picked #1 overall and his HC didn’t even make it through 1 season. That move was made by Tepper though so could qualify for an asterik.

 

[RandyHolt]

Trent's dirty ass unkempt bacteria laden helmet caused lesions or growths on his head... the claim being the org failed to provide a basic sanitary environment for players. We all know our facilities were the worst in the league and his issue fits the shithole org narrative. I for one understood why Trent would want out; I believe the helmet thing was just the final straw. IIRC fans didn't turn on him much at all.... who could blame him for wanting out. I believe fans turned on Lavar more. And yes I am still pissed we never let Lavar try to block kicks - hands on hips playing for the fake FG that never happened while watching the game losing kick every time. Talk about misusing a players LT type skill set.

Back OT even if Caleb has as a better career than all the others in his class the way Chicago nurtured him predraft was hilarious. It may remain a top org moment for decades that Jayden's hail mary ruined their season.

 

[bowhunter]

Trent's dirty ass unkempt bacteria laden helmet caused lesions or growths on his head... the claim being the org failed to provide a basic sanitary environment for players. We all know our facilities were the worst in the league and his issue fits the shithole org narrative. I for one understood why Trent would want out; I believe the helmet thing was just the final straw. IIRC fans didn't turn on him much at all.... who could blame him for wanting out. I believe fans turned on Lavar more. And yes I am still pissed we never let Lavar try to block kicks - hands on hips playing for the fake FG that never happened while watching the game losing kick every time. Talk about misusing a players LT type skill set.

Back OT even if Caleb has as a better career than all the others in his class the way Chicago nurtured him predraft was hilarious. It may remain a top org moment for decades that Jayden's hail mary ruined their season.

not gonna lie, I thought "OT" and "LT" were referring to Offensive and Left tackle, I'm easily confused