The Jayden Daniels Tracker

[Dlts20]

Thanks for posting that Dlts20 ...

Couple thoughts. I didn't care for the 'Blough' and him talking like they are more 'buds' than Blough being his new OC but there are a couple of mitigating things. First of all, I think JD is a true professional and committed to his 'craft'. He's an OC's dream in terms of work ethic and motivation. He's always seemed to me to be the anti-RG3 in terms of being highly coachable. So Blough is likely not going to have to 'assert his authority' in order to get JD to listen to him. Secondly, I think there are situations where a much more collaborative and horizontal relationship (vs. more structured vertical one... ie... traditional coach/player) can work. Where their 'relationship' will come most into play is when things aren't going well. We will have to see how it goes if/when that happens.

One passing comment Jayden made when asked about what he expects from the new offense... He mentioned play action. I suspect that is going to be the single biggest difference we see with Blough - doing lots of play action from a more rushing dominant scheme. Jayden is supposedly very, very good in play action, we just haven't gotten to see him do it a lot. So that could be a major positive.

I do think that we will see more play action but I'm not sold that we will be as run dominant as people assume. I think that a lot depends on Jaydens development but by all accounts we play to have a healthy McLaurin, a significant upgrade at receiver 2, and a significant upgrade at TE. I don't think that we are doing that just to run all day.

The truth is that Kliff was more sold on Jayden than anyone after year one so he really expected Jayden to dominate through the air but injuries to the WRs, a struggling line to start the season, and a slow regression from Jayden made it look like we need to pass a lot less but our line is better now, the skill positions should be a lot better, and if Jayden is back to being Jayden then I still want to air it out a lot also.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

You don’t draft a QB second overall and then take the ball out of their hands the majority of the snaps.

You have to let your best players be the best players.

Thats why they need to continue to use JD5 as a run threat. And why they need to let him throw the ball. A lot.

They do need to have some semblance of balance, but that’s not necessarily run/pass. It’s spreading the ball around.

Using some more play action and under center will certainly be part of the development.

I keep posting this, but Aikman said early in his career he hated PA because you turn your back on the defense and then have to spin around, set, re-orient yourself, read and throw. And it’s a lot and it’s hard.

So I’d expect some growing pains with Daniels as he does more of this. He didn’t do it at LSU and it wasn’t a huge part of Kliff’s offense. Especially if they plan to feature PA from under center the way Ben Johnson and the Shanahan style offense does, there will be some bumps in the development.

 

[Bulldog]

I think Daniels needs to run more like Maye, when there is a clear opening to scramble and there is open field to cover or go out of bounds.

Maye takes some hits on runs but he doesn't run between the tackles for the most part and we all saw Daniels running the ball up the middle on first downs at times this year where he was open to be hit by 310 pound defensive tackles and 260 pound linebackers.

Kliff evidently didn't differentiate between Daniels frame and physique and what Hurts, Jackson and even Maye have in terms of more durable profiles.

 

[Dlts20]

The Pats scored the least amount of postseason points ever to make the SB and they were scoreless until garbage time in this game.

 

[Conn]

The Pats scored the least amount of postseason points ever to make the SB and they were scoreless until garbage time in this game.

Pretty crazy. They ran a gauntlet of tough D’s in the playoffs, but clearly some pause needs to be taken on the Maye vs. Daniels comparisons for the people victory-lapping a poor Daniels’ year. Maye wrecked an easy schedule this year just like Daniels did last year, but Daniels looked like he belonged in the playoffs at least. Maye was dragged along through the playoffs until he put up a HISTORICALLY poor performance in the SB. Daniels was elite through the playoffs and beat some impressive teams with his arm and legs in a way Maye just didn’t. Jury is still out, even for people who erroneously like to develop opinions on this stuff super early

 

[Boone]

You know a QB is playing poorly when the announcers keep referencing it. Cris Collinsworth talked all night about how Maye was missing wide open receivers. He was just plain awful. Of course, he had a lot of pressure from the Seahawks defense, but even when he didn't he was inaccurate as hell. He clearly wasn't mentally ready for that game. Maybe he will grow in his ability to calm the eff down in big games going forward, but right now, I would take Jayden 100 times out of 100 over him because I don't believe he can be rattled in that kind of a way by a moment being too big for him. Oh - and he's a better QB

 

[BayouBrave86]

 

[Conn]

You know a QB is playing poorly when the announcers keep referencing it. Cris Collinsworth talked all night about how Maye was missing wide open receivers. He was just plain awful. Of course, he had a lot of pressure from the Seahawks defense, but even when he didn't he was inaccurate as hell. He clearly wasn't mentally ready for that game. Maybe he will grow in his ability to calm the eff down in big games going forward, but right now, I would take Jayden 100 times out of 100 over him because I don't believe he can be rattled in that kind of a way by a moment being too big for him. Oh - and he's a better QB

Maye having less of a “clutch gene” was a criticism many had for him. This is beyond that, because he was straight up bad for an entire playoff run, so something is lacking in his game overall right now. But it certainly factors in that he’s also not HIM right now in high leverage moments. I’m not sure that’s learnable beyond letting a guy learn to be a game manager in big moments. Which isn’t what anyone dreams of with young franchise guys like this.

 

[Chris]

Maye’s end of season results at the college level had a similar pattern throughout his 2 years starting at UNC.

0-4 in 2022 (GT, NC St, Clem, Ore)
0-2 in 2023 (Clem, NC St)

He is a big, strong armed, inaccurate passer but not a winner that raises those around him. ( He does look good in a uniform though.)

 

[Bulldog]

It goes back to what I said before, the Patriots only made the Super Bowl because Nix fortuitously was injured at the end of the previous game and Stidham is not a starting caliber NFL quarterback.

The Patriots don't have wide receivers or an offensive line that is playoff or Super Bowl capable IMO, I was surprised NE made it as far as they did.

When we come back and look at Jayden Daniels I think we can acknowledge that while the supporting cast on offense was not stellar across the board, we have players like Tunsil, Cosmi and McLaurin that are better than their counterparts on the Patriots.

What Peters and Co. haven't done is get the defense to be even NFL caliber.

As they indicated yesterday, of the top 8 defenses in the NFL, SIX of their teams made the playoffs.

 

[NoCalSkins]

Ideally, I want JD5 to run more like Hurts, but it is going to require a Top 5 O-line. Hurts rarely gets his biggest runs under duress, it is usually because he drops back and the O-line is pushing the pass rush into space so if there are no pass plays to be made, he has room to go get 15 up the middle without a defender anywhere close. That is luxury vs a QB having to run for his life out of necessity.

 

[Dlts20]

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Ideally, I want JD5 to run more like Hurts, but it is going to require a Top 5 O-line. Hurts rarely gets his biggest runs under duress, it is usually because he drops back and the O-line is pushing the pass rush into space so if there are no pass plays to be made, he has room to go get 15 up the middle without a defender anywhere close. That is luxury vs a QB having to run for his life out of necessity.

We might have had a top 5 OL last year at the end after Cosmi got his legs under him and Connelly had a few games under his belt.

I think folks underestimate how good the OL was. It was really good.

What we lacked was literally everything else on offense from a skill position perspective. Mostly due to injury.

 

[NoCalSkins]

The other argument for JD5 is that he so far hasn't had a playoff caliber roster around him like every other QB that is on the list. We have yet to see what JD5 can do on a team that is able to carry their fair share of the burden. Darnold's sample size of being a good QB is so low and only once he got a couple really good rosters around him yet everyone is ready to call him a top QB because of the Superbowl, in which he didn't even play terribly great in to begin with.

 

[Boone]

One thing to keep in mind (as highlighted on Galdi’s podcast this morning) is just how little Jayden has operated under center. This will be almost completely new territory for him if Blough really does ask Daniels to operate primarily under center. In 2025, Jayden was under center for only 17 plays (and guessing some of those were probably very short yardage downs where we needed a QB sneak or short RB gain to get a first down.

Daniels is going to have to learn to play in an entirely different way. Not suggesting he cannot learn to be a mostly under center QB, but there may be more of a learning curve there than we are acknowledging.

 

[Bulldog]

Agreed, it's finally time to project Jayden to a role in an NFL offense that is sustainable. And that is a transition, but one that pays off over time. Otherwise, you are looking at Daniels being a more capable version of Kyler Murray, whose performance over time due to injuries and lack of prototypical NFL development, lead him to being quite average.

In that regard Kliff did him no favors. He only stretched out what the learning curve was going to look like once Washington came to the decision we wanted Jayden to stay upright and last long enough to sign a second contract with the team.

Kliff did what was best for Kliff from the get go. Usually you see teams take players high in Round 1 and treat them like gems that need to be managed properly to ensure they remain key assets.

Here we used Daniels as if we had a season or two to squeeze everything out of the tube and leave nothing for the future.

To his credit, Mike Vrabel used cap space to put together a legit NFL defense. He needs to improve his OL and go out and get a legit #1 receiver, which Stefon Diggs is no longer counted as being at age 32.

But Maye was brought along steadily but more slowly but with the thought of what he can become in the future in the NFL as he develops. His upside may not be as high as Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels overall but that is reflected in the fact he was taken AFTER those players and New England took the best remaining candidate at #3.

 

[burgold]

One thing to keep in mind (as highlighted on Galdi’s podcast this morning) is just how little Jayden has operated under center. This will be almost completely new territory for him if Blough really does ask Daniels to operate primarily under center. In 2025, Jayden was under center for only 17 plays (and guessing some of those were probably very short yardage downs where we needed a QB sneak or short RB gain to get a first down.

Daniels is going to have to learn to play in an entirely different way. Not suggesting he cannot learn to be a mostly under center QB, but there may be more of a learning curve there than we are acknowledging.

I believe Daniels was never asked to sneak. In fact, I remember them subbing him out for Mariota when they wanted to go for a sneak or their own tush push.

I agree this could be a transition for Daniels and he'll really need to work to get his steps and his eyes right, but it could be a blessing in disguise. Daniels is a QB who loves to move. I wonder if dropping back will feel natural to him? I strongly suspect dropping back and rolling out is totally in his wheelhouse.

 

[Riggo44]

I don't recall if it was Galdi's or Keim's podcast that mentioned the reason Daniels wasn't put on IR last year was so he could work on being under center more. It sounds like this has been in the works for longer than reported initially.

 

[Phantvm]

If Daniels can master this offense he has legit Brady threatening Goat potential imo. He has to climb this hill first though.

 

[Conn]

If Daniels can master this offense he has legit Brady threatening Goat potential imo. He has to climb this hill first though.

That’s a pretty ridiculous load to place on anyone imo. I think it’s fair (and more than optimistic enough) to say that if he stays healthy he has potential to be the best QB in the league with growth and if we build a good situation. He’s already among the most talented. But the Brady stuff is unneeded hyperbole lol. Halfway through Brady’s actual career you would’ve been crazy to say he’d accomplish all that he did. So putting that on a young guy who hasn’t won anything yet is just silly