The Jayden Daniels Tracker

[skinsinparadise]

 

[NickyJ]

Yeah, I'm lost on how someone can say "Jayden is going to elevate his WRs" while also saying that Jayden should run less. Jayden running is what makes the defense have to let up its pressure on the WRs. What else can he do to "elevate" them?

 

[HTTR]

Not a ton of planned runs for Jayden in general. He's thing is usually scrambiling when nothing is open. When people talk about, Jayden you are very good, who gives a crap who your WRs are, just figure it out. There is something to that -- and its simply, heck the WR isn't open, so I am taking off. They don't really have Wrs that are great seperators by reputation, so its Jayden run. And maybe in 2027 they finally address this. But unless they sign someone like Diggs -- the stress is on Jayden to run. And run a lot in 2026 IMO.

Question for you (or any of the other knowledgeable posters who may be reading this), because I don’t know crap and I’m not sure the extent, if at all, to which this is true…but aren’t most throws released with anticipation, before the receiver comes open? So many times I’ve heard QBs criticized because they have to ‘see’ the receiver open before they get rid of the ball and so they end up taking a lot of sacks (year one Caleb Williams comes to mind along with others like Justin Fields), while the great ones otoh are able to “throw the guy open“. The word was when we drafted Jayden, that he had this ability to throw with anticipation. So shouldn’t he be releasing most or at least some of these balls before the receiver breaks open (or not) and anticipating that they will make the play?

Again, I’m no expert and I don’t watch film like you do. But having attended several of the games in question last year, it looked to me like guys were open down field quite often on plays where he took a sack or put the ball down and ran. A lot of the time he just didn’t have time to wait for them to break open, but they were in fact coming open had he released the ball ahead of time. If it comes down to he just doesn’t trust certain guys at all and therefore won’t throw to them in timing, then I guess the question becomes why did we keep calling those plays?

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I don't really have an issue with Daniels running it's more what he does once he takes off. Hurts runs a lot but manages to avoid big hits most of the time because he is focused on the open field and gets down as soon as danger lurks. I think also a big difference is running under duress versus having all day behind the pocket with no danger and running right through holes that any RB would also easily get through.

I don't know about that, hasn't Hurts gotten a few concussions from his running?

 

[burgold]

Yeah, I'm lost on how someone can say "Jayden is going to elevate his WRs" while also saying that Jayden should run less. Jayden running is what makes the defense have to let up its pressure on the WRs. What else can he do to "elevate" them?

True, but if we actually use the running game that will help, too. For example, in the first game last year, Bill ran ten times for 82 yards in a 21-6 victory. Even if you take out the 42 yarder, he ran 9 times for 40 yards. Given a good running game, a score in hand, the question is why did we run so few times? You can see this over and over again in games Kliff called. So, we can elevate the receivers by running effectively and running more often (and using play action.)

So, it doesn't all have to be on Jayden.

Edit: I know we were doing running back by committee, but I just looked over Bill's games. Do you know he didn't have a single 20 carry game last year? In 9 games he got ten carries or less, including each of the first four games (where Bill was generally killing it and gaining national attention.)

 

[Commander Wraith]

Yeah, I'm lost on how someone can say "Jayden is going to elevate his WRs" while also saying that Jayden should run less. Jayden running is what makes the defense have to let up its pressure on the WRs. What else can he do to "elevate" them?

Maybe I’m missing something, but I’ve never heard the term in relation to a qb’s running ability. I’ve always taken it to mean using accuracy, timing, and touch.


Accuracy - putting it into a receivers hands (or breadbasket, depending on where defenders are), hitting receivers in stride (allowing for more YAC), and/or putting the ball where only the receiver can get it.

Timing - throwing with anticipation (taking advantage of a receiver coming out of their break before the defender can recover), hitting the progressions and “window” throws properly.

Touch - throwing catchable balls dependent on route (and coverage) type.

Of course other things can apply - looking off defenders, a quick release, etc. Overall though, it’s about make life easier for receivers (IMO).

Sorry if that comes across as patronizing, just trying to spell out my thoughts.

 

[NickyJ]

Maybe I’m missing something, but I’ve never heard the term in relation to a qb’s running ability. I’ve always taken it to mean using accuracy, timing, and touch.


Accuracy - putting it into a receivers hands (or breadbasket, depending on where defenders are), hitting receivers in stride (allowing for more YAC), and/or putting the ball where only the receiver can get it.

Timing - throwing with anticipation (taking advantage of a receiver coming out of their break before the defender can recover), hitting the progressions and “window” throws properly.

Touch - throwing catchable balls dependent on route (and coverage) type.

Of course other things can apply - looking off defenders, a quick release, etc. Overall though, it’s about make life easier for receivers (IMO).

Sorry if that comes across as patronizing, just trying to spell out my thoughts.

I don't see how that is elevating them. The WRs have to do their own job. Throwing with anticipation, timing, and accuracy is the QB elevating himself by playing at a higher level. In Jayden's case, he wasn't able to throw with anticipation last season because his receivers could not reliably get separation from DBs to give him somewhere to throw. He would be throwing it to a covered receiver.

Which is why I take issue with the belief that Daniels will make his WRs better this season. It's up to the receivers to do their jobs, and Daniels to do his job. It's not something a QB or the WRs can overcome alone.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

So shouldn’t he be releasing most or at least some of these balls before the receiver breaks open (or not) and anticipating that they will make the play?

Short answer, yes. However, it’s difficult to anticipate and throw to a spot when the receivers aren’t on time, running the proper route at the proper depth, etc. The best at throwing with anticipation have a great rapport and trust with their receivers. Hard to do with JAGs and inexperienced receivers.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Question for you (or any of the other knowledgeable posters who may be reading this), because I don’t know crap and I’m not sure the extent, if at all, to which this is true…but aren’t most throws released with anticipation, before the receiver comes open? So many times I’ve heard QBs criticized because they have to ‘see’ the receiver open before they get rid of the ball and so they end up taking a lot of sacks (year one Caleb Williams comes to mind along with others like Justin Fields), while the great ones otoh are able to “throw the guy open“. The word was when we drafted Jayden, that he had this ability to throw with anticipation. So shouldn’t he be releasing most or at least some of these balls before the receiver breaks open (or not) and anticipating that they will make the play?

Again, I’m no expert and I don’t watch film like you do. But having attended several of the games in question last year, it looked to me like guys were open down field quite often on plays where he took a sack or put the ball down and ran. A lot of the time he just didn’t have time to wait for them to break open, but they were in fact coming open had he released the ball ahead of time. If it comes down to he just doesn’t trust certain guys at all and therefore won’t throw to them in timing, then I guess the question becomes why did we keep calling those plays?

Jayden's reputation has been built on throwing with anticipation. It's one of his biggest strengths. It's part of the reason why he seems to prefer veteran WRs who are reliable route runners. That's a big reason why a player some fans dismissed, like Ertz, became such a frequent target. Jayden trusted him to be exactly where he was supposed to be, exactly when he was supposed to be there.

When Kurt Warner broke down Jayden's tape and argued he had regressed from his rookie season, the team pushed back through Kevin Sheehan, saying it wasn't Jayden regressing as much as receivers not getting open consistently or not running the correct routes so he held on to the ball.

I don't buy the idea that receivers were constantly getting open or about to break open and Jayden simply refused to throw them the ball. Every quarterback misses open receivers at times—you can't see everything on every snap.

Defenses didn't respect Washington's receiving corps. They were comfortable playing man coverage because they didn't believe those receivers could consistently separate. If Terry were to miss significant time, I'd expect opponents to be aggressive and challenge this group the same way.

 

[Skinfanjon]

I don’t know where to put this but was there some kind of update on this site that made it look smaller on mobile?

 

[RedWolf]

I don’t know where to put this but was there some kind of update on this site that made it look smaller on mobile?

I'm always on my phone and it seems fine

 

[Dah-Dee]

I don’t know where to put this but was there some kind of update on this site that made it look smaller on mobile?

Eveyrthing is suddenly sized down on my desktop too - only this site.

 

[Skinfanjon]

I'm always on my phone and it seems fine

Thanks I just figured it out.

 

[Commander Wraith]

I don't see how that is elevating them. The WRs have to do their own job. Throwing with anticipation, timing, and accuracy is the QB elevating himself by playing at a higher level. In Jayden's case, he wasn't able to throw with anticipation last season because his receivers could not reliably get separation from DBs to give him somewhere to throw. He would be throwing it to a covered receiver.

Which is why I take issue with the belief that Daniels will make his WRs better this season. It's up to the receivers to do their jobs, and Daniels to do his job. It's not something a QB or the WRs can overcome alone.

I agree that the receivers have to do their jobs (as does Daniels). The better they do their job makes life easier on Daniels just as the better Daniels performs, the easier it is for receivers.

With that said, you seem to be arguing that qbs can’t elevate their receivers… which has been a common idea/refrain for decades (with Brady as the poster child). That doesn’t, of course, mean that Daniels should overcome lesser receivers, even if that’s our best shot at this point. And it doesn’t mean the FO shouldn’t feel pressure to improve the receiving corps or criticism (especially if the season is a failure).


Specific to our situation, some relevant points/thoughts that come to mind:

1. The FO didn’t do a good job improving our receiving corps (at any point, not just this year).

2. Daniels, like other qbs, particularly in a timing based system, requires trust/rapport with his receivers - knowing they’ll make their breaks at the right time, sit or slow in the right spots vs zone, etc.

3. This ^ worked fairly well in 2024 With that said, Daniels scrambled a bunch in ‘24, which suggests that perhaps his receivers weren’t killing it on that front?

4. The scrambling could of course have also stemmed Daniels being a rookie (and all that comes with that), DCs believing pressure was the best way to throw off his game, etc.

5. 2025 was a shit show. Terry and Brown’s injuries were huge of course, and I suspect that DCs changed the way they pressured Daniels to limit scrambling lanes. Of course the big one that was reported was guys not knowing the routes well enough. Luke and Lane weren’t prepared to replace Zaccheus, and they also weren’t prepped to play the Z role. Moore lacked athleticism and neither he nor Chosen are route running savants that can overcome that issue (ala Hopkins or Keenan Allen). Burks of course joined the team late.

6. I think there’s a chance things look far better this year as Luke continues his development, Lane has said he’s much more comfortable in terms of route running, and route running is Williams’ strength (and Jefferson’s). Burks could be the wildcard here. I’ll be curious to see if the system helps Brown. My expectations are pretty low for this whole group though, outside of Terry. I don’t think Chig or White are savior types, but they could/should be at least solid receiving options.

7. There’s also hope the system helps - the heavy PA, the motions, moving Terry around, etc. In theory, the system should make life easier on the oline and fits our TE group. It’s a lot to ask of Blough though.

8. I don’t necessarily buy the idea that an improved defense will help Daniels a bunch, but Logan Paulsen made a pretty compelling case for how much a good D can take pressure off an OC. Remains to be seen how much better our D will be, but there’s reason for optimism in terms of both personnel and scheme.

I’m hoping a lot of little things help with the development of the receivers we have - Terry being in camp, Wes Welker helping with the receivers, the urgency from coming off a terrible season, a more competitive camp - both in terms of claiming spots, but also facing a (hopefully) better D, etc.

Overall, this season is chock full of question marks. Makes it very concerning, but also super intriguing.

 

[skinsinparadise]

The whole Caleb and Maye are better drill that some in the national media subscribe to now. Will see. Now, I personally pre draft was 1. Caleb 2. Maye. 3. Jayden. Loved all three but that was my ranking. Now I think I'd go Jayden purely because of how clutch he is. Watching this sport and other sports too -- there is something about playing big, in big moments and in big games. That's how you win championships and IMO Jayden has it.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Agreed, but I want to see fewer planned runs called for Jayden. If he sees daylight and can get out of trouble that's one of his superpowers, but he has others: timing, accuracy, and y'know doing quarterbacky things! So yes, let's see Daniels use his legs on rollouts and scrambles, but let's not call 10 end arounds and dive plays a game for him.

I asked Jean Claude (Claude AI for those playing along at home) if he could figure out how many called runs vs. scrambles Jayden Daniels had in 2024.

It was a clean split. 75 of each according to Jean Claude.

I'm going to go ahead and say Daniels played in 16 games in 2024, he missed virtually one entire game even though he started. Over 16 games, that's an average of 4.6 scrambles and 4.6 called runs per game.

That's actually not a lot of called runs for a dual threat QB. It felt like more because on average, he would end up with ~9 carries per game. And 9 carries per game over an average of 65 snaps per game is ~14%. So overall, that's high.

So, a reasonable question would be, if you knew Daniels was going to scramble 4-5 times a game, should you still have called 4-5 running plays per game? Btw, that works out to 1 of each per quarter.

Tough to say. If you aren't going to use a dual threat QB as a dual threat QB, why did you draft that QB?

However, there is a fallacy out there that Kliff called all these designed run plays over and over and over. The data doesn't support that.

FWIW, it appears as though Lamar Jackson led the lead in designed runs, with about 100 for the season. I think Daniels might have been second, but 25 less over the season, which is more than 1 carry a game less than Lamar.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I can't find these clips, (I'm sure somebody can, I didn't really look that hard), but I had AI transcribe them for me. 2 clips which were played on Galdi this morning from ESPN. The first is from Good Morning Football and the second from Get Up. (Note, I didn't really clean them up, and the guys were talking fast, so there are some odd phrasing...)

Manti Teʻo

“but this is what history will tell you do not go to sleep on the Washington commanders when Jayden Daniels is at the helm. we were sleeping on them in 2024, at least I was, and then all of a sudden they're playing in the NFC championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Reports out of mini camp and OTA's that he looks like his own self if not better. Do not sleep on the Washington commanders because if this guy is on his P’s and Q’s he is the most important player in the NFC is because he does move the needle that much.”

Get Up:

Al Galdi Intro: how about this on ESPN get up on Tuesday morning host Mike Greenberg with ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano, Kyle Brandt and ESPN and ESPN NFL analyst Dominique Foxworth […] former NFL cornerback a product of the University of Maryland played for the terrapins for the 2001 through 2004 season since went to high school at western tech in Catonsville Maryland uh anyway here you go

Greeny: Alright let me get back to the overactions here Graziano here's the next statement I'm going to make if I were to say Jayden Daniels and the commanders are going to win the NFC East this year is that an overreaction?

Graziano: It's not an overreaction. Entirely within the realm of possibility. This is a team that was in the conference championship game a year and a half ago, the quarterback got injured last year, a lot of other guys got injured last year. They've done a lot of work on the defensive side of the ball. I think you know Sonny styles could be one of the highest impact draft picks of this entire year right away and if he is and that defense is better than it was last year look out for the healthy Jayden Daniels

Foxworth: You know how sometimes you'll have the killer debut album and then the second one kindof flops? Snoop kind of did it, U2 kind of did it, this is Jaden: what's the comeback album here because he has sat here he was promised the league, you’re gonna be the future of the league, in that time he's watched Caleb be celebrated as the coolest young players on the Madden cover is the best highlight, Drake May is starting a Super Bowl and he's just like do you even Remember Me I was the guy who was gonna take this league over. I think he is the most fascinating pivotal player in the league this year is Jayden Daniels and I would not be shocked at all if the commanders win the east outright.

(Somebody, I couldn't tell who): yeah it was that Thursday night game I think it's the Bengals (VOR here, it was Monday night) umm in his rookie year that introduced him to all of us and then we watched and he played in the playoffs against the Super bowl, soon to be Super Bowl champion eagles, and was incredible. Offensively he was, the rest of the team wasn't. I think we expected from him and what we got was a hell of a disappointment. But you brought up Sonny Styles, and we see so much of the league moving towards base defense because they have athletes that have the flexibility to play and coverage and attack the run sunny styles might be that type of player that can unlock this defense to take care of these modern offenses that are using 2,3,4 tight ends out there more and more”

Anyway, very complimentary of Daniels on national broadcasts, and a little love from Graz to the Commanders saying he thought the team could win the division outright. (I'm not sure how else you win the division, but whatever.)

 

[NoCalSkins]

The whole Caleb and Maye are better drill that some in the national media subscribe to now. Will see. Now, I personally pre draft was 1. Caleb 2. Maye. 3. Jayden. Loved all three but that was my ranking. Now I think I'd go Jayden purely because of how clutch he is. Watching this sport and other sports too -- there is something about playing big, in big moments and in big games. That's how you win championships and IMO Jayden has it.

What separated Jayden from his draft class peers (so far) is how he performed in the post season because that is the one spot you sort expect a young inexperienced, let alone ROOKIE QB to stumble, but it was the exact opposite for Jayden versus the other guys. If Jayden had performed poorly then there might have been a better argument for 2024 being a sneaking up on opponents/not a ton of winning teams beaten etc etc argument but I am still taking JD5's resume through two seasons over the other guys.

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

The whole Caleb and Maye are better drill that some in the national media subscribe to now. Will see. Now, I personally pre draft was 1. Caleb 2. Maye. 3. Jayden. Loved all three but that was my ranking. Now I think I'd go Jayden purely because of how clutch he is. Watching this sport and other sports too -- there is something about playing big, in big moments and in big games. That's how you win championships and IMO Jayden has it.

I feel good that I had 1st round grades on all 6 QB's of that draft class. They were just pretty different.

Personal grades in a vacuum (so who would be worth what in an average draft class)
1st Overall - Maye, Daniels (with Maye a hair above)
Top 5 - Williams
Top 20 - McCarthy, Penix (roughly equal)
Top 25 - Nix

And then all went top 12 when I thought there would be a bigger gap between them. Most wrong about Nix, but at least I had a full 1st round grade on him.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I feel good that I had 1st round grades on all 6 QB's of that draft class. They were just pretty different.

Personal grades in a vacuum (so who would be worth what in an average draft class)
1st Overall - Maye, Daniels (with Maye a hair above)
Top 5 - Williams
Top 20 - McCarthy, Penix (roughly equal)
Top 25 - Nix

And then all went top 12 when I thought there would be a bigger gap between them. Most wrong about Nix, but at least I had a full 1st round grade on him.

I don't know if I will remained justified in this opinion, I just thought McCarthy was going to fail from day 1. I watched a few games of his, and came away thinking he wasn't a pro QB. So far he's been hurt and then played badly. (Except against us.)

We'll see if he turns it around. There were some who had him over Maye as QB3, and maybe some who even had him higher than that and I thought that was coocoo bananas. I liked Nix more than him.