Yahoo Sports What's not to love about Commanders QB Jayden Daniels?

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Washington Commanders second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels became a household name much faster than anyone predicted. He helped lead the Commanders team that won four games in 2023 to the NFC Championship in 2024. Now, entering his sophomore season, many analysts predict Daniels will slump, as many NFL players do in their second year.

ESPN's Ben Solak took a look at the six first-round quarterbacks selected in 2024, then asked and answered the biggest question about each one. For Daniels, the question is: What's not to love about Jayden Daniels?

There's no simple answer to this question, and Solak goes through a progression of compliments and accolades, spouting impressive stats and really pointing out all of the amazing things Daniels does as both a quarterback and an overall athlete. There are some caveats, though.

There is little doubt in my mind Daniels' rookie season was the real stuff, but it's worth remarking that just about everything broke well for Washington. Take the deep balls to McLaurin: His 40% catch rate on downfield throws was his best since his rookie season in 2019, and his 27.6 total EPA on downfield targets more than doubled his next best. Deep passes are high-risk, high-reward plays on small samples, which means regression is likely.

Also big for regression was the fourth-down success, even for as clutch as Daniels is. The Commanders converted 87% of their fourth-down attempts in the regular season (20-of-23), which is the best fourth-down season since at least 2000. Washington added 44.3 EPA on fourth-down attempts, the highest number since 2000 and a number that almost certainly will not be repeated next season.

What you can take away from Solak's lengthy response to his own question is this: Not much. There's not much about Jayden Daniels that people don't love. He's an incredible athlete, an amazing human being, and possesses all of the leadership and character qualities you'd want in a quarterback.

This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: What's not to love about Jayden Daniels?

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