Jaden Daniels is already playing like one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks

The theme of the third week’s edition of QB of the Week, highlighting the quarterback who had the best week in the NFL, may be “You Never Know…”.

Will Andy Dalton lead the Panthers to the playoffs? U never know. what malik willis gives PACKERS Better chance to win than Jordan Love? U never know. Was Sam Darnold really better than Kirk Cousins? U never know. Will Anthony Richardson be able to complete more than 50% of his passes this season? Anything is possible.

Certainly the last thing I want a QB of the Week to do is overreact to a game. If we had overreacted the first two weeks of the season, we would have been surprised to see Derek Carr actually do that. No Run the Greatest Show on Turf 2, Kyler Murray Is Stoppable, and CJ Stroud is No Infallible. It would be easy to reward a great story like Dalton by becoming the first QB this season to throw for 300 yards and three touchdowns in a game, with the same offense that barely had more than 300 yards passing in the first two games. Joint. But if next week’s game against his former team in Cincinnati is a disappointment, how long will it take for Bryce Young to get a Round 2 pick?

As I always say, if you’re going to overreact, overreact to the moon. Dalton’s story is already becoming bleak. Jayden Daniels isn’t even hot yet.

One could easily write a story in which Daniels sets the record for the highest completion percentage in a game by a rookie quarterback, completing 21 of 23 pass attempts for 254 yards and two touchdowns on Monday against the Bengals, 39. In addition to yards rushing there is another one that can be highlighted. Score, and consider that reason enough to pick the No. 2 player of the week. Daniels now leads the league in completion percentage through three games, completing 61 of 76 (80.3%) without an interception and 8.7 yards per attempt. This is the second-highest completion percentage in a team’s first three games in NFL history, almost one point higher than Tom Brady’s historic 2007 season.

In NFL history, Drew Brees is the only other quarterback to complete more than 80% of his passes on at least 60 attempts through his team’s first three games of the season, which he did on 129 attempts with the Saints in 2018. Hence over 60 attempts from Daniels. But that was Brees’ 18th season in the league. jayden daniels did In the first three matches of his careerWhen Brady led the Patriots to a 16–0 regular season record in 2007 and won his first MVP award en route to a 50-touchdown season, he completed 79.5% of his 88 attempts.

Jaden Daniels is not only putting his name in the historical conversation early in his career; He’s going to be one of the most dangerous quarterbacks on the field this season. Compared to featured backs, his 171 rushing yards and three touchdowns are slightly better than Breece Hall’s 170 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

But Daniels’ historic accomplishments aren’t the only reason he’s named QB of the Week. The fact is that given how good the stats are – and numbers can always be made to make a player look better on paper than on the field – Daniels has had the best game by any player in any sport so far this season. , You can’t manipulate plays like you can manipulate numbers:

face to face at third and seventh place monday night footballWith just over two minutes left in the game the Commanders were able to go for a field goal to take an eight-point lead. Depending on how Joe Burrow was playing (he joined Dalton in the 300-yard/three TD club), an eight-point lead was tantamount to having to defend a two-point conversion only to win the game.

Instead of playing for a potential tie and overtime if he had kicked a field goal, Terry McLaurin ran a double-move to give Daniels the option to win the game if he could have taken it. Faced with immediate pressure (it’s perfect that Troy Aikman is saying Washington “only has 10 guys on the field” as Daniels is launching the ball), Daniels pulled the trigger so quickly I’m convinced That most fans assumed it would be overthrown, if not stopped.

it was Excellent pass.

According to Next Gen Stats, the touchdown was the “most improbable touchdown” of the season (10.3%) and the least in the last eight years. Washington Commanders Franchise. For a team that has been rotating quarterbacks every one to three years since they won Super Bowl As with Mark Rypien in 1991, the premise of stability at the position is so appealing that you can’t blame Washington fans for any overreaction to Daniels’ debut.

And it’s a much more promising start to his career than when Robert Griffin III won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2012, with his arm talent defeating teams not just as a runner, but as a passer. And there was a modicum of potential.

The NFL needs star quarterbacks, and that’s been true for at least the last 100 years. You might not be able to name anyone who played for the Washington franchise in the 1930s, but if I told you that Sammy Baugh played, you’d probably say something like, “Oh yes, I heard of him Is.”

Quarterbacks rule the league and as far as those of us who aren’t over 100 years old are concerned, they Always Ruled the league. They dominate our thoughts and our conversations and our predictions about what will happen in the NFL, and that continues to be true whether we’re overreacting to a single game or whether what’s happening in front of us is actually real and Durable, which it is every time. It’s rare — it’s like Patrick Mahomes winning MVP in his second year in the NFL and first time as a starter — but it happens and it’s why we continue to pay attention to the “next crop” of rookie quarterbacks. .

“Will there be any new additions to the elite QB this year???”

Well, I think it might be Sam Darnold. Anything is possible. (Probably nothing; it won’t be Andy Dalton, but he gets my respect.) Among the rookies, it could eventually be Caleb Williams, Drake Mays, Michael Penix, or someone else. Two years ago, Brock Purdy was just a seventh-rounder sitting in San Francisco’s three-spot.

But with Jaden Daniels so far, calling him one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL is not a projection, prediction, prediction or far-fetched fantasy. This is real. This season, Jayden Daniels Is Undoubtedly one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL through three games. It’s only three games — in Marcus Mariota’s first three games with the Titans, he had eight touchdowns and over 800 passing yards — but it’s the type of three games that rewrites how I think about Washington quarterbacks. Am: It can be done. You could be a really good quarterback in Washington!

Whether or not Daniels continues down this path as defensive coordinators begin writing counter attacks that are working is something we won’t know until the rest of the season unfolds. Can a quarterback, who wasn’t even considered a good NFL prospect at this time last year, shoot right out of the Rookie of the Year conversation and be in the conversation as Most Valuable Player in the entire league?

U never know.