Former Commanders Star Sends Strong Message On Jayden Daniels Before

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 17, 2025, 6:52 AM

former commanders star sends strong message on jayden daniels before

The Washington Commanders have the best quarterback in NFC East, if you believe longtime NFL cornerback Fred Smoot. Smoot, who spent seven of his nine NFL seasons in Washington, recently called Jayden Daniels the top quarterback in the Commanders’ division. Daniels, of course, won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year last season and led the Commanders to a 12-5 record and a trip to the NFC Championship Game. A year before at LSU, he won the Heisman Trophy, which is what landed him with the Commanders at the No. 2 overall pick. Daniels finished with a 69.0 completion percentage and 25-9 touchdown-to-interception rate.

He also led all QBs with 822 passing yards and five touchdowns in the playoffs, even though the Commanders lost 55-23 to the Philadelphia Eagles in the conference-title game. Even though the Commanders QB was the breakout star of 2024, Daniels is being judged against the reigning Super Bowl champion quarterback Jalen Hurts. That is because the Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is coming off a serious injury and the New York Giants have a revolving door at quarterback. Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels 5 walks the field after a game against the Chicago Bears at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland on Sunday, October 27, 2024. The Commanders beat the Bears 18-15 after Daniels 5 threw a 65-yard Hail Mary pass into the end-zone with no time left on the clock. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxONLY WAP20241027447 BONNIExCASH

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels 5 walks the field after a game against the Chicago Bears at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland on Sunday, October 27, 2024. The Commanders beat the Bears 18-15 after Daniels 5 threw a 65-yard Hail Mary pass into the end-zone with no time left on the clock. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxONLY WAP20241027447 BONNIExCASH Watching the Commanders’ fairy tale run to this year’s NFC Championship game can make anyone happy for the way they have bounced back from years of mediocrity. Like just six playoff appearances in 24 years and two postseason wins in two decades. The Commanders were basically a team that no one took seriously until something changed.

Yes, you could say they turned it around with a rookie QB, Jayden Daniels leading from the front. But it’s the change in ownership that really worked wonders for the team from our nation’s capitol. See, the Commanders were under the ownership of business tycoon Dan Snyder since the turn of the millennium with the aim of a rebuild. But all he could deliver was just two seasons of double-digit wins and heaps of scandals. Snyder was charged with sexual harassment of employees and a toxic workplace culture. The NFL even fined Snyder on his way out of Washington a whopping $60M for all of his wrongdoings.

So, after selling the Commanders for $6B to Josh Harris and his group of investors. That’s when the real rebuild began. Under Harris’ ownership, the first season of Commanders didn’t bear the fruit their fans would have hoped for. A 4-13 record painted a bleak first-year picture of the new look Commanders. However, a complete revamp of the locker room was spearheaded by first-time GM Adam Peters and former Cowboys DC Dan Quinn as head coach. And, of course, their No.2 overall draft pick, Jayden Daniels, propelled the Commanders to their first NFC Championship game in 33 years.

So, that success after Snyder’s exit didn’t really make him happy. Instead, “He f—— hates it,” as per ESPN. Jayden Daniels’ rookie season captured the imagination of Washington Commanders fans but also former Commanders greats as well. Joe Theismann, the longtime Washington quarterback who guided the team to two Super Bowls, including the championship in Super Bowl XVII, shared his appreciation for Daniels recently. After years of misery in the nation’s capital, the Commanders went 12-5 and advanced to the NFC Championship Game with Daniels at the helm. The No.

2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft completed 69 percent of his passes and threw for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns while only throwing nine interceptions. Yet, according to Theismann, the exceptional numbers only tell part of the story. Theismann is Washington’s most prolific passer, since he holds the franchise lead for yards (25,206) and boasted a 77-47 record in his 167 games. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Washington Commanders in their primetime collapse against the Green Bay Packers in Week 2. Jayden Daniels was not exempt from blame, but the quarterback doesn't plan on wallowing in self-pity for long. Daniels is all about what comes next.

Even when he was in the midst of his rookie campaign for the ages, he was focused firmly on upcoming challenges and nothing more. It's also why he turned the page on his first-year accomplishments quickly to ensure this meteoric rise could be sustained. Things did not go well for Daniels on Thursday Night Football versus the Green Bay Packers. The defensive game plan was first-class, keeping the signal-caller contained by bringing pressure consistently and locking up the wide receivers with relative comfort. It was an evening to forget for everyone associated with the franchise, and a lot of soul-searching is needed over the mini-bye week to make sure this doesn't impact their overall goals. The former LSU standout sent a blunt message that the team needed to hear.

Daniels was not going to panic over one loss, and he doesn't expect his teammates to, either. He still believes, and there is a fierce desire to right this wrong at the earliest possible opportunity. This mentality will envelop everyone in the locker room. The Commanders should be made of sterner stuff than to get too caught up in one loss. They proved that last season. Having an early test of their resolve isn't ideal, but they've overcome adversity effectively before.

“In order to not have that slump like we saw with C.J. Stroud, we’re gonna work on some of those little things.” An NFL analyst, and former linebacker, is dropping truth bombs like confetti at a victory parade, to Jayden Daniels. Let’s rewind. The Washington Commanders just pulled off a Hollywood-level glow-up, finishing 12–5 in 2024—their first winning season since NSYNC was still a thing (2005, if you’re counting, thanks Deadpool). Rookie QB Jayden Daniels didn’t just show up; he rewrote the playbook, snagging NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, torching defenses for 3,568 passing yards, 25 TDs, and a rookie QB-record 891 rushing yards. Think Lamar Jackson meets Remember the Titans’ Sunshine—except Daniels actually likes getting hit.

But as the Commanders’ front office waves goodbye to exec Marty Hurney (more on that later), NFL vet Sam Acho is side-eyeing Daniels’ future harder than The Office’s Jim Halpert. Let’s get this straight: Daniels isn’t your average rookie. The 23-year-old Heisman winner dragged the Commanders from a 4-13 dumpster fire to NFC Championship contenders, earning a Pro Bowl nod and a fully guaranteed $37.75M contract. But here’s the kicker: C.J. Stroud, last year’s golden boy, had a more reserved Year 2. After a dazzling 4,108-yard rookie season, Stroud’s 2024 stats—3,727 yards, 20 TDs, 12 INTs—read a bit muted.

His tapes from the two seasons show a Succession-like plot twist, two buds who grew together but went down different paths. The latter heading straight down Sack-ville. Injuries, a leaky O-line, and defenses cracking his code turned his encore into a bit of a blooper reel. Enter Sam Acho, the NFL’s resident hype-man/philosopher. On NFL Live, he broke it down like a TED Talk: “There’s two pieces. One piece is, yes, you add another weapon.

We saw that the Texans actually went and got like Stephane Big, so it didn’t work out. But the bigger piece, and I’ll reiterate the point, is that you have to self-scout.” Translation? Daniels can’t coast on “being excellent.” Acho wants him to channel his inner Moneyball nerd: study his own film, fix tendencies (cough scrambling like Forrest Gump), and prep for defenses scheming to “spy” his... “Usually, around halfway through the season or maybe it’s a bye week, teams won’t go and watch other teams. They’ll go and watch their own film and see what are the tendencies that we have that we don’t think other people know about that we wanna get ahead of.” After the Washington Commanders' tough loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship, rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels reflected on the fan base that has left a lasting impression on him in his debut...

The Commanders had an impressive 12-5 record in the regular season, but their hopes for a Super Bowl were thrown away in their battle with the Eagles. Despite the painful ending, Daniels is looking ahead with optimism, particularly when it comes to the bond between Washington and its fan base. "We woke a sleeping giant," Daniels said. "Hopefully we can keep building on that next year. You know, we're going to need all their support when the season comes back around." This year has been a game-changer for the Washington Commanders.

It's not just about the stats or the wins—it's about the culture shift. The Washington Commanders had the No. 2 pick last offseason. However, their pick played like the No. 1 guy. Jayden Daniels followed the string of No.

2 picks who entered the league with strong rookie seasons, taking what C.J. Stroud did to a whole new level. Now, with one year under his belt, the LSU product will welcome some solid competition. Talking to former NFL head coach Jon Gruden, Daniels encouraged rookie quarterbacks entering the league to earn their stripes every single day:

Former Commanders Star Sends Strong Message On Jayden Daniels Before

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