Jayden Daniels has been fantastic to start his NFL career, and given his style of play and early impact, the comparisons to Lamar Jackson—ahead of a matchup between the Washington Commanders and Baltimore Ravens on Sunday—are to be expected.
The young quarterback would prefer they went away, however.
“I don’t like when people try to compare me to Lamar,” he told reporters Wednesday. “We’re two different players. I want to be known as Jayden Daniels and not the next such-and-such.”
Daniels has paced Washington’s surprise 4-1 start, throwing for 1,135 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions while completing an impressive 77.1 percent of his passes. He’s had a major impact as a runner as well, accumulating 300 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Because he’s a dual-threat weapon at the position—and is in the slender and quick archetype of running threats, compared to the more bruising versions like Josh Allen—it isn’t surprising that Daniels is evoking Jackson so early in his career.
Jackson, however, is a three-time Pro Bowler, two-time MVP and two-time first-team All-Pro. Daniels has a long way to go to reach those heights, and Jackson himself shied away from any comparisons between the two.
“He’s his own player,” he told reporters. “He’s his own man. At the end of the day, we’re trying to make a name by ourself, not anyone else.”
The two do have a relationship that “goes back some time, kind of like a big bro, little bro type of thing,” Daniels noted. And he’s not only a fan of Jackson, but noted his appreciation for “what he’s done for the sport and what he’s done for the African-American quarterbacks.”
“But for me it’s just, go out there and try to be unique and try to be different from everybody,” he continued. “Appreciate what they do because you can always learn from other quarterbacks in the league. I’m not closed-minded.”
The Commanders are more than happy with Daniels being Daniels. Five games into his career, he has played like a home run of a draft pick and has a Commanders organization that suffered through the Daniel Snyder years feeling legitimate hope once again.
Leave a Reply