Jaden Daniels’ breakout season for Washington came as no surprise to those who knew him before the NFL.

ASHBURN, Va. — Jaden Daniels didn’t think much about how he spent half a season playing quarterback in the NFL.

“I still have some work to do,” he said. “I’ll sit down and think about it after my rookie year is over.”

This is fine. The rest of the sport has plenty to say about how Daniels took the league by storm, led the Washington Commanders to their first 7-2 start since 1996 and became not only the favorite to win AP Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, but also firmly in his place. talk about MVP.

“You guys have to stop calling him a rookie quarterback,” veteran tight end Zach Ertz said. “He could be a rookie quarterback based on his years in this league. But his maturity, his composure, is that of a 10-year-old veterinarian.”

Daniels’ breakout season came as no surprise to those who knew the San Bernadino, Calif., native during his time at Arizona State and then LSU, where he became the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner and the No. 2 overall draft pick. Teammates turned friends and coaches over the years have seen a player determined to be the best and a man humble enough to make the last nine weeks look like just the beginning of a long career with no limits on what Daniels can achieve.

Start

The pressure of inheriting Washington as the face of the franchise for an organization decades removed from its glory days didn’t seem to get to Daniels, who teammates said had taken the same approach from the first day of offseason workouts, throwing Hail Mary touchdown passes. Noah Brown in Week 8 to beat Chicago.

That’s one of his first 163 completions on 228 attempts, a 71.5% success rate that makes him one of the best QBs in the NFL at any experience level. He has nine touchdowns, four more runs and just two interceptions.

“He doesn’t turn the ball over a lot,” said Herm Edwards, who coached Daniels for three seasons at Arizona State. “It’s not part of his DNA. That’s not what’s happening. You never worry about it as long as he has a football in his hand, whether he’s throwing it or running. He’s obviously become a smarter runner and that’s needed in this league.”

Daniels’ biggest setback came when he injured his ribs when he was tackled and landed awkwardly at the end of a long run. He left that game—a 40-7 rout of Carolina—and might have played if the stakes had been higher, but he returned to the field a week later.

Daniels, even with sore ribs, threw for 535 yards, three touchdowns and rushed 16 times for 87 yards.

“It’s not a surprise to me,” said San Francisco receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Daniels’ teammate at Arizona State. “He’s just cute. He’s very good. He was just always so good.”

Competitor

Malik Nabers heard talk about Daniels when he committed to LSU in 2022, and that first season ended with a strong showing: 17 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 10-4 record. Then, after training with C.J. Stroud and others in California, Nabers noticed a shift in Daniels’ thinking and behavior.

“It was like he was taking apart the defense,” said Nabers, the sixth overall pick in the draft and now the No. 1 wide receiver for the NFC East rival New York Giants. “He worked overtime, stayed very long, making sure we got plays after practice. He was an absolute leader. the crime is over.”

Daniels led the nation with 40 passes in 2023, ran for 10 more and won the Heisman, the final accomplishment of his collegiate career. But the early arrivals and late arrivals didn’t stop, from walking through the team’s training facility before spring practice with rookie wide receiver Luke McCaffrey to night coach Dan Quinn watching Daniels study film after dark during Commanders Week in Arizona between games.

“There is no magic in this. … He works really hard,” Quinn said. “We’re not throwing any fairy pixie dust at him. It’s very hard work, it works, and a lot of confidence comes from that.”

Innovator

It’s not just sweat equity. At LSU, Daniels took cognitive processing tests on a computer and worked with the school’s director of innovation, Jack Marucci, to develop a program with a virtual reality headset that worked on his expectations.

“You could see his efficiency and speed improving and the way he was scanning,” Marucci said, noting Daniels was getting 250 more snaps per week and 2,600 over the course of the season. “It’s knowing and foreseeing how he’ll end up. rose, and now you need to hit a spot on the field.”

Daniels still uses a VR device that offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is “all in on.”

“It’s been a great tool not only for me, but for other quarterbacks — guys who want to use it to get an edge and get reps without having to go out there and do anything physical,” Daniels said.

Connection

Kingsbury interviewed for several positions in the NFL. After coaching Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech, Kyler Murray with the Arizona Cardinals, and then (as an advisor) Caleb Williams in Southern California, the opportunity arose to work with Daniels, who was drafted a few months after being hired in Washington. , and Commanders made too much sense.

“Kliff Kingsbury is a perfect fit for him,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “And the offense they run is what I think suits him perfectly.”

Cam Taylor-Britt ridiculed it, calling it “simple” and a “good student insult.” Daniels torched the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and his teammates on 21 of 23 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-33 primetime victory on “Monday Night Football.”

When the Bears-Commander game was televised nationally, it became Daniels’ signature moment when he scrambled for nearly 13 seconds and threw a pass that flew 65 yards in the air before tipping over and falling into the hands of Brown in the end zone. .

Edwards, who still texts Daniels regularly, almost foreshadowed it when he spoke about the 23-year-old two weeks before the game in Chicago.

“He has the ability to extend the play, and what he does — and people are already seeing it, and it’s not luck — he can throw the ball deep,” said Edwards, who now works as an ESPN analyst. “He can throw it accurately on the run or from the pocket. He has the instinct to throw the ball down the field.”

Self-control

“The Hail Mary” showcased what everyone around Daniels admires: his poise under pressure. Edwards calls it “Daniels’ ability to maintain composure when the lights are at their brightest.”

Terry McLaurin, who has been Washington’s top wide receiver since he was drafted in 2019, said Daniels came into the league more prepared than most rookies for the most important position in the sport.

This was obvious even to opponents. Baltimore guard Lamar Jackson said after defeating Daniels that his colleague showed himself and played amazingly.

“Washington is in good hands with him,” Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith said. “He’s real.”

Only Jackson, Buffalo’s Josh Allen, Mahomes and Detroit’s Jared Goff have lower MVP odds at BetMGM, where Daniels is currently 10-1. Nabers, who originally made a friendly $10,000 bet with Daniels on which one would become the AP Rookie of the Year before calling it off, said his friend’s success stems from a desire to win that he doesn’t see in many others.

“I know at a time like this he’s not afraid of it,” Nabers said. “He’s not afraid of hype and big plays. If it’s crunch time, he wants to score the ball.”

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AP Sports Writers Brett Martel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Josh Dubow in Santa Clara, California, contributed.