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

The theme for the Week 3 edition of QB of the Week, which focuses on quarterbacks who had the best week in the NFL, could be “You Never Know…”

Can Andy Dalton lead the Panthers to the playoffs? you never know. Malik Willis is packers Does Jordan Love have a better chance of winning? you never know. Was Sam Darnold actually an upgrade over Kirk Cousins? you never know. Will Anthony Richardson be able to complete over 50% of his passes this season? Anything is possible.

Indeed, the last thing you want to do with your QB this week is overreact to one game. If we were overreacting in the first two weeks of the season, we'd be stunned that Derek Carr actually did that. do not have Kyler Murray performs Greatest Show on Turf 2 teeth I can stop it and CJ Stroud. do not have Infallible. It's easy to reward great stories like Dalton, who became the first QB to throw for 300 yards and three touchdowns this season in the same offense that had just over 300 yards passing in the first two games. wax Combined. But if next week's game against his former team in Cincinnati is disappointing, how long will it be before Bryce Young advances to Round 2?

As I always say, if you're going to overreact, overreact to the moon. Dalton's story is already fading. Jaden Daniels hasn't even warmed up yet.

Daniels completed 21 of 23 pass attempts for 254 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals on Monday, adding 39 yards and one rushing run, the highest completion percentage in a game by a rookie quarterback. You could easily write an article highlighting what you have achieved. He is scoring points, which is reason enough to select him as the No. 2 overall player of the week. Daniels currently leads the league in completion percentage through three games, going 61-of-76 (80.3%) with no interceptions and gaining 8.7 yards per attempt. This is the second-highest completion percentage in a team's first three games in NFL history, beating Tom Brady's historic 2007 season by almost a point.

In NFL history, Drew Brees is the only quarterback to complete at least 80% of his passes on at least 60 attempts in the first three games of the season, and in 2018 with the Saints he completed over 80% of his passes on 129 attempts. completed the pass. He had over 60 more attempts than Daniels. But it was Brees' 18th season in the league. Jaden Daniels did it. in the first three games of his career. Brady completed 79.5% of his 88 attempts in 2007 when he led the Patriots to a 16-0 regular season record and won his first MVP award midway through a 50-touchdown season.

Jaden Daniels isn't just putting his name in the historical conversation at the beginning of his career. He will be one of the most dangerous quarterbacks on the ground this season. When compared to featured backs, his 171 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns are slightly better than Breece Hall's 170 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

But Daniels' historic accomplishments aren't the only reason he's QB of the Week. In addition to how good the stats are, and the fact that numbers can always be made up to make a player look better on paper than they are on the field, Daniels has played in every game so far this season. The fact is that he played the best out of all the players. . You can't manipulate plays any more than you can manipulate numbers.

Facing the 3rd and 7th monday night footballThe Managers could have made a field goal with just over two minutes left in the game to take an eight-point lead. The way Joe Burrow is playing (he joins Dalton on the 300 yards/3 TDs club), an 8 point lead is just a play that ultimately requires a 2 point conversion to win the game. There wasn't.

Instead of playing for the chance of tying the game or sending it to overtime if he kicked a field goal, Terry McLaurin threw two on the go to give Daniels the option to win the game if he could kick it. Performed hand punching. Faced with immediate pressure (Troy Aikman saying Washington has “only 10 guys on the field” as Daniels fires the ball is perfect), Daniels pulls the trigger too quickly. , I think most fans thought it would be underthrown. If not intercepted.

it is perfection Passed.

According to Next Gen Stats, this touchdown was the “most unlikely touchdown” of the season (10.3%) and of at least the past eight years. commander of washington franchise. For a team that has rotated quarterbacks every one to three years since winning the Super Bowl with Mark Rypien in 1991, the premise of stability at the position is very appealing, and the prospect of stability at the position is extremely appealing, and Washington fans have been You can't blame them for reacting. Daniels' start.

And this is a far more promising prospect than when Robert Griffin III won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2012 with just a fraction of his arm talent and the ability to beat teams as a runner as well as a passer. It was the start of a great career.

The NFL needs star quarterbacks, and this has been true for at least the past 100 years. You might not be able to name a player who played for Washington in the 1930s, but if you told me Sammy Baugh played there, you'd probably say something like, “Oh, I've heard of him.” .

Quarterbacks dominate the league, and for those of us who aren't over 100 years old, they are everytime dominated the league. They dominate our thinking, our conversations, our predictions about what will happen in the NFL, and whether we're overreacting to a single game or what's happening right in front of our eyes. It remains true whether or not it is actually real and sustainable. sometimes. It's rare — like Patrick Mahomes winning MVP for the first time as a starter in his second year in the NFL — but it does happen, and it's what we call the “next crop” of rookie quarterbacks. This is the reason why I continue to be obsessed with it.

“Will a new player be added to the elite QB ranks this year?”

Well, I think it might be Sam Darnold. Anything is possible. (Probably nothing. It's not Andy Dalton, but he has my respect.) Of the rookies, eventually Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Michael Penix, or someone else. There is a possibility that Two years ago, Brock Purdy was just a seventh-rounder sitting in San Francisco's third slot.

But when you think about Jaden Daniels thus far, calling him one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL isn't a prediction, a guess, a projection, or a far-fetched fantasy. That's true. Jaden Daniels this season teeth He's definitely one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL through three games. It's only been three games — in Marcus Mariota's first three games with the Titans, he had eight touchdowns and over 800 passing yards — but those three games are my favorite against Washington's quarterback. It was the type of match that changed the way you think. It means “it can be done.” You too can be a great quarterback in Washington!

Whether Daniels continues down this path as defensive coordinators start writing counter-attacks to what's working will not be known until the rest of the season unfolds. Can a quarterback who wasn't even considered an NFL prospect this time last year have a shot at rising above the Rookie of the Year conversation and enter negotiations as the league's overall Most Valuable Player?

you never know.