The NFL Draft will begin on April 25, 2024. We take a look at Jayden Daniels, the 2023 Heisman Award winner and potential top-five draft pick.
Make sure to check out all of our other NFL Draft scouting reports.
Jayden Daniels was a four-star recruit out of high school and went on to attend Arizona State University. He decided to transfer to LSU after ASU head coach Herm Edwards was fired following his junior season. He has a whopping 55 career starts to go along with 89 passing touchdowns and almost 13,000 passing yards. Daniels is the only player in FBS history to have at least 12,000 passing and 3,000 rushing yards.
The accolades for Daniels are endless and he certainly has nothing left to prove at the college level. Continuously maturing and improving his game throughout his college career may be the most valuable asset Daniels brings with him to the NFL. He will assuredly look to further improve and build upon his impressive résumé at the game’s top level.
Jayden Daniels, QB, Louisiana State University
Name: Jayden Daniels
Jersey: No. 5
Position: Quarterback
School: LSU
Class: Fifth-Year Senior
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 205 lbs.
Strengths
The difference between Jayden Daniels’ first game against FSU and the rest of the season is extremely noteworthy. Daniels fixed his footwork and his timing and started holding the ball in a better position. Starting with the timing, against Florida State, Daniels waited way too long to make decisions, especially while under duress, which led to him making poor reads and turning the ball over.
Yet, by LSU’s third game of the season, Daniels was well-versed in going through his progressions without haste. He started practicing what many call one-two-out, which means a quarterback goes through their first and second reads before making a decision to run, check the ball down, or hit one of the receivers. This was also a concerted decision made by the offensive staff; by Week 3, there were many more short passes, quick hitters, hot routes, and sail concepts.
The improvements in footwork led to Daniels being more accurate, deliberately moving about the pocket and escaping the pass rush more effectively. This gave Daniels the confidence to finish throws even with pressure in his face as he started to step up while taking hard hits all the while making beautiful throws.
With his beautiful footwork, smooth arm action, great internal clock, and commitment to looking downfield, Daniels has all the prerequisites for a talented quarterback in the NFL. As his awareness is borderline elite, he has excellent touch and great accuracy. Daniels throws very well on the move, especially to his right, and he possesses exceptional running ability. Daniels is a gifted runner, both in terms of foot speed and vision, and perhaps the best part of it is that he’s a natural pocket passer. While he does have occasional designed runs, he is undeniably a pocket passer first and a runner second.
Weaknesses
Jayden Daniels’ main weakness is his arm strength. He has great motion, touch, and accuracy, yet he fails to deliver the ball with zip and is especially unrefined on throws against his body and outside the numbers. This affects his deep ball accuracy as there are too many passes that he throws a little behind the runner. His anticipation makes up for a lot of his arm deficiency, but with the tighter windows in the NFL, this is assuredly something he will need to adjust.
Second, not having Malik Nabers, a bonafide superstar, to lean on will also force Daniels to adjust. When all else failed at LSU, Daniels knew he could simply throw to Nabers’ vicinity and the star receiver would turn the pass into a great play. At times, Daniels would stare down Nabers as he was often the primary target and knew he’d need to get the ball to him.
Additionally, while Daniels’ escapability and vision allowed him to extend plays and leak out of the pocket to pick up key yards, this will be more difficult to accomplish at the NFL level. He will have to learn to take a sack or throw the ball away with more frequency. His desire to extend plays is admirable, but it is a trait better served for college. In the NFL, oftentimes when quarterbacks extend plays that have no chance of resurrection, they end up exacerbating negative plays and turning them into turnovers.
Pro Comparison: Deshaun Watson
It is hard to peg down a perfect pro comparison for Jayden Daniels as he is unique. Most quarterbacks with his running prowess tend to leave the pocket with much more frequency and most pocket passers do not possess Daniels’ ability to create with his legs. Therefore, comparisons to players like Kyler Murray, Donovan McNabb, or Geno Smith would seemingly make sense, but they are more gifted throwers with stronger arms. On the flip side, guys like Alex Smith and Matt Ryan have very similar approaches with medium-level arm strength but lack the same level of athleticism and running ability Daniels has.
Therefore, a Watson comparison seems the most appropriate. A first-round pick in his own right, Watson had many questions regarding whether his style of play could work in the NFL, but he quashed all doubts almost immediately. While I would not necessarily expect a similar meteoric ascension for Daniels, it would not surprise me, either.
Draft Projection: Top-Five Pick
Daniels was a great college quarterback. Will what made him exceptional in college be enough to make him excel in the NFL? Perhaps not. Yet, Daniels shows enough skill and intangibles to project as an above-average NFL starter. He seems to possess all the necessary skills to truly succeed at the NFL level but will have to endure an adjustment period in which the pros may seem a little big and fast to him at times.
If he can persevere through these trials and tribulations, he can be a good one for a while. Yet, if he lets his failures stick in his head, he may never reach the ceiling he possesses. In comparison to last year’s top pick and top-rated quarterback, Daniels is both more NFL-ready and has a higher ceiling than Bryce Young. Nevertheless, Daniels will most likely be the second or third quarterback selected in this year’s draft, through no fault of his own.
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