Washington Commanders pick QB Jayden Daniels in 2024 NFL Draft
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, as expected, was the second quarterback off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft, going to the Washington Commanders with the No. 2 overall pick. Daniels’ selection was quickly followed by his new Commanders jersey being listed on the team’s Fanatics store.
Daniels made his fifth year of college football count with a monster season for the LSU Tigers, where he won the 2023 Heisman Trophy after completing 72.2 percent of his passes for 3,812 yards with 40 touchdowns and four interceptions. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound signal caller also continued a trend as a legitimate dual threat by rushing for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns while averaging 8.4 yards per carry. He finished his career, which spanned three seasons at Arizona State and two at LSU, with 12,750 passing yards, 89 touchdown passes to 20 interceptions, and 3,307 rushing yards with 34 TDs.
Daniels comes with a world of upside that popped in the nation’s best football conference, but also questions about his ability to withstand the physical punishment of the NFL.
But in a draft where quarterback-needy teams picked early, he more than justified an early selection with his feel for the game, pocket presence and an explosive ability to get his playmakers involved in the offense.
Daniels jersey is available for pre-order now through Fanatics. Be sure to check back for more merchandise between now and the start of rookie mini-camp, training camp and the 2024 season.
The Commanders’ desire to take a quarterback with the second overall pick in this year’s draft was not a secret, but the identity of that quarterback was a question mark over the last few months.
The team spent time with a number of the top prospects at the position, including a much-covered outing to TopGolf that saw Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, and Michael Penix all visit with the team at the same time. That led to some thought that the team might be torn on which way to go, but General Manager Adam Peters said otherwise once the pick was in.
Peters said that it “was a process” settling on the choice, but that the decision to go with Daniels was not made on the fly.
“We knew this one for a long time,” Peters said on The Pat McAfee Show‘s broadcast of the draft.
Daniels is now the man in Washington and the success of Peters’ run as the team’s G.M. will be closely tied to how well he succeeds.
