Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels has again insisted he wasn’t upset over the Washington Commanders’ Daniels spent time with Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., and J.J. McCarthy during the predraft group visit.
“I was cool with it,” Daniels said to former NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson on Fox Sports/Fox News’ most recent episode of the “All Facts No Brakes” podcast.”Everyone there, I knew. Really, I didn’t trip. All it felt like was a recruiting visit from [college]. They genuinely didn’t want the visit to be all football and no other. Since we had been going through this [predraft process] for such a long time, they wanted to let us enjoy ourselves.”
Whispers that Daniels was interested in being selected by a team other than Washington and that some in Daniels’ camp weren’t happy about the group nature of the visit soon surfaced after it was revealed that Daniels and others in the group visited a TopGolf driving range facility. After expressing his gratitude for being “blessed to go wherever I’m called,” Daniels was selected second overall by the Commanders in the 2024 draft.
Daniels added in his conversation with Johnson, “It was just different because it was four of the top five quarterbacks there, which kind of blew up on social media.” “J.J. and Mike gave me predraft training. Drake and I got to know each other last summer. Thus, we were all in good spirits.”
According to reports, Daniels rose to the top of the Commanders’ quarterback depth chart “early in their evaluations and never lost ground” before to the last Thursday in April.
Daniels said what Washington is getting in its new quarterback as “a competitor— and a dog.” “I’m going to go above and above to win and try to turn the franchise around. Ideally later on, rather than in the first year. There will be a procedure. I’m a person who is eager to work.”
It’s uncertain if Daniels or seasoned Marcus Mariota will start for Washington in Week 1.Daniels was ranked second among the betting favorites at +650 odds to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award for the 2024 campaign by DraftKings Sportsbook.
