Dan Quinn Reveals Subtle Way Jayden Daniels Will Be Even Better in 2025

Jayden Daniels is already building off his remarkable rookie campaign.

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer how Jayden Daniels has been improving ahead of his sophomore season. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

After putting up arguably the best season by a rookie quarterback in NFL history, Jayden Daniels is continuing to take strides forward in his second season with the Commanders.

As a rookie, Daniels showed remarkable poise, clutchness and decision-making among many other traits as he guided the Commanders to the NFC championship game for the first time in over 30 years. This year, he's been stepping up his leadership role, which includes guiding his teammates around him to player better, even if it's just giving them a small adjustment.

“What I’ve noticed already is he’s now making others better by his ability to communicate, postsnap,” Quinn told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer during his visit to Commanders training camp. “I noticed early on in practice, it was very early on. [Second-year TE] Ben Sinnott was running a corner route, and the ball came kind of early to Ben. Before, I don’t know if he would’ve articulated this—so he came up after the play, and said, Look for it earlier. I’m not going to throw it near the corner, so it’s gonna be on your back shoulder. And it made Ben totally see that play differently. Now, he wasn’t just running a route. It was, I have to look and if the corner’s there, it’s gonna come quickly."

As Breer pointed out, it helps that Daniels is no longer a rookie and established himself last year with such an incredible first NFL campaign. This has put him in position to not only provide teaching moments to his teammates, but hold them accountable if they do not reach his and the team's standards.

“This year, a rookie had jumped offside and he just quietly went over and said, ‘Get out,' Quinn told Breer. "He didn’t make a big deal of it. But it was his way of saying,It’s not good enough. It wasn’t a scene. It was, get out. He’s always had high standards, but when you ask me what’s different, I’d say he is now multiplying others."

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