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When Jayden Daniels first reported to the Washington Commanders’ rookie minicamp shortly after being drafted in the spring of 2024, he said all of the right things. He continued to say the right things throughout minicamp, training camp, and in the season. One famous Daniels’ quote was that he was not a star, he was a rookie.
Daniels preferred to let his play do the talking. He deferred to Commanders’ veterans like Bobby Wagner, Terry McLaurin and Zach Ertz, while quietly going about his business, building relationships with every single player and coach on the roster. By the middle of the season, whether he realized it or not, the rookie sensation was already one of Washington’s leaders.
Daniels continues to say all of the right things because that’s who he is. However, entering his second NFL season, and becoming more comfortable with Kliff Kingsbury’s offense and his teammates, Daniels has taken a more active role as a leader. Veteran running back Austin Ekeler recently revealed that Daniels kicked an unknown player out of the huddle in training camp due to a false start.
“He said, ‘Get out, we can’t be doing that,'” Ekeler said, via John Keim of ESPN. “That’s leadership we wouldn’t have seen last year. He’s holding the standard, letting everyone know this is how we play. If you’re not playing at this level, you can’t be on the field. That’s awesome to see in a quarterback.”
Daniels met with the media on Thursday and discussed his ever-evolving leadership.
“I think it’s a standard that we set on the offensive side, and I’m the one who’s got to uphold the standard,” Daniels said. “That’s if guys are false starting, the next guy up, stuff like that. Even for me, it’s like holding myself accountable. If I mess up or look to [TE] Zach [Ertz], I’ll look to guys like that to hold me accountable too. That’s just holding leadership-wise, not letting nobody fall underneath the standard.”
That’s music to the ears of Kingsbury and head coach Dan Quinn. This is the type of ownership they want to see from Daniels, and to be doing it ahead of his second season is remarkable.
Kicking a player out of the huddle may sound extreme to the casual fan. But it’s the type of leadership we’ve always seen from the best quarterbacks, such as Tom Brady, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning and so many others. The best part: the player kicked out of the huddle and the rest of the team respect Daniels enough to get it right the next time.
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