Commanders name Jayden Daniels, the 2024 No. 2 overall pick, as starting quarterback

Jayden Daniels, the 2024 No. 2 overall pick, is starting his rookie season off strong. After competing against four other quarterbacks, Daniels will be the Washington Commanders‘ starting quarterback, the team announced Monday.

Daniels, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out of LSU, competed alongside the rest of the QB field in two preseason games, throwing for 123 yards across the two games. Both games were losses for Washington, who fell 20-17 against the New York Jets and 13-6 against the Miami Dolphins.

With his performance, Daniels out-threw Marcus Mariota, Jeff Driskel, Sam Hartman and recent signee Trace McSorely to take the starting job. Mariota, a former Heisman winner himself, signed with the Commanders in March, and is expected to be second in the depth chart.

Commanders coach Dan Quinn said Monday that Daniels has been “absolutely outstanding” throughout camp.

“He went through the whole thing. He didn’t miss a beat,” Quinn said. “He’s ready and he’s earned the right to do that.”

Quinn told Yahoo Sports in June more about the quarterback race, saying that the plan was to let Daniels and Mariota trade snaps during minicamp before picking a starter later on. But even early on, Quinn had high praise for Daniels, specifically in terms of his hard work and his progress.

“There’s no doubt that Jayden’s making unbelievable progress and we’ll have a really fun camp,” Quinn said. “He’s earned that opportunity to go compete. We wouldn’t have given him those spaces, those times and those reps if he hadn’t.”

Daniels also spoke about hoping to improve. “I’m focused on learning,” Daniels said. “I’m focused on going out here and keep competing every day, having fun and bringing that energy and that joy and that competitiveness to the team.

“I ain’t a star quarterback yet. I’ve got a long way to go.”