ASHBURN, Va. — On the field, Jayden Daniels is having a historic start to his career. He owns the NFL's highest completion percentage, only throwing six incompletions the last two games against the Bengals and Cardinals.
Outside of his talent and athletic ability, Commanders head coach, Dan Quinn said his quarterback is an authentic leader. He’s already reeling in the accolades the first quarter of his first NFL season and Daniels isn’t playing or leading like a rookie, but don’t tell him that.
"Man, y’all can say whatever y’all want. I’m still a rookie in my eyes, so I let everyone else do the talking for me," said Daniels. "I don’t get caught up in that stuff, but it’s a blessing. Just the preparation and obviously the team believing in me, and we go out and compete every Sunday."
"I've just been seeing little pieces of his veteran-level continuing to increase," said running back Austin Ekeler. "Even today we were kind of gassed out there, we're driving, it's a long drive. He was like, 'hey, let me get some water in here'. Things like that, that are like veteran things I would expect a vet to be like, 'hey, I want to give my guys a little drink real quick'."
Daniels' head coach says it's been his consistency as a player and leader that's been so impressive so early in his career.
"For any of us that have been around a good leader, you saw them the same all the time. They weren’t up and down and trying to be somebody they weren’t," said Quinn. "I think that’s the easiest person to see through, to say like he’s not that way around somebody else. For him, if you came in here on a Monday or a Thursday, or next week, you’d see the same high-character person putting in the work, doing the things necessary and over time, man, you have a lot of appreciation for that because of that way he goes about his business."
Ekeler was out at practice for the first time Wednesday since suffering a concussion week three against the Bengals. He says he is in line to play this weekend.
