by J.T. Toth
Photo courtesy of Tiger Rag.
At Draft 412, the NFL draft talk never ends. We will keep you ready for the next set of gridiron stars—from today and all the way until draft night 2024. We will bring you mock drafts, player profiles, individual team needs, and everything else you may need related to the 2024 NFL Draft.
Today’s Spotlight - LSU, Quarterback, Jayden Daniels
Name- Jayden Daniels
Pos- Quarterback
Team- LSU
HT/WT- 6’3” 200 lbs.
Born- 12/18/2000
Home – San Bernardino, CA
Jayden Daniels tallied some impressive numbers at Cajon High School in California, breaking several school and state records. He was selected to the prestigious Under-Armour All-American Game and was a consensus four-star prospect from all the major recruiting services. 247Sports had him ranked as their #1 dual-threat quarterback in the country. In December of 2018, Daniels committed to Arizona State.
Daniels became the first Arizona State true freshman to start the season opener of his freshman year. He had an incredible campaign, throwing for 2,943 yards and 17 touchdown passes with only 2 interceptions. In 2020, Daniels started all 4 games for the Sun Devils in their COVID shortened season. In those 4 games, he threw for 5 touchdowns and ran for 4 more.
In 2021, he started all 13 games, running for 710 yards and 6 touchdowns along with 2,381 yards passing and 10 touchdowns. He led the PAC-12 in completion percentage, completing 65.4% of his passes. At the end of the season he announced he was transferring to LSU.
In his first season for the TIgers, Daniels put up the best numbers of his career, leading LSU to a 10-4 record in his 14 starts. He threw for 2,913 yards and 17 touchdowns and only threw 3 interceptions. He also ran for a team high 885 yards and 11 touchdowns.
He has an NFL arm that can make every throw on the route tree and is accurate when given the time. He drives through each throw with his lower body and uses his feet when he needs to. As an experienced signal caller, Daniels has learned to take what the defense gives him. He throws on the run accurately and isn’t afraid to take a hit to make a play. He is very elusive in the open field and can turn any play into a big chunk of yards.
On the negative side, Daniels takes too long on his progressions and holds the ball too long. He works better outside the pocket than he does inside it. He needs to do a better job with pre-snap reads and tends to always look for his check down options. Overall, he is an accurate quarterback, but he has problems connecting on the deep pass at times, which will be an issue at the next level.
Though he isn’t quite as big as Washington Commander’s quarterback Jacoby Brissett, Daniels has a lot of the same intangibles. They both have NFL caliber arms that tend to hold the ball too long and have to make it up with their legs.
Strengths
Arm strength
Mobility
Running in open space
Accuracy
Weaknesses
Pre-snap reads
Long progressions
Deep ball accuracy
Pocket passing
Final Analysis
Jayden Daniels is another one of those seasoned quarterbacks who have a chance to improve their draft stock in year five with a big season. LSU is a favorite to win the SEC this year and strong play and continued development should lead scouts and coaches to take a deeper look at Daniel’s skill set. He has the intangibles to have some NFL teams attention and projects as a quality backup at the next level.
Draft 412 Draft Prediction - 4th round