Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels could be worth a risk in fantasy football this season. There are not many instances where fantasy football owners would want to draft rookie quarterbacks for their team.
Daniels last season won the Heisman Trophy with the LSU Tigers. He was not only putting up numbers through the air, but he was also putting up numbers through the ground as well.
Jayden Daniels in 12 games last season with the Tigers completed 72.2% of his passes for 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns, and four interceptions. He also rushed for 1,134 yards on 135 carries and 10 touchdowns, along with averaging 8.4 yards per carry.
Pro Football Focus Analyst Kate Magdziuk Thinks Fantasy Football Players Should Draft Washington Commanders Quarterback Jayden Daniels This Year
Pro Football Focus Kate Magdziuk listed some players at each position that fantasy football owners should definitely draft this year. One of the players she thinks that fantasy owners should draft is Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
She said:
“It’s not often that fantasy football managers can spot an opportunity to draft a quarterback with legitimate top-five upside in the eighth-plus round of drafts, but this is absolutely one of those times. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is that dude.
It’s no secret that rushing upside has been a common theme among the league’s top fantasy scorers. After all, the overall QB1 in fantasy football has had 500 or more rushing yards in four of the past five seasons. Now, even as a rookie, it’s difficult to even consider five starting quarterbacks with more rushing upside than Daniels (Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Anthony Richardson, then…?). What those quarterbacks have in common, beyond their rushing upside, is the fact that they’re all being drafted, on average, in the top-four rounds of drafts.
In 2023, Daniels was the only quarterback in college football to post a 90.0-plus PFF passing grade (92.0) and rushing grade (92.4). He ranked second among all quarterbacks with 1,301 rushing yards, adding another 10 rushing touchdowns to the 40 he threw, with an 8.4% big-time throw rate to complement his 1.7% turnover-worthy play rate that ranked bottom 12 in the league. There’s no better value than Daniels for the upside he presents, in a Kliff Kingsbury system that yielded a career-best 819 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns back in 2020.”
It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers Daniels will put up during his rookie season with the Washington Commanders. He doesn’t have a lot of talent at the wide receiver position other than Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson.
The Commanders will be in a rebuilding season. Daniels and Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears could both be good fantasy options during their rookie seasons.
