The endless game of “find the right young quarterback” is a constant NFL crapshoot, the kind of roulette wheel that always provides spectacular entertainment. The quarterbacks come in all sizes with all kinds of playing styles, and GMs, personnel experts and coaches fall in and out of love all the time. There are way more misses than hits, but in the last couple of years the standards have shifted, to the point where they’re now largely based on these two guys.
C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels have done a reset. It’s been subtle, but it’s definitely there. Stroud started the process with his astounding rookie season, and now Daniels is doing the same thing, even though they’re very different players. They do have one important thing in common, though, that’s separated them from the rest of the pack.
C.J. Stroud is now the gold standard
Coming out of college, Stroud looked like yet another athletic, strong-armed quarterback that Ohio State seems to spit out on an annual basis. He could make all the throws and make plays when he had to escape the pocket, but there didn’t seem to be a lot separating him from several other top prospects with many of the same physical attributes.
How wrong we all were. C.J. Stroud came into the NFL fully developed, to the point that it was hard to even recognize him as a rookie by the halfway mark of the season. He seems to have an almost preternatural ability to make the right decision, regardless of the score, the situation or whatever exotic looks and blitzes defenses coordinators throw at them.
Moreover, Stroud doesn’t really see himself as a runner. He’s been effective in that role when it’s go time, but he’s a passer first. Even more importantly, he’s shown almost none of the tendencies for excess risk-taking that has been a part of the learning process for nearly every other prospect.
Jayden Daniels has been a revelation
While there are commonalities between Stroud and Daniels, Daniels is a very different player. He shot up the draft boards based on a remarkable Heisman run at LSU last year, and that meteoric rise raised suspicion among personnel types.
Specifically, Daniels didn’t really show a big arm in college, and his relatively slight frame made him vulnerable for the kinds of big hits that every NFL quarterback takes sooner or later. But his supposed lack of arm strength hasn’t stopped him from making big plays in the passing game, nor has he taken many of the hits that personnel people thought would break him.
Instead, Daniels simply does whatever it takes to win games. He’s had some breakout games that are reflected in his passing stats, but in other games the Commanders new quarterback has been more than happy to use his legs to secure the victory.
Daniels’ big issue going forward is that he’s carrying a bad team to new level of success. Sound familiar? It seems impossible given how bad Washington has been for so long, but Stroud did the same thing last year and took the Texans all the way to the playoffs. Based on what we’ve seen so far, there’s no clearly reason why Daniels can’t do the same thing. He seems more than resilient enough to weather the inevitable bad stretch that’s coming, and given the volatile nature of the NFC East, a playoff run isn’t all that hard to imagine.
What Stroud and Daniels have in common
So what’s the common thread here? There’s plenty of physical overlap between these two brilliant young quarterbacks, but the biggest one is poise. We’ve watched a lot of young quarterbacks struggle with the overwhelming urge to take risks and make highlight throws—Caleb Williams comes to mind as the most recent example--but both Stroud and Daniels seem immune to this urge.
The other common thread is about decisions. Usually it takes rookie quarterbacks years to develop a sense of situational football, from when to back off and be a game manager to when to step up and make a drive or a play happen, regardless of what it takes.
It’s hard to imagine this combination of poised decision-making completely reset the evaluation process, but every coach, GM and personnel guy who’s fallen in love with a big-armed stud may want to reconsider based on what Stroud and Daniels are doing.