Commanders' star rookie QB Jayden Daniels ranked inside PFF's top 20 players of 2024

Washington Commanders' Rookie of the Year quarterback Jayden Daniels ranks highly in Pro Football Focus' top 101 players from the 2024 season.

Jan 5, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) throws a pass against the Dallas Cowboys during the first quarter at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

What a turnaround it has been for the Commanders. After years of NFL mediocrity, Washington has finally found the recipe to success after a brilliant 2024 season that saw them go 12-5 and make it to the NFC Championship game.

The success that the Commanders found in 2024 can’t be overlooked and the start of that happened when John Harris became the owner of the team just a couple of seasons ago. Harris immediately got to work in his new role and, this past offseason, made great hires in the front office and the coaching staff in Adam Peters, Dan Quinn, and Kliff Kingsbury.

The team then got to work constructing a roster that they thought would be able to compete at the highest level, bringing in veteran free agents such as Bobby Wagner, Zack Ertz, and Frankie Luvu while supplementing it with young, athletic talent such as 2024 draft picks Jayden Daniels and Mike Sainristil.

The former of those two young aforementioned players for the Commanders took the NFL world by storm after being selected second overall, quickly becoming a top-10, if not top-5, quarterback in the league. Daniels’ 2024 performance was electrifying as he now rivals Lamar Jackson for the best dual-threat quarterback in the league, and it was good enough to earn him the 20th spot in Pro Football Focus’ top 101 NFL players from the 2024 season.

Top 101 NFL players from the 2024 season:

#20: QB Jayden Daniels

🎯 1.5% turnover-worthy play rate (best among all QBs) pic.twitter.com/ROLeR4uj5y

— PFF (@PFF) February 20, 2025

As mentioned, Daniels was fantastic in his rookie season, becoming one of the top quarterbacks in the league as he passed for over 5,000 yards and just under 1,000 yards rushing on his way to earning more accolades including Rookie of the Year.

Daniels’ debut in the NFL couldn’t have gone much better, but as we have seen in the past, it isn’t always guaranteed to last (see C.J. Stroud in 2024). If the Commanders can properly restructure their roster to elevate Daniels’ game even further and improve the defense, then the Commanders, as well as Daniels, should see similar results as they did this season, if not reaching even greater heights.

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READ MORE: Cowboys' Micah Parsons doesn't want to 'sit back and just watch' Commanders build

Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more FREE coverage of the Washington Commanders throughout the 2024 season.

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