ASHBURN, Va. — Wins are not quarterback stats. But at the same time, they very much are.
For Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, his stat line in that regard stands at four wins to one loss through the first five starts of his NFL career.
In the process of notching those wins, the Commanders’ rookie also led his team to become the first since 1970 to score 150-plus points in the first five games of a season, while starting a first-year quarterback.
So, to say the start for Daniels in Washington has been impressive would be an understatement. But how impressive has it really been? After all, those 150+ points haven’t been scored by Daniels alone.
QUANTIFYING GREATNESS
To figure that out we often turn to comparisons and rankings to figure out just how well a player has performed, and how impactful he’s been. And in today’s NFL if you’re looking to compare one mobile quarterback with another it’s usually Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes or Baltimore Ravens leader Lamar Jackson you’re going to turn to - or both.
In the case of Daniels, playing less than an hour from Jackson on a good traffic day, the comparison to the Ravens star is a natural one, even if it’s a little unfair.
"I think everybody knows how exceptional and remarkable Lamar is, and so I get why people would say that here's somebody who's got athletic ability and can absolutely rip it as well. But I've always wanted Jayden to be the best version of him and absolutely go for it in that way,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said on the topic of comparing Daniels to Jackson. “They'll feature different ways in the offense than we do. But as far as comparison, I didn't allow myself to kind of go down all that road. I just really wanted to kind of stay in all the things that he could do and how we would feature him in our offense with our guys."
It is reasonable, but the comparisons will still come. And through five games, not only is Daniels helping Washington do things with a rookie quarterback that have never been seen -- or at least not for quite some time -- he is outpacing the two-time MVP playing for Baltimore this weekend.
JAYDEN VS. LAMAR
In his first five starts, Daniels has completed 77% of his pass attempts for 1,135 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s added another 300 rushing yards to lead the league in quarterback rushing along with four more touchdowns, and while he has fumbled three times his team has recovered each of them.
Daniels became the first rookie in NFL history last week to have more than 1,000 yards passing and 250 yards rushing in his first five games. So, clearly, he’s producing better than Jackson - and any other rookie quarterback before him - so far.
For Jackson, through his first five starts, he completed 59% of his pass attempts, threw for 731 yards, and tossed four touchdowns and three interceptions.
Where the Ravens quarterback has bested Daniels is in the rushing department, as he had 426 rushing yards in his first five starts, but only had two rushing touchdowns compared to four.
Both quarterbacks came out of that first stretch with 4-1 records.
SETTING THE STAGE
In his sixth career start back in 2018 Jackson also faced a quarterback much more established than himself, like Daniels will this weekend. And Baltimore took its rookie quarterback on the road for that matchup, just like Washington will. Only, Jackson’s trip was much further.
Visiting Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers Jackson brought back a 22-10 victory over his elder peer and had arguably the best game of his career up to that point throwing for over 200 yards for the first time in a single contest and earning a 101.3 passer rating in the win.
At the time, that was a career-high for Jackson. Matching the same feat this weekend for Daniels would mean having a passer rating over 141.7, his current top rating from a single game that came in the 38-33 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
And it would mean that Daniels would get his first win over Jackson, at least in the eyes of the public, even if not in the eyes of himself or his coach.
“Yeah, they're not playing against each other,” Quinn said Monday. “Both of them would be great cornerbacks, there's no question about it, but they're not playing against each other. Both of them are fantastic players and cause all sorts of problems for defensive coaches, but both of them would probably tell you they got to control what they can and how well they can play in going to do that. So, I respect the storyline for you, but at the end of it, man, like (Daniels has) got to absolutely do his thing and playing the position.”
Wins aren’t quarterback stats, and they don’t play against each other.
But saying it - even if it is true, and it is - won’t change the fact that when the viewing public gets to see the Commanders and Ravens take the field this weekend, everyone will be watching to find out if it’ll be Daniels or Jackson who beats the other and gets the win for their team.