Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is ready to begin his second NFL season. Daniels and the Commanders open the 2025 season on Sunday against the New York Giants at Northwest Stadium.
There will be plenty of expectations on Daniels this season, coming off a record-breaking season where he led Washington to the NFC Championship game and its best season in 33 years.
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There’s talk of a sophomore slump. There’s also talk of Washington potentially dethroning the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East. That’s why Mike Jones of The Athletic recently named Daniels as one of his 25 most intriguing players for the 2025 NFL season. Jones ranked Daniels as the No. 7 most intriguing player.
He burst onto the scene and took a long-suffering Washington franchise to the NFC Championship Game for the first time since the 1991 season. Now the 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year has massive expectations to live up to as he tries to take a Washington team that added Deebo Samuel and Laremy Tunsil to the offense and Von Miller on defense a step further.
If Daniels feels any pressure, he sure doesn’t sound like it.
“To be fair, they don’t really tell me that because I don’t pay attention to it anyway,” Daniels said Wednesday about external expectations for the Commanders. “So, they’re not really worried about me coming in and talking about what was said on ESPN. I don’t really care.”
Daniels passes for over 3,500 yards and 25 touchdowns as a rookie, while rushing for 891 yards and six scores. This offseason, Washington brought in veterans Laremy Tunsil, Deebo Samuel, and Von Miller, among others, in an effort to help Daniels get past the Eagles.
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This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders’ Jayden Daniels among NFL’s most intriguing players in 2025