Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels is entering a critical 2026 season, and Kyle Brandt is ready for people to wake up and realize exactly who Daniels is compared to Caleb Williams.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDec 7, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) drops back to pass against the Minnesota Vikings during the first half at U.S. Bank Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
The Washington Commanders are looking to bounce back in 2026 after a season to forget, which led to a lot of changes. <\/p>\n
One of the biggest factors in the losing season was all of the injuries piling up, including QB Jayden Daniels missing the majority of the season. Now, Daniels is looking to stay healthy, learn a new offensive system<\/a>, and pick up where he left off after his historic rookie season. <\/p>\n One NFL Network analyst expects Daniels to remind people how special he is as the Washington Commanders\u2019 franchise QB, and says he was even better in his rookie season than Caleb Williams was last year.<\/p>\n Kyle Brandt expects a massive season from Jayden Daniels<\/p>\n Some people are out on Daniels after his injury-riddled season, and now they\u2019re all looking at the next shiny toys instead. While Drake Maye made it to the Super Bowl and Caleb Williams had an impressive playoff run, Daniels is looking to take over as the best QB in his draft class once again.<\/p>\n NFL Network\u2019s Kyle Brandt says he\u2019s not moving on from Daniels<\/a>, and 2026 will show that he was better than Williams was last year.<\/p>\n \u201cDo we remember Jayden Daniels in his rookie year?\u201d Brandt said. \u201cBecause what\u2019s happened here is that we just move on to the next thing. We move on to the hottest thing. And when I say we, I do it too. Caleb Williams was a sensation last year, and it\u2019s like we all forgot about Jayden Daniels. Jayden\u2019s rookie year was better than Caleb\u2019s second year in several important categories. His rookie year was better than Caleb\u2019s second year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis was not a nice rookie year,\u201d Brandt added. \u201cThis was not a promising rookie. None of that nonsense. This was a prolific, historic rookie season in which we were handing him the keys to the castle and saying, You are the prince who was promised, and then, poof, we haven\u2019t said his name on the show. It\u2019s because his second year was really strange. In his second year, he played seven games. His second year, he played three games with Terry McLaurin on a Washington Commanders team whose best offensive player was a seventh-round rookie. It was a bizarre, bizarre season. But is that it? Are we going to be like, man, Jayden, he just got banged up with injuries and was never the same at the rookie year? I chose to say no.\u201d<\/p>\n Jayden Daniels has to prove the doubters wrong in 2026<\/p>\n 2025 did seem like a complete fluke season for the Washington Commanders, with both Daniels and McLaurin both missing the majority of the season, and now Daniels has to prove he\u2019s still one of the best. His season started with a knee injury in Week 2, which forced him to miss a couple of games. Then, he had another knee injury in Week 7, where he missed one more game. The worst one, however, came in his first game back in Week 9, where he dislocated his elbow.<\/p>\n He tried to come back in Week 14, but he reaggravated his elbow and was shut down for the rest of the season. Daniels will have new faces to work with<\/a> and a new system, but his new offensive coordinator is a familiar face in David Blough, who will work with his strengths<\/a> and get the best out of the young QB in 2026.<\/p>\n
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