An interesting potential wrinkle to the Commanders’ draft board: does Adam Peters have a beef with Daniels?
This notion comes from EB, whose son showed him a text from a buddy in Illinois this weekend that said, ‘tell your dad Jayden Daniels hates Adam Peters.’ Apparently, Daniels and Brandon Aiyuk are very close from their days at Arizona State, and when Aiyuk connected Daniels to Peters in late 2022 or early 2023 about declaring for the draft, Peters allegedly told Daniels ‘he doesn't think he has the talent to be selected before the fifth round and he doesn't think his skills would translate to the NFL.’
This could all be conjecture and rumor, of course, but the Junks do think it could make sense given Daniels was not a hot prospect with the Sun Devils – and, as we see all the time, things change quickly in the college game.
“Nobody saw that last season coming, because that was a huge jump, right?” EB asked. “So I believe it all, and this is not an indictment on anyone, but just take it with a grain of salt, but what it tells me is that a year ago, Adam Peters was not enamored with his skill set. Maybe he appreciates what he did over the last year, but I would find it hard to believe if that information is correct that a year ago, he thought he was fifth-rounder, and now he's gonna take him with the second overall pick. So I'm now off Jayden Daniels now, and officially declaring the Commanders won’t take him.”
EB still likes Daniels and Dan Quinn calling him a ‘game-changer’ still resonates, but if this is true, that jump for Peters would be as big as Daniels’ jump in 2023.
“If Adam Peters the NFL evaluator says that a year ago…people change, they have great senior years or whatever and move up in the draft that happens all the time, but it is interesting,” EB said.
“Who knows if it’s true, but it’s very believable,” Bish shot back.
Cakes’ idea? “If we buy that rumor, that means we should lock in a future bet on Drake Maye going second to the Commanders,” he said.
There’s also what JP Finlay has Tweeted about Maye being the more likely pick and Craig Hoffman saying that he heard Daniels referred to as a ‘one read guy,’ so there’s a lot there to unpack – and you can listen to the Junks’ entire convo above!