Jayden Daniels will be the first to admit he hates losing, so Sunday literally made him sick to his stomach.
“I felt sick (when I woke up this morning). This one hurts, and you have to deal with that for the rest of the offseason,” Daniels told the media at the Commanders’ locker cleanout day Monday. “It’s my first one, but in this fashion, when you’re that close to achieving something that hasn’t been done in a while, it sucks.”
Daniels hasn’t even begun reflecting on his rookie season, saying it was ‘too fresh,’ but he did reflect on the fact that he was welcomed with open arms, and on the brotherhood this team formed.
“I love that group of guys in the locker room. It meant the world having veterans, older guys who took me under their wing so I could learn from them,” Daniels said. “We set a standard on how we want to approach things and go about them for the future. There will be some new faces here next year, so we’ll hold guys to that standard, but as the year went on you could see guys getting closer and tighter.”
He will watch the Super Bowl, saying he’s ‘not bitter’ about the loss, but it ‘will suck.’
“I don’t like losing, and I think as a competitor, anyone in this profession doesn’t like losing. But you learn from it, figure out wats to get better, and move on,” Daniels said. “I’ll probably watch, because I’m not a bitter guy like that, but it will suck because we were one game away from it. But kudos to those two teams, because it’s very hard to get there.”
And kudos to you, the Commanders fans, because your raucous return this season led Daniels to a very complimentary allegory.
“They’re very passionate. We’ve awoken a sleeping giant, and hopefully we can keep building on that next year,” Daniels smiled. “We’re gonna need you!”