ESPN’s Louis Riddick was ‘one of the most adamant, loud backers of Jayden Daniels’ all season long, as Grant Paulsen put it, but that love has so many layers, as it turns out, and goes way back and isn’t just from Riddick’s fondness for his time in DC.
“That started way back, man. During the regular season just watching him play from afar, you don’t know a whole lot about a guy at that point, but there's just certain things that attract you to the way you guys play,” Riddick told G&D Thursday. “And then you go down to LSU and you start asking people about Jayden Daniels, the person, and all the reviews came back glowingly. And then I got to talk to him, and you think about the things that he went through as far as his transition from ASU to LSU, the commitment that he made not only to get better but become a great teammate, become a great leader, get to know all the guys. And then when you watch him throw the football in person…the ball comes off of his off of his hand like an absolute bullet, and you just knew he was going to be committed to being as great as he possibly can be.”
To a former personnel guy like Riddick, the fact that Jayden’s LSU receivers, who also both went in the first round, were there at their Pro Day for Daniels says a lot about his leadership.
“It was all about him, and that told me, not only does he have it as a captain, the way he throws the ball and the way he can run, come on, forget it – he’s the dude,” Riddick said. “Not a knock on Caleb Williams, but I got a different feeling around Jayden than I did around Caleb, and a lot of that had to do with just how the players responded to him. They wanted to be there for him.”
It reminded Riddick of CJ Stroud’s pro day, where Marvin Harrison Jr. was out there for him, and it gives you a chance to see the whole person, not just what they put on tape.
“That’s a part of the whole process, man. When you're evaluating these quarterbacks, you can watch all the tape in the world, and that never lies, but it doesn't give you the entire picture. You have to go see these guys,” Riddick said. “And when I saw Jayden, I was just like, bing, done.
That was it right there. And now, you got veterans, young players, all going, I wanna go to Washington and play with this guy.”
Riddick has said in the past he thinks Daniels will have the same effect on the Commanders that Patrick Mahomes has had on the Chiefs, and, yeah, he sees it as true.
“Jayden's gonna have the same effect on Washington that Patrick is having on Kansas City. When all is said and done, that's what's gonna happen,” Riddick said. “He's gonna have that same thing. Josh Harris is gonna sit there and go, how much money do you want? Just make sure you leave a little bit so we can pay everyone else, but what do you want? He's gonna be that kind of guy. I'm not trying to make a headline statement, that's just what I think. He's gonna have that kind of effect as long as Dan Quinn keeps people around him. Patrick has had a very stable system, can Washington keep that kind of consistency around Jayden Daniels? Jayden has to understand what he has to improve upon, but if you do and he does, there you go. Tom Brady has said you don't always have to be the very best to be someone who's extremely successful, you just have to be willing to do what most people aren't, which is be consistent, and Jayden has been consistent throughout his career.”