SNIDER: Jayden Daniels showing Commanders made right choice

Jayden Daniels is “the dude.”

The Washington Commanders' rookie quarterback showed veteran savviness when checking off before his second throw in his debut against the New York Jets on Saturday. Forget that adrenaline sent his first pro throw scaling over its target - Daniels came right back with his own checkoff at the line to send a 42-yard dart downfield to Dynami Brown.

Folks, this doesn’t happen often. Washington has drafted 10 first-round quarterbacks in franchise history and maybe only Robert Griffin III would have the gumption to change his second throw ever.

Sammy Baugh, the team’s greatest passer ever, probably wouldn’t have done so in that run era. It was 1937 so hard to say, but probably not. Norm Snead (1961), Heath Shuler (1994), Patrick Ramsey (2002), Jason Campbell (2005) and Dwayne Haskins (2019) would not. Forest Evanshevski (1941) never played while Richie Lucas (1960) never played for Washington, though his “Riverboat Richie” nickname came from gambling on plays in college.

There are a lot of natural comparisons between RG3 and JD5. That throw is an early seminal moment. Griffin might have tried it out of instinct, but Daniels did so out of knowledge. He’s that much farther ahead.

Coach Dan Quinn compared Daniels to Tom Cruise in the first Top Gun movie, a 1986 flick made before any current player was born. Cruise’s “Maverick” character did things out of instinct and was so good he got away with it. That summarizes Griffin, whose blinding speed made him even more dangerous. Griffin is faster than Daniels, but this isn’t about who runs 40 yards faster. That’s the last thing the Commanders want from Daniels, even if scoring on a three-yard run against New York.

If we’re looking at arm strength, Daniels get the nod over Griffin. His ability to throw fastballs with a flick of a wrist is impressive.

Both players were well liked by teammates and fans, though Griffin’s following was beyond fanatical. Think screaming fans on the tarmac when the Beatles arrived in America.

But that one play by Daniels really stands out. He did it on his own and didn’t bother coaches. Quinn seems more free spirited than predecessor Mike Shanahan, who shackled Griffin with his “my way” system that led to the downfall of passer and coach.

“The main thing we wanted to make sure,” said Quinn of the play, "is ‘Hey, these are the guidelines we wanted to do based on personnel or checks to go through’, so that's why we did it and I thought he did a really good job.

“In a small amount of plays, you felt [Daniels’] presence and everything we’re doing with him...We’re setting him up to play remarkable for a long time, not just to see if we can get him more playing time in preseason game one or that. So, he's checking all the things that I wanted to, but I think early on we had said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna get these competitive moments, Jet 1, this one, so we had some to go.'"

It's only the beginning, but Daniels feels so much more like a veteran than rookie. After all, “The Dude abides.”