Sheehan: Taylor Kelly sheds some light on the work he and 3DQB have been doing with Jayden Daniels
Who would know Jayden Daniels better than one of his own personal QB coaches?
Indeed, that was Kevin Sheehan’s thought in getting to the bottom of Daniels’ NFL Rookie of the Month start, and it’s something that Taylor Kelly, who has worked the most with Daniels at John Beck’s 3D QB group, was even surprised a little bit to see.
“I wasn't expecting him to have a completion percentage of 80-plus, that’s kind of unheard of, but he's extremely accurate and extremely bright in how he processes the game, and being able to have that as a rookie is why he has thrown for that,” Kelly said. “He’s not getting stuck on reads too long; if it's not there, he's progressing super-fast, and Kliff Kingsbury does a great job of presenting a bunch of different looks on the offensive side. Whether it’s different formations or personnel or whatever, they’re doing a great job and all on one page, fully understanding the offense and taking what the defense gives them.”
3DQB, based in Huntington Beach, California, works with QBs on the biomechanic side trying to see their tendencies and turn strengths into weaknesses, and Daniels has been with them since just before transferring to LSU – and as you may have heard TJ Houshmandzadeh tell BMitch & Finlay last month, Daniels would go out there every chance he got while he was at LSU to take advantage of what they had to offer.
And yes, Kelly said the same things Houshmandzadeh had said, and a lot of people say about Daniels.
“Jayden’s done a great job this year, had a fast start. He had a great couple years at LSU, winning the Heisman, and it fed into going into the NFL, and hasn’t dropped off,” Kelly said. “He’s an extremely hard worker, always biting at the bit to come out and throw and better his craft, and that's the one thing with that kid is he is super consistent with his process. You can kind of see that it hasn't slowed down, and he's got into a great fit with being in Washington with Kliff and Dan Quinn and what they got going on over there. It's been fun to watch for the first four games.”
Kelly and the crew are watching Daniels live as much as they can, but always look at the tape on Mondays or Tuesdays to continue to give him weekly advice on mechanics and other things, and he had to give props to the crossing route Daniels threw to Luke McCaffrey as an example of how the signal-caller is taking that advice to heart.
Take a listen to Kelly’s entire visit above, as he goes into the science behind some of the good (and bad) plays Daniels has made this year, the 'sliding trouble' narrative, and more!
