Jayden Daniels

Former quarterback at LSU. 2023: 3,812 passing yards, 40 TD, 4 INT.

QB · LSU · Sr. · #5

6′4″ · 210 lb · San Bernardino, CA

CFB Index 98 · #1 of 140 QBsHigh confidencePOTY finalist (model)Washington — drafted 2024, Rd 1, Pick 2, #2 overall

Recruiting

4★

DUAL recruit

No. 35 nationally · Signed with Arizona State

Statement game413 yds · 6 TDvs Georgia State (FBS) · W 56-14

Top 0.1% passing TDs game since 2021.

It is deeply unfair that Jayden Daniels never got to play a competitive game against LSU’s defenser/CFB game thread · ▲ 19His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former quarterback at LSU. 2023: 3,812 passing yards, 40 TD, 4 INT.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Arizona State in 2019.
Transferred from Arizona State to LSU in 2022.
Drafted round 1 by the Washington in 2024.

His career, year by year

Career, closed

Gone at #2 overall.

How it ended

Five seasons at LSU, 12,749 passing yards, a Consensus All-American season (2023) — drafted at #2 overall by Washington.

His career

He arrived as a blue-chip recruit and played like one.

201912 games

Signed with Arizona State4-star out of Cajon

202214 games

Entered the portal

202312 games

All-Americafirst · 13 selectors
All-SECfirst
Davey O'Brienwinner
Heismanwinner
Unitas Golden Armwinner
Manningwinner
Walter Campwinner
SEC Offensive Player of the Yearwinner

2024

Drafted by Washingtonround 1, pick 2

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#35 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2019–2023

NFL

NFL Draft

R1 · #2

Washington · 2024

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

21 honors · 2 categories

🏆

ALL-AMERICA · CONSENSUS

Consensus AA (2023)

11 first-team selectors

🥈

ALL-SEC · 1ST TEAM

All-SEC 1st team (2023)

Featured in The Canon

The 100 Best Players of the CFP Era

Coaching lineage · 2019–2023

2 coaches

2019–2021

Ed Orgeron

LSU

2022–2023

Brian Kelly

LSU

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Ed Orgeron → Brian Kelly. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

WashingtonEntering 3rd NFL season

#2Rd 1 · Pick 2

WashingtonEntering 3rd NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019Arizona State8-5HC: Herm Edwards · Run-leaning

2020Arizona State2-2HC: Herm Edwards · Run-heavy, slow tempo

2021Arizona State8-5HC: Herm Edwards · Run-heavy

2022LSU10-4HC: Brian Kelly · Balanced

2023LSU10-3HC: Brian Kelly · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

98All-America level #1 of 140?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: success rate (100th percentile). Strength: explosive rate (100th percentile). Concern: interception rate (27th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Success rate#1 / 177 · 100th pct

56.6%

Explosive rate#1 / 177 · 100th pct

20.8%

EPA / dropback#2 / 177 · 99th pct

0.65

Sack rate#92 / 177 · 48th pct

6.3%

Interception rate#130 / 177 · 27th pct

1.0%

Box-score rates (8)

Yards / att#1 / 179 · 100th pct

11.7

Rush yards#1 / 179 · 100th pct

1134

Pass TDs#2 / 179 · 99th pct

Pass yards#5 / 179 · 97th pct

3812

Completion %#7 / 179 · 96th pct

72.2%

Rush TDs#9 / 179 · 94th pct

Interceptions#38 / 179 · 75th pct

Fumbles lost#24 / 167 · 71st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

65th → 99th percentile

Success rate

81st → 100th percentile

Explosive rate

25th → 100th percentile

Sack rate

12th → 48th percentile

Interception rate

95th → 27th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

225/313 (71.9%) · 40 TD · 4 INT

313 of 327 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

12.481 of 212 QBs

Sack rate

6.0%117 of 212 QBs

Sacked on 6.0% of dropbacks (117 of 212) — and still 1 of 212 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

45%of completions

101 comp5.6 yds avg8 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

26%of completions

59 comp13.7 yds avg4 TD

Deep

20+ yds

29%of completions

65 comp34.7 yds avg21 TD

Overall 71.9% completion on 313 attempts · 65 deep completions averaging 34.7 yds.

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2023 baseline

No situation moves him more than 25 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-14 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 7/147 (4.8%) · league sack rate 4.9% · ~our read

Down 2

+4 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 4/107 (3.7%) · league sack rate 5.2% · ~our read

Down 3+

+25 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 10/63 (15.9%) · league sack rate 9.1% · ~our read

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2023 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home7g	316	4.0	13.0	0.3
Road5g	320	2.4	10.6	0.4

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	328	3.1	11.1	0.4
Weeks 8+5g	304	3.6	13.1	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Lane Kiffin

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

POTY finalist (model)

Our Heisman model has him in the top five; no finalist honor is on the books yet.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

98 · #1 of 140 QBs

Former four-star. Now #1 at the position.

Selector Grid · 2023

AP—

FWAA1st

AFCA1st

WCFF—

SN1st

SI1st

Named Consensus All-American — recognized on 3+ of the 5 NCAA-recognized selector lists.

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	LSU	236	327	72.2%	3,812	11.7	40	4	208.0	97	--	--
2022	LSU	266	388	68.6%	2,913	7.5	17	3	144.5	62	--	--
2021	Arizona State	197	301	65.4%	2,380	7.9	10	10	136.2	53	--	--
2020	Arizona State	49	84	58.3%	701	8.3	5	1	145.7	42	--	--
2019	Arizona State	205	338	60.7%	2,943	8.7	17	2	149.2	--	--	--
Career		953	1,438	66.3%	12,749	8.9	89	20	158.4	68	--	--

Season	Team
2023	LSU	135	1,134	8.4	10	--
2022	LSU	186	885	4.8	11	--
2021	Arizona State	138	710	5.1	6	--
2020	Arizona State	33	223	6.8	4	--
2019	Arizona State	125	355	2.8	3	--
Career		617	3,307	5.4	34	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 6 · 2023

W 49–39

at Missouri

259 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 97.1 · 130 rush yds (15 car) · 1 TD

Edged out Missouri on the road in a shootout.

With J. Bramblett — 43 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 57 LONG · M. Nabers — 1 rush yds (1 car)

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 8 · Army · 2&4 · Q1 · EPA +6.65Jayden Daniels pass complete to Brian Thomas Jr. for 86 yds for a TD (Damian Ramos KICK)
Week 11 · Florida · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +6.62Jayden Daniels run for 85 yds for a TD (Damian Ramos KICK)
Week 1 · Florida State · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +6.08Jayden Daniels pass complete to Brian Thomas Jr. for 75 yds for a TD (Damian Ramos KICK)
Week 12 · Georgia State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +5.69Jayden Daniels pass complete to Brian Thomas Jr. for 70 yds for a TD (Damian Ramos KICK)
Week 3 · Mississippi State · 4&7 · Q2 · EPA +5.06Jayden Daniels pass complete to Malik Nabers for 33 yds for a TD (Damian Ramos KICK)
Week 13 · Texas A&M · 4&4 · Q3 · EPA +4.72Jayden Daniels run for 49 yds to the TA&M 4 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Mississippi State · 2&17 · Q4 · EPA +4.51Jayden Daniels pass complete to Malik Nabers for 45 yds to the MSST 1 for a 1ST down
Week 5 · Ole Miss · 2&17 · Q2 · EPA +4.28Jayden Daniels run for 55 yds to the MISS 10 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Florida State · 4&1 · Q1 · EPA -4.21Jayden Daniels sacked by DJ Lundy for a loss of 13 yards to the FSU 14
Week 12 · Georgia State · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA -4.21Jayden Daniels run for no gain to the GAST 1

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	L 24-45@ Florida State	22/37	346	1	1	9.4	61.8
Wk 2	W 72-10vs Grambling	18/24	269	5	0	11.2	89.7	5 TD passes
Wk 3	W 41-14@ Mississippi State	30/34	361	2	0	10.6	95.3	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 4	W 34-31vs Arkansas	20/29	320	4	1	11.0	85.4	4 TD passes
Wk 5	L 49-55@ Ole Miss	27/36	414	4	0	11.5	92.7	Season-high 414 yds
Wk 6	W 49-39@ Missouri	15/21	259	3	0	12.3	97.1	3 TD passes
Wk 7	W 48-18vs Auburn	20/27	325	3	1	12.0	90.7	3 TD passes
Wk 8	W 62-0vs Army	11/15	279	3	0	18.6	96.0	3 TD passes
Wk 10	L 28-42@ Alabama	15/24	219	2	1	9.1	97.6
Wk 11	W 52-35vs Florida	17/26	372	3	0	14.3	98.9	3 TD passes
Wk 12	W 56-14vs Georgia State	25/30	413	6	0	13.8	98.8	6 TD passes
Wk 13	W 42-30vs Texas A&M	16/24	235	4	0	9.8	98.3	4 TD passes
Total		236/327	3812	40	4	12.0	91.9

How he plays

Play style

Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

73.9%Completion %

25.9%Conversion/dropback

58.8%Land short of sticks

0INTs

73.9% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 25.9% conversion-per-dropback — 58.8% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

11/47Inside-5 share

11 of the team's 47 inside-the-5 carries (23.4%).