Jayden Daniels scouting report: Exploring the LSU quarterback's strengths and weaknesses

The third-highest ranked quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class, Jayden Daniels completed 60.7 percent of his passes for just under 3,000 yards and 17 touchdowns versus two INTs as a true freshman at Arizona State. He only appeared in four games of a shortened 2020 season and put up pretty much the same per-game numbers.

Daniels transferred to LSU ahead of the 2022 season and led the Tigers to an SEC title game appearance. He booked 2,900 yards and seven TDs versus only three INTs through the air, along with nearly 900 yards and 11 TDs on the ground.

This past season, he took his game to a new level, putting up new career-highs in completion rate (72.2%), passing yards (3,812), yards per attempt (11.7), rushing yards (1,134), yards per carry (8.4) and total touchdowns (50), whilst only throwing four interceptions. That earned him the Heisman trophy.

Jayden Daniels scouting report

Physical make-up & arm talent:

• Despite having that lanky build, Daniels packs a pretty compact release and clean, repeatable mechanics
• Can whip the ball out in a hurry if his receivers are about to get to voided space on spot or sit routes, where you see his speed up his drop and get his feet set in a hurry
• Delivers the ball on time and target on deeper in-breaking routes, being able to beat driving safeties with the throw
• Has the whippy arm to hit guys in the chest on wrap-around and digs after clearing the underneath defense
• Doesn’t need a lot of space to hitch up and create velocity as a thrower and even when he has to retreat, he has a flexible arm to deliver with a high trajectory
• Very accurate outside the numbers on vertical shots and was one of the most effective slot fade throwers college football has ever seen when you take his 2023 highlight reel, dropping them perfectly into the bucket – hit three touchdowns exactly that way to start the 2023 Ole Miss game
• Took advantage of his bigger targets in the red-zone and goal-to-go situations, delivering the ball helmet or higher
• Shows flexibility in pocket-movement to roll one way yet deliver the ball to a target that is level to him on a horizontal level seemingly effortlessly

Processing & decision-making:

• What you like about Daniels inside the pocket is that he rarely bails but rather climbs up and then takes off through lanes that present themselves to him
• Yet if the middle is clean, he will bounce on the spot and can push the ball way down the field as his receivers break free late
• Consistently reads leverage the right way and makes the correct decision on spacing concepts
• Got better last season at progressing to in-cuts from the backside if he didn’t like what happened to the field (with trips sets)
• Quick to get his cleats into the ground and speed up his process by replacing a blitzer or attacking voided space on coverage rotations
• Correctly reads leverage of his receivers on go balls, whether he allows them extra room to detach or puts a lower trajectory on it when hitting them back-shoulder
• Shows the ability to get split-field safeties turned the wrong way with the direction of his helmet and shoulder fakes
• When he does take and miss shots down the field late, it’s always to where the pass falls incomplete, rather than giving defenders chances to make plays on it
• His 0.6% turnover-worthy play rate in 2022 was the lowest mark among all FBS quarterbacks with 100+ dropbacks and his 1.6% rate in 2023 was tied for fourth-lowest, compared to the third-highest big-time throw rate (8.4%)

Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

• Does a nice job of manipulating rush angles by gaining further depth and forcing defenders to overrun him, as he works back up to the line of scrimmage
• Electric dual-threat QB, who can eat up ground quickly as a runner and looks like he’s gliding as he goes horizontally or vertically
• On designed carries, he understands how to get second-level defenders to commit or D-linemen to peek inside of blocks, before making them wrong for doing so
• The subtle adjustments on the fly without ever losing speed was something that showed up over and over again, as he efficiently navigated around bodies in space and took advantage of his teammates helping him out by landing blocks down the field
• This guy is one of the most slippery movers you will ever find, where routinely you feel like he will be taken down, but somehow he gets by defenders
• Has that ability to make tacklers miss in a phonebooth frequently by putting on the breaks in a heartbeat and making guys fly by
• Never feels like he’s straining as a runner, getting away from defenders in second gear and routinely pulling his knees up and feet out of the grasp of would-be tacklers
• Displays true angle-destroying speed when he splits defenders in the back-seven or strides down the sideline

Weaknesses:

• Lacks some rhythm to his drops, to where the ball comes out in order to hit timing-based routes right as they come out of the break and too often places the ball slightly behind his targets on crossers or flat routes, slowing down his guys and negating big YAC opportunities
• Still very much a one-read-and-go quarterback, who was able to turn a lot of plays into positives thanks to his legs without reading the field and on nearly half the snaps where he’s asked to move off the spot, he ends up running instead of becoming a “pocket play-maker” who keeps his eyes up even as he moves around
• Registered a pressure-to-sack conversation rate of above 20% in all five seasons as a starter and last season in particular, only 50.6% of his pressured dropbacks even resulted in a pass attempt, speaking to his eyes dropping once he saw any color flashing
• Until this past season, he tended to be too conservative as a decision-maker and had drives stall on him because he wouldn’t attempt more tight-window throws, while in 2023, the answer a lot of times was taking shots outside to his two incredible receivers, who came through for him constantly
• 49% of his total passing yards that year came on hitches or fades – His willingness to attack and the accuracy at doing so over the middle of the field is very limited
• The comparison to Johnny Knoxville some people have made is very fitting when he takes off, looking at how he’ll run into defenders like a young Josh Allen, as if he wasn’t super skinny and somebody might snap him in half

Since the most common comparison for Daniels is two-time Ravens MVP Lamar Jackson, I have to say that it was unfair to put them on the same level as far as their Heisman campaigns are concerned. Jayden has shown continued improvement in terms of ball-placement, in particular attacking the defense vertically, and as a decision-maker.

With his willingness to hang in the pocket, I can see him putting up some big numbers if he adds more touch throws on the intermediate level to his arsenal and is paired up with an offensive play-caller who can enhance his strengths. But I believe there’s a steep drop from the top tier of Caleb Williams and Drake Maye when you think about the different avenues through which they can win.

Grade: Late first round