Jayden Daniels has quickly gone from one of the NFL's brightest young superstar quarterbacks to one of its most polarizing. After playing in only seven games last year and finishing only four, there are some serious questions about his durability.
As a rookie, Daniels had a historic season, leading the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship game. But now, as he enters Year 3, he's going to have to prove his skeptics wrong.
One of them is a former player and broadcaster who seems to have already made up his mind.
Aqib Talib eviscerates Jayden Daniels and the Commanders with brutal assessment
It's never a good thing when Skip Bayless of all people is the one making sense in a debate. But that's where we are, after the long-time Dallas Cowboys fan had to defend Daniels and the Commanders in a conversation with former cornerback Aqib Talib.
"Availability is your best ability. I don't care what you did your rookie year... last year you were on the shelf, I don't like it, man. When he was lifting them all the way to the NFC chip, he had 900 yards rushing... if he continues to run like that, we're going to continue to see the same stuff."
First off, it's pretty rich for a player who missed countless games to injury throughout his career to be commenting on Daniels two years into his NFL journey. To his point, though, football is a physically taxing sport. Players get hurt. You can't predict who or when, and past ailments don't necessarily correlate to future ones.
Two-time NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson was considered injury-prone early on in his career, and still is by some. Usually, when it comes to signal-callers, it's code for a dual-threat passer. That hasn't stopped more traditional gunslingers, such as Joe Burrow, from facing major health issues.
Obviously, it's important that Daniels protects himself. It would be ideal if new offensive coordinator David Blough limited his scrambling, something that was supposed to be a point of emphasis this past year but ended up only becoming an even bigger issue. He might also want to consider bulking up a bit over the summer.
But all in all, the hand-wringing about Daniels' durability seems to have become an overcorrection.
He's been healthy for an entire season before, and Daniels can do it again. If he does, the Commanders should have no problems winning more than the nine games Talib has predicted them to win.