Former Arizona State QB Considered Elite NFL Player

Jayden Daniels is and will continue to be a complicated figure in the grand scheme of Arizona State football.

The former four star recruit out of the 2019 class was much maligned in the later stages of his career in Tempe, although a resurgence at LSU and in the NFL has shifted the blame heavily in the direction of the coaching staff.

Now, as mentioned above, Daniels is considered one of the best players in the entire NFL already - even after only one season of sample.

The talented signal caller was recently voted as the fifth best quarterback in the league by NFL executives, scouts, and coaches via ESPN:

More on the astronomic rise below:

"Daniels' phenomenal rookie season demanded an appearance somewhere in the top 10. That he pushed his way into the top five, narrowly outdistancing Stafford in the voting, shows voters have no problem validating his hype."

"Last season, Daniels posted the fourth-highest QBR in the NFL (70.6), the best mark for a rookie since Dak Prescott in 2016. But he was even better on third and fourth downs, recording a league-leading 95.3 QBR on those downs."

"Single-handedly took one of the worst franchises to the NFC title game as a rookie with a bad defense, one legitimate wide receiver, a dinosaur at tight end [12th-year pro Zach Ertz] and average-at-best OL," said an NFL coordinator who prepared for Daniels last season. "The kid can read coverages, throw with accuracy and touch to all levels of the field, just as dangerous as Lamar and Josh Allen with his legs and has a clutch factor to him because his team already believes that if he has the ball with a chance to win, he's going to find a way. If he repeats anything close to his rookie year, he's no lower than No. 3 on this list next year."

The main takeaway ultimately lies in what could have been in Tempe. Daniels' talent was never a question - nor was the talent that surrounded him on offense (Rachaad White, Ricky Pearsall, Brandon Aiyuk, etc) - it was ultimately a poor reflection on the lack of player development that was in place.

Arizona State could have risen to the levels they are at now if a small handful of things were done differently - on the contrary, the Sun Devils would not have been in play to hire Kenny Dillingham for the long haul.