Former Cowboys DE Marcus Spears expects Jayden Daniels to take NFC East QB crown in 2025

“Usually, when we talk about these quarterbacks and the reason we talked about CJ Stroud after his rookie year is because of the processing and how fast they were able to play from their minds. So, if he [Daniels] is getting smarter, I expect him to be the best quarterback in the NFC East,” Spears said on NFL Live. “I know Dak Prescott is here in Dallas and has a longer tenure, but when you see the things that Jayden Daniels can do off script, that adds to a lot of his ability.”

Daniels won 14 games, including the playoffs, last year, tied with former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (14 wins in 2004) for the most wins by a rookie quarterback, including the postseason in NFL history. The former LSU standout became the fourth rookie signal-caller all-time to start and win multiple playoff games, joining Joe Flacco (2008 with the Baltimore Ravens), Brock Purdy (2022 with the San Francisco 49ers) and Mark Sanchez (2009 with the New York Jets).

Can Jayden Daniels build off impressive rookie season?

Daniels completed 69% of his passes for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He rushed for 891 yards and six additional scores. Daniels can do it all and his potential should excite Commanders fans, Spears said.

“I was thinking about last year when we got this question for the show today,” Spears said. “We didn’t talk about Jayden Daniels and his legs. We didn’t talk about all of the crazy plays he makes. Talked about his clutch ability to push the football down the field, his ability to move the football with his arm and those are the things we got so excited about. That’s the things we should be excited about coming into the second year.

“Yes, all of those things are additives, and he does them well. He’s fast, breakaway speed, you can run some quarterback run with him — but Jayden Daniels was dominant from the pocket. He was dominant from extending plays and throwing the ball downfield, which should give a lot of people in Washington, D.C. a lot of excitement about his growth and where they can potentially be next year.”