Jayden Daniels addresses if he’d play for Commanders

Jayden Daniels spoke with reporters at a pre-draft event on Wednesday and insisted he “100 percent” would happily join the Washington Commanders if they make him the second pick of the player-selection process on Thursday night. 

“I’m blessed to go wherever I’m called,” Daniels explained, according to Eric Edholm of the NFL’s website. “Whoever calls my phone, (when the) commissioner gets up and says my name, I’ll be blessed, and they’re going to get my all. That’s the best … the best opportunity. I will say they believe in me, so I’m gonna put in the work.”

While ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter generated some buzz when he reported ahead of this past weekend that Daniels had “an interest in being” with a team other than Washington, Schefter seemed to walk that story back on Monday. Hours before Daniels addressed the topic, Dianna Russini of The Athletic revealed that “the belief around the league” was that Daniels was “expected” to go to the Commanders via the draft’s second pick. 

On Wednesday afternoon, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported he’d “be stunned if the Commanders” traded the second pick to any team looking to land Daniels. Breer added he’d be “pretty surprised at this point if” Washington doesn’t select the LSU quarterback.

“I’m just like y’all, I really don’t know what’s going to happen,” Daniels said about what appears to be an unlikely trade scenario. “I have people saying (to me), ‘Hey, anything can happen on draft day.’ But we’ll see.”

Multiple NFL analysts, scouts and coaches have named Daniels the best overall quarterback in this year’s draft class ahead of USC Trojans star Caleb Williams. It’s considered a lock that the Chicago Bears will draft Williams first overall, and it appears Washington will take Daniels over Drake Maye of the North Carolina Tar Heels and J.J. McCarthy of the Michigan Wolverines. 

As of late Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Daniels as a massive betting favorite at -550 odds to be the draft’s second pick. Barring the emergence of a so-called “Godfather offer” for that asset, Washington should use the pick on Daniels.