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Alex Smith Says Jayden Daniels Is Having A Better Rookie Season Than Michael Jordan And Wayne Gretzky

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jayden daniels doing an interview on the field

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The Washington Commanders stunned the sports world over the weekend as they went into Detroit as 9.5-point underdogs and beat the breaks of the #1 seed, 15-2 Detroit Lions, ultimately winning the game by a score of 45-31. But while the Commanders may be the story, rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is the headline.

While Jayden Daniels, who was already going to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, had proven he’s got the makings of a franchise quarterback, he confirmed it on Saturday in a way that few athletes do, announcing himself as being among the game’s elite with a dazzling performance that not only filled up the stat sheet but also passed the eye test.

In the 14-point win, Daniels completed 22 of 31 passed for 299 yards and two touchdowns, and added 16 carries for 51 yards on the ground, and will now lead the Commanders to the NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaking on ESPN’s Get Up! on Monday, an effusive Alex Smith — perhaps a bit of a prisoner of the moment — declared that Daniels is not just having the best rookie season in the history of the NFL, but in all professional sports. Yes, better rookie seasons than sporting icons such as Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and more.

While the clip hasn’t popped up on the internet as of yet, I was watching Get Up!  live and Smith said that Daniels — who has punted one and been sacked once across two games during the Commanders’ run to the NFC Championship game — is having the greatest rookie season in the history of all sports given the difficulty of playing quarterback and how well he’s doing it.

Smith also said Daniels is doing “more with less” than Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, which is a piece of analysis that raised eyebrows among NFL fans.

In his rookie season with the Commanders, which followed a year in which he won the Heisman at LSU, Daniels completed 69% of his passes for 3,568 for 25 touchdowns and 9 interceptions, and carried the ball 148 times for 891 yards and six touchdowns.