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Tom Brady had a unique comparison when discussing Washington Commanders star rookie Jayden Daniels.
On the Let’s Go! podcast (3:56 mark), Brady compared Daniels’ poise during Washington’s playoff run to that of Tigers Woods when he won his first Masters in 1997 at just 22 years old:
“How do we really evaluate confidence? How do we evaluate poise? Because some people have it. The moments aren’t too big for them. They look at the challenge and they think about, ‘Man, this is gonna be amazing when we go out and beat these guys.’ And other guys look at the challenge and go, ‘Oh man, I really don’t want to mess up.’ And I think that fear of failure, instilled in a lot of people in early points of their life, keeps them from the ultimate confidence that they have in themselves, which allows them to grow to their maximum potential. So even though Jayden Daniels is just a rookie, he has that poise and confidence. Imagine, I guess another correlation, look at a young Tiger Woods. He never had proven on the big stage that he was ready for those big moments in the Masters in ’97, but he had proved that to himself in all those junior amateurs that he won, that he didn’t care who he was playing. It was him versus him.”
It’s tough to compare any athlete to someone as legendary as Woods, but Daniels has earned that kind of comparison with his play this season.
The second pick in the 2024 draft picked up 3,568 passing yards and 25 touchdowns through the air while adding 891 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground to lead the Commanders to their first playoff appearance since 2020.
In the wild-card round, Daniels had 268 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead Washington past the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the Commanders’ first playoff win since 2005. Then in the divisional round, against one of the best teams in the NFL, Daniels threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns to knock off the Detroit Lions.
Now, Daniels is just the fifth rookie quarterback ever to lead a team to a conference championship game. If he can take down the Philadelphia Eagles, he’ll be the first rookie quarterback to start in the Super Bowl.