Daily Slop – 7 Feb 25: Malik Nabers, given the chance to catch a pass from anyone in NFL history: “Jayden Daniels”

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders

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Commanders.com

‘The hype is real’

Take a look at Jayden Daniels’ historic rookie season…through his opponents’ eyes

Commanders fans know what it’s like having Daniels as their quarterback. It involves a belief that their team has a chance to win as long as he’s in the game. That ended up being true, as Daniels went on to complete 69% of his passes for 3,568 yards with 31 total touchdowns. It might have required them to wait until the last second of games, but they were usually rewarded with unforgettable moments. The Commanders went 12-5 and advanced to the NFC Championship — both firsts for the franchise since 1991.

What fans don’t know is what it’s like to face Daniels as an opponent, and it turns out that it’s not as enjoyable of an experience.

“I knew he was good,” said Dallas Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons, “but I didn’t know he was that good.”

Parsons isn’t alone. As Daniels propelled the Commanders to a level of success they had not experienced in decades, the rest of the league took notice. They saw a player who could pick defenses apart with pinpoint accuracy, change a game with momentum-swinging plays and — as Peters put it when Washington drafted him — take a defense’s soul with last-second heroics.

So, in honor of Daniels being named the 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year, here’s a look at what his historic season was like through his competition’s eyes.

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The Athletic (paywall)

Jayden Daniels named Offensive Rookie of the Year

Daniels beat out Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers and Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Brian Thomas Jr. for the award. He joins Robert Griffin III (2012) and Mike Thomas (1975) as the only players for Washington to receive the honor.

“I want to thank my mom that’s in the stands. I want to thank my family back home. Shout out to you all for helping me get to this point,” Daniels said in accepting the award. “The Washington Commanders, (owner) Josh Harris, all you guys. Thank you guys for drafting me.”

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Washington Post (paywall)

Commanders QB Jayden Daniels is NFL offensive rookie of the year

Daniels was also awarded the NFL moment of the year award for his Hail Mary touchdown against the Chicago Bears.

Daniels also was awarded the NFL’s moment of the year award for his Hail Mary touchdown to wide receiver Noah Brown against the Chicago Bears in Week 8 that gave the Commanders an improbable 18-15 victory.

“They told me I was up for two awards, but I didn’t know I had to give another speech,” Daniels said with a smile.

The awards add to a long list of accolades won by Daniels. He became the fourth rookie quarterback since 1970 to be voted to the initial Pro Bowl roster (he did not participate), won a record 11 fan-voted rookie of the week awards during the season and was awarded the fan-voted rookie of the year.

Daniels was also named the NFC offensive player of the month in September and the 2024 rookie of the year by the Pro Football Writers of America.

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Sports Illustrated

Giants’ Malik Nabers talks reunion with Commanders’ Jayden Daniels: ‘You never know’

Malik Nabers may want to reunite with Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, who played with him at LSU.

While the two former teammates are now division rivals, Nabers would appear to consider a reunion between the pair in the pros someday.

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Podcasts & videos

Jayden Daniels talks Terry McLaurin connection & ‘Welcome to the NFL’ moment | Super Bowl LIX

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NFC East links

Bleeding Green Nation

Saquon Barkley is NFL Offensive Player of the Year

Saquon Barkley is the AP Offensive Player of the Year for the 2024 NFL season.

This development hardly comes as a surprise but the announcement was made official at the NFL Honors on Thursday night.

Vic Fangio and the Eagles’ defense were disrespected at the NFL Honors

The Philadelphia Eagles had the NFL’s best defense in 2024.

That much is inarguable.

They allowed the fewest offensive points per game.

They allowed the fewest yards per game.

They ranked No. 1 by DVOA, Pro Football Focus grading, and success rate.

Despite these accomplishments, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and his defense were snubbed at the NFL Honors on Thursday night.

So, the Eagles had the NFL’s best defense … without having a top two defensive coordinator or a top four defender.

Sure, that makes sense!

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Big Blue View

Eli Manning left out of Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 — is that right or wrong?

Veteran NFL writer Mike Tanier recently wrote about this on his ‘Too Deep Zone’ substack after speaking with a handful of Hall of Fame voters. Here is what some of them told Tanier:

“Get back to me in five years,” one selector told me flatly. “Seriously, we got a lot of guys to get into the Hall of Fame. And he can wait.”

“Somebody’s gonna have to convince me that he belongs in the Hall of Fame at all,” another selector said.

Other selectors were less emphatic, though no less critical.

“I think he’s a Hall of Famer, eventually,” said one. “If we are talking seven or eight years from now, and we’re talking about putting Eli Manning in the Hall of Fame for two Super Bowl MVPs and creating some of the greatest moments in the history of the game, I’ll buy that. That’s cool.

“But don’t try to tell me that he is one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation.”

So, no, Manning not being selected on the first ballot should surprise no one.

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NFL league links

Articles

NFL.com

Jaguars DL Arik Armstead named 2024 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year

As a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Armstead quickly immersed himself as a Samaritan within the community, maintaining a steadfast goal of ensuring all students — regardless of their socioeconomic state — are afforded an opportunity to succeed.

That charitable drive and commitment led to Armstead being named the 2024 Walter Payton NFL Man of The Year on Thursday night at NFL Honors from the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans.

“Even though I’m being honored tonight, I don’t feel that tonight is about me or our organization,” Armstead said during his acceptance speech. “Tonight is about all of you in this room right here and everyone watching at home. We live in a world that constantly tries to divide us. Whether that’s politically, economically, racially, sexual orientation, we’re constantly being divided. But I believe in humanity. I believe that we’re all more alike than we are different. I believe that all of us have the power to be the change that we want to see in our society. No act is too big and no act is too small, but I just encourage you to try to be a blessing in someone else’s life and see how that changes your life. Let’s define success by a new metric: not by the things that we acquire, but by how many people we positively impact.”

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The Athletic (paywall)

Pro Football Hall of Fame voting rules: Why the highest NFL honor is now more exclusive

The Hall welcomed 179 new members from 2000 to ’24, up from 118 over the previous 25-year period (1975-99). That included a special 20-member NFL Centennial class in 2020.

The selection committee has enshrined the maximum five modern-era candidates per year for 17 consecutive years. The average was 4.1 per year over the preceding 40-year period.

The swell in numbers also reflects the Hall’s decision to separate coaches and contributors from modern-era candidates beginning in 2015. The committee has enshrined 17 coaches and contributors in the nine years since, in addition to the five-person modern-era classes.

As a result, the Hall has enshrined 7.8 total candidates per year on average since 2015, not counting the 20-member Centennial class.

In past years, the selection committee — which typically comprises 50 voters but currently has one open spot — chose five finalists from the 15. Once this reduction was made, each of the remaining five needed 80 percent “yes” votes from the committee to gain enshrinement. Under this setup, the final five gained enshrinement every time for the past 17 years.

Under new rules, the final 15 are reduced to seven. At that point, each voter picks five of the seven. Candidates receiving 80 percent of the votes gain enshrinement.

The new math makes it possible for none of the final seven to meet the 80 percent cutoff (40 of 49 votes). If fewer than three meet that percentage, as in the first hypothetical scenario shown below, the three with the most votes…gain enshrinement.

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NFL.com

Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 revealed at ‘NFL Honors’

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 was revealed Thursday night at NFL Honors, three days before Super Bowl LIX.

Below are the members of the Class of 2025:

• Eric Allen
• Jared Allen
• Antonio Gates
• Sterling Sharpe (senior)

The four-person Class of ‘25 is the smallest to be inducted since 2005 when Dan Marino, Steve Young, Benny Friedman and Fritz Pollard were called to the Hall. Though unusual this century, this is the 19th class in the Hall’s 63-year history with four or three members. A four-member class is now the smallest allowed under the Hall’s current bylaws.

The selection committee may elect up to five Modern-Era Players for the Class of 2025; each must receive a minimum positive vote of 80% for election. Just three were selected this year.

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ESPN

2025 NFL Honors: Who won the league’s biggest awards?

MVP

Josh Allen | QB | Buffalo Bills

The seventh-year quarterback made it a priority to turn over the ball less, finishing with a career-low six interceptions and two fumbles with those the only turnovers the Bills’ offense had. He still played his signature style — rushing for 12 touchdowns and throwing for 28 — and led an offense that tied an NFL record with 13 players catching touchdown passes. He extended his own NFL record for consecutive seasons with 40 passing/rushing touchdowns (five).

Offensive Player of the Year

Saquon Barkley | RB | Philadelphia Eagles

Barkley is having one of the best seasons for a running back in NFL history.

He became the ninth player to reach 2,000 rushing yards and finished just 100 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record (2,105) after the Eagles opted to rest their starters in the regular-season finale against the Giants. Barkley has seven 60-plus-yard touchdown runs, the most in a single season. The Eagles decided during their Week 5 bye to feature a more ground-dependent, Barkley-centric offense, and they proceeded to win 10 straight games en route to a 14-3 record.

Defensive Player of the Year

Pat Surtain II | CB | Denver Broncos

Surtain, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, surrendered the fewest receiving yards (306) of anyone at his position this season (minimum 375 coverage snaps), allowed the second-lowest passer rating when targeted and had the lowest expected points added per target (minus-0.43). He tied his career high in interceptions (four) and led the league in interception return yards (132).

Coach of the Year

Kevin O’Connell | Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings entered 2024 projected to win 6.5 games, according to ESPN Analytics — their lowest projected win total in at least a decade. The lowered expectations were largely because O’Connell and the rest of the team’s decision-makers had launched a quarterback transition from Kirk Cousins to Sam Darnold, with rookie J.J. McCarthy recovering from a season-ending knee injury. O’Connell encouraged players to look past those expectations, expressing his confidence that the team was in better position to compete than the public understood. The result: They exceeded that win total by Week 9.

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Jayden Daniels | QB | Washington Commanders

Jayden Daniels set one record after another during his first NFL season.

He became only the sixth rookie quarterback to lead his team to a conference championship game — the previous five all played with defenses ranked in the top three; Washington was 18th. He rushed for more yards (891) than any other rookie quarterback in history and combined that with 3,568 passing yards. He was the NFL’s fourth-ranked passer in total QBR and threw for 25 touchdowns (15 coming in his last five full games) with only nine picks, and he ran for six scores. Daniels led five winning drives, including one in the playoffs; three ended with touchdown passes. And he threw more touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and overtime (12) than any rookie in history.

In September, he became the first quarterback in NFL history to complete at least 85% of his throws in consecutive games.

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Jared Verse | Edge | Los Angeles Rams

Verse was the Rams’ first first-round pick since 2016, and the No. 19 selection out of Florida State made an impact in his rookie season for a defense that was playing without recently retired star Aaron Donald. Verse had 4.5 sacks, 66 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries.

Comeback Player of the Year

Joe Burrow | QB | Cincinnati Bengals

When the season started, there were many questions about how Joe Burrow would respond from a season-ending injury in 2023. Burrow ruptured the scapholunate ligament in his throwing wrist. During his recovery process, he was unable to find another quarterback or even a baseball pitcher who had that injury. It took some time, but not only did Burrow play well in 2024, he ended up having the best season of his career.

Assistant Coach of the Year

Ben Johnson | Detroit Lions | Offensive Coordinator

Johnson, who is now the head coach of the Chicago Bears, was a big part of the Lions’ record-setting season in 2024, in which they won a franchise-best 15 games while earning the NFC’s No. 1 seed and a second consecutive NFC North title.

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Discussion topics

ESPN

Inexperience of Super Bowl officials is ‘huge departure’

Two officials on the crew who will be presiding over Super Bowl LIX are in their third season of NFL officiating, which two former league heads of officiating said is a notable difference from the custom of prioritizing experience for the Super Bowl. In the past, NFL officials have needed five or more years of officiating experience in the league to qualify for Super Bowl consideration.

The league’s officiating department restructured this past offseason and hired former umpire Ramon George as vice president of officiating training and development, succeeding Walt Anderson in the role.

Pereira said that in his time as the league’s VP of officiating, he would not have assigned an official who had less than five years of experience to the Super Bowl.

“You have to consider experience,” he said. “Because this isn’t a typical regular-season game. It’s not a typical wild card or division or championship either. This is like a whole different thing … adjusting to the speed of this game, speed and the size — that’s not easy to do. This is not the SEC, this is not the Big Ten. This is the NFL, where the speed is incredible at almost every position. … I don’t think I ever would have changed my thinking about getting five seasons under your belt.”

Pereira said that among NFL officials and those in the football rules industry, this departure from the norm has been a topic of conversation.

Referee Ron Torbert is in his 15th season, and this is his second Super Bowl assignment. Side judge Boris Cheek is in his 29th season, and this is his fourth Super Bowl assignment. The other three members of the crew have between seven and 10 years of experience.

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All aTwitter

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