Part 3, QB: Gap between Caleb Williams & Jayden Daniels? Closer than you think...
Part 3, QB: Gap between Caleb Williams & Jayden Daniels? Closer than you think...
The USC quarterback is the odds-on No. 1 pick. But NFL scouts are (very) high on Daniels. He's a No. 1 pick most years. Also inside: Fresh scouting insight on mystery-men Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy.
This is the 40th year that Bob McGinn has written his NFL Draft Series. Previously, it appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (1985-’91), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (1992-’17), BobMcGinn Football (2018-’19), The Athletic (2020-’21) and GoLongTD.com (2022-’24). Until 2014, many personnel people were quoted by name. The series reluctantly adopted an all-anonymous format in 2015 at the request of most scouts.
By BOB McGINN
Thirteen of 16 executives in personnel chose USC’s Cal’s Caleb Williams as the finest quarterback in the NFL draft.
Williams, hailed as the “ultimate playmaker” by one exec, could be destined for superstardom. Yet, as strong as his resume is, the fact that the runner-up in the poll with three first-place votes, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, also is held in overwhelming regard by scouts should make both the Chicago Bears and the Washington Commanders very, very grateful to control the top of the draft next Thursday.
“Both Daniels and Williams are such great athletes,” a longtime scout said last month. “I’d like to see them play basketball, run track, go on the dance floor. Quarterbacks didn’t used to be athletes like this.”
Anticipating Williams would win this year’s ballot, I set up a poll of 15 personnel men designed to evaluate Daniels in relation to the 10 quarterbacks that were the first overall picks since 2010. All but one of the 15 began their scouting careers before 2010, and the one who didn’t got into the business not long thereafter.
Each scout was asked to choose Daniels or the other player based on how they remembered them as prospects. For example, I would ask, “Would you take Jayden Daniels or Sam Bradford as a prospect?” And the scouts offered sometimes quick, sometimes delayed responses. Ties were not permitted.
Last spring, Daniels was rated as a seventh-round draft choice/priority free agent by the Blesto combine scout who did evaluations of LSU’s seniors for the 2024 draft. Yes, he had a fantastic final season and won the Heisman Trophy, but it was unclear how his candidacy as an NFL quarterback that came light years in 12 months would stack up with 10 players that were judged the best in their respective drafts.
The admiration for Daniels was remarkable, to say the least. He captured 58% of the votes, downing the former No. 1’s by a composite margin of 87-63.
Paid subscribers can access Bob McGinn’s nine-part draft series in full below, in addition to all player profiles, all team deep dives, everything at Go Long. Scouts across the NFL supply their unfiltered analysis on this year’s crop of 2024 quarterbacks, a wildly compelling group.
Part 1, WR/TE: Hall of Fame talent at the top, then (many) questions
Part 2, OL: Can this 'long-armed Tyrannosaurus Rex' brawl?