There’s a legitimate argument to be made that if you’re a rookie NFL quarterback, and your team makes the playoffs, you are no longer a rookie. By your first postseason game, your opponent has a full season of your game tape and tendencies, you’re playing with more on the line, and the experience is completely different in both importance and intensity.

In the case of the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels, we may have to forward that point a bit. Because Daniels, the second overall pick in the 2024 draft, rarely looked like a rookie when he was. In the regular season, he completed 69.0% of his passes for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a passer rating of 100.1, which ranked 10th among regular starting quarterbacks. Add in Daniels’ 148 rushing attempts for 891 yards (6.0 yards per carry) and six touchdowns, and it’s abundantly clear that he’s well past whatever limitations we can reasonably expect from a first-year quarterback of any stripe.

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In Washington’s 23-20 wildcard win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Daniels pushed his credentials even closer to the fore. He completed 24 of 35 passes for 268 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 110.2. He also ran the ball 13 times for 36 yards and several crucial conversions against a Buccaneers defense that was set to attack him as a passer with the blitz, and as a runner with stacked boxes.

No matter what was arrayed against him, it didn’t work.

As a passer, Daniels was able to foil the Bucs’ frequent pressures because he’s an evolutionary reader of defenses pre-snap, and everything that happens in the play comes from his own understanding. Daniels’ second passing attempt of the game, a 35-yard completion to Terry McLaurin, was a perfect example. Tampa Bay’s defense had a complex blitz prepared for him. Daniels recognized it all, adjusted for the pressure, and eased one of his beautiful downfield throws as if he was relaxing with a backyard game.

Daniels was pressured on 15 of his 40 dropbacks, and he completed seven of 12 passes under pressure for 97 yards, both of his touchdown passes, and a passer rating of 123.1.

As the game progressed, the 24-year-old was tasked to extend drives as a runner when the game was close. The most crucial play in that regard was his four-yard run on third-and-two from the Tampa Bay 19-yard line with 55 seconds left. The game was tied 20-20, and the first down was crucial because the Commanders wanted to run the clock down before kicking a game-winning field goal. Tampa Bay defensive lineman Calijah Kancey actually did a marvelous job of crashing through Washington’s offensive line to create the potential for a negative play, but after a wicked counter fake handoff to running back Brian Robinson (we’ve written before about Washington’s multi-faceted run concepts) Daniels was able to escape Kancey’s grasp, and all Kancey got out of it was Daniels’ towel … and a full head of frustration.

Kancey’s reaction after Daniels was able to pick up the first down epitomized how opposing defenders have generally felt about having to deal with him all season long. One kneeldown later, Zane Gonzalez “doinked” the Commanders to the divisional round with the franchise’s first playoff win since the 2005 season – also over the Buccaneers.

Overall, the Commanders converted eight of their 15 third-down attempts, and three of their five fourth-down attempts. And Daniels was at the heart of it all.

“We were going to be bold but not reckless,” Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said postgame. “And I think that’s who we [have been] the whole season. You just have to stay the course knowing that, ‘Hey, keep your chin tucked and keep swinging,’ knowing that this is going to be a game that’s going to go all the way down to the end.”

You don’t take those swings unless you’re utterly confident in your quarterback’s ability to decipher every possible pitch. And now, Daniels has one Hall of Fame quarterback comparing him – in some ways – to Patrick Mahomes.

Daniels has the opportunity to announce his presence with even more authority as the Commanders travel to the Motor City to face the Detroit Lions, the NFC’s one-seed. Washington’s defense is middle of the pack, and that’s bad news against Detroit’s brilliant offense, but from a tendency perspective, the Lions are not well-equipped to handle anything Daniels does.

The Lions have played the NFL’s highest rate of man coverage this season – 44.9% of their defensive snaps. And against man coverage this season, Daniels has completed 75 of 134 passes for 987 yards, nine touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 98.7.

The Lions also blitz at a high rate – they’ve brought five or more pass-rushers on 36% of their snaps, the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Against five or more pass-rushers, Daniels has completed 39 of 67 passes for 565 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 110.6.

In addition, Daniels’ running ability does not bode well for the Lions’ defense, which is still in various stages of injury disrepair – though defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has done a brilliant job of working around the maladies. Against quarterback runs or scrambles this season (per Sports Info Solutions), Detroit’s defense has allowed 449 rushing yards, 167 yards after contact, and six touchdowns on 68 attempts. Their yards per carry allowed of 6.6 is the NFL’s second-worst behind the Houston Texans (7.8), their first down percentage allowed of 47.1% is the NFL’s second-worst behind the New England Patriots (49.2), and their EPA per rushing attempt allowed of 0.38 is the NFL’s sixth-worst.

Simply put, there’s no one way to stop Jayden Daniels on a regular basis, and the Lions will have to adjust their approach to avoid further proof of that fact.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell is well aware of it all.

“He is dangerous,” Campbell said of Daniels on Monday. “He’s dangerous; he poses a major threat. He does not play the position like a rookie quarterback. He’s composed, he understands how to progress, he sees the field well, he can buy time with his legs, he’s a dangerous runner, he’s smart, you can tell he understands how to run that offense and what they’re asking him to do, and then he’s got weapons. I mean, they’ve got weapons, [The] O-line plays hard. But he’s a difference-maker.”

On Saturday, we’ll see once again just how much of a difference Daniels can make. It won’t be your ordinary gameplan against a rookie quarterback. Because Daniels has already passed that bar.