Jayden Daniels’s preseason debut against the Jets was an illustration of why the Commanders took the quarterback with the second overall pick in this year’s draft.
Daniels capped an 11-play, 70-yard opening drive by faking a handoff to running back Austin Ekeler and keeping the ball on a three-yard touchdown run. Marcus Mariota replaced him on the second Commanders possession.
The scoring run came after Daniels flashed his arm earlier in the drive. He hit wide receiver Dyami Brown for a 42-yard gain on a third down early in the drive and connected with Terry McLaurin for a three-yard gain on his only other completion.
Washington also got 20 yards on three carries by running back Brian Robinson and — even with the caveat that it came against Jets backups — the whole package is the kind of thing that the Commanders hope to see a lot of this fall.