Leading into the 2024 NFL Draft this month, Action Network brought in Heisman Trophy-winner Johnny Manziel and former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert to break down this year's QB class.
The duo has already ranked the 2024 class of quarterbacks and broken down Caleb Williams' fit in Chicago and how the likely No. 1 pick will fare in the NFL. Now, it's onto the other five quarterbacks.
First, it's the reigning Heisman winner who Manziel and Benkert agree has the biggest upside of any QB in this year's draft class. Let's get into their Jayden Daniels scouting report.
Johnny Manziel
Daniels probably has the highest ceiling out of anybody in this draft class. Obviously, that's hard to say with Williams being in the class, but I look at his career and what he's done and that's my takeaway.
He's played 55 collegiate games and rushed the ball 617 times in college for 3,300 yards and 34 touchdowns. The guy has taken a ton of hits, obviously at the SEC level over the past two years. That speaks volumes of where he is at physically, as far as his health goes, his frame, what he's able to take in terms of his durability.
A situation that I really like him going to, that I would enjoy seeing him play in would be in Washington. New Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is a creative genius in terms of offensive scheming. Obviously, in my time with Kingsbury at Texas A&M, I won the Heisman. He'll know how you maximize the running potential of a quarterback in the spread offense.
Getting Daniels with Kingsbury would be one of the best things that could ever happen to him.
The Commanders are a quarterback away. So, if it is Daniels in Washington, I think it'd be an absolute slam dunk. I think it would be a home run. Whoever it is that the Commanders take of Daniels, Maye or even someone else in this class, is going into a very, very quarterback-friendly situation.
Kurt Benkert
Daniels, for me, is the player I'm most excited to watch in the preseason because he's that Lamar Jackson type of player as a runner. He can do things that other people can't do in the field, and that's just one aspect of his game.
Daniels also was a really good passer with a 72% completion percentage, 3,800 yards, 40 touchdowns and four interceptions last season at LSU. He took care of the ball really well. He couldn't have statistically done any more this season to cement himself as a top pick.
Then when you actually flip on the tape and see how he does it, it wasn't erratic. It was pretty precise. He's a good down-the-field thrower. He picked and chose the times when to throw the ball down the field, when not to, very well.
I think the most impressive part of Daniels' success is that it wasn't like he ran the ball 200 times to get 1,000 yards. He had 1,100 yards on 135 carries, 8.4 yards per carry. Even if he does a fraction of that in the NFL, he'll be lethal with his feet.
I think sometimes when you get these mobile guys, people try to discount their arms for whatever reason. You could watch just Daniels' passing tape by itself and say that he's going to be a top-10 pick.
So, for me, how dynamic he is is really awesome to watch. I think he'd be great going to a team that's not necessarily looking to contend immediately. That extra bit of athleticism gives you a chance because if you get one of these pocket passers that can't really move a whole lot, that puts a lot of stress on your team. Having someone who can do what Daniels does will be a boost for a team that's looking at 2024 as a rebuilding year.
I spent three years with new Commanders head coach Dan Quinn in Atlanta. I spent a year with Adam Peters, who's Washington's new general manager, in San Francisco. Then, you have Kingsbury running the offense. It's cool to see this blend of guys and their personalities come together to build this team and what this offense is gonna look like.
I think Washington will be explosive and creative with Daniels, if he's the choice at No. 2 overall. They're gonna have a lot of fun building that offense, and they're going to retool it to his strengths. All the things that you're saying about Daniels with Kingsbury and how the game is going to be played with him at quarterback, it made me think you came out 10 years too soon, Johnny, because your play style, how you played being shoved into an NFL specific scheme, that wasn't it.
