JT Daniels NFL Draft Profile
JT Daniels NFL Draft Projections
Daniels is hardly a typical quarterback prospect. At the prestigious Mater Dei High School, Daniels earned the starting quarterback job as a freshman, dominated as a sophomore (4,849 yards and 67 touchdowns passing) and then won Gatorade Football Player of the Year as a junior and led his team to a perfect 15-0 record and national title with another strong season (4,123 yards and 52 touchdowns passing).
After his junior season, Daniels committed to USC (like Mater Dei alumni Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Max Wittek before him) and was ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in his class — but then he decided to graduate high school and enroll at USC a year early.
As a member of the 2018 (instead of 2019) recruitment class, Daniels was reranked as the No. 3 quarterback that year, just behind Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. Daniels has serious talent — and that was apparent as soon as he stepped on campus: Despite entering college a year earlier than expected, he won the USC starting job as an 18-year-old true freshman.
But Daniels had mediocre first-year production as the Trojans went 5-7, and then he suffered a campaign-ending knee injury (ACL tear) in the season opener as a sophomore. With Daniels on the sideline, then-freshman Kedon Slovis stepped up as the fill-in starter and stole Daniels' place on the team.
Rather than settle for a backup job, Daniels entered the transfer portal, enrolled at Georgia and received a special-circumstances waiver from the NCAA, which allowed him to play in his first season for the Bulldogs.
And play he did: Despite opening the year on the sideline — he wasn't medically cleared until after the season opener — Daniels eventually jumped over Stetson Bennett and D'Wan Mathis on the depth chart and started the final four games, looking very good in the process.
With a strong redshirt junior year, Daniels has a good chance to be selected on Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft.
- 2022 NFL Mock Draft: Pick No. 14, Steelers
- 2022 Position Big Board: No. 6 QB
- 2022 NFL Draft Big Board: No. 18 Overall
- 2021 Devy Fantasy Rankings: No. 6 QB, No. 23 Overall
JT Daniels Scouting Report
Strengths
- Polished passer with good arm strength.
- Intelligent and able to pick up different offensive systems quickly.
- Trailed only Mac Jones in the Power Five last year with his 11.3 adjusted yards per attempt (albeit on a small sample).
- Unafraid to attack defenses downfield and throw into tight windows.
Weaknesses
- Relatively thin (210 pounds) for his height (6-foot-3).
- Pocket-bound flesh statue with -3.9 yards per carry (including sacks).
- Inconsistent footwork.
- Injury history (ACL tear).
JT Daniels Stats
Passing Production
- 2020, Georgia (4 games): 119-1,231-10-2 passing | 67.2% completion rate
- 2019, USC (1 game): 34-215-1-1 passing | 73.5% completion rate
- 2018, USC (11 games): 363-2,672-14-10 passing | 59.5% completion rate
Rushing Production
- 2020, Georgia (4 games): 10/-71/0 rushing | -7.1 yards per carry
- 2019, USC (1 game): 3/-6/0 rushing | -2.0 yards per carry
- 2018, USC (11 games): 45/-149/0 rushing | -3.3 yards per carry
*Includes Sacks
JT Daniels & Georgia Betting Odds
Below are the best odds for various JT Daniels and Georgia betting markets as of May 20, 2021. Find reviews of the best online sportsbooks here.
- JT Daniels to Be No. 1 Pick in 2022 Draft: +1800 at PointsBet
- JT Daniels to Win Heisman Trophy: +1300 at FOX Bet
- Georgia to Win National Championship: +1000 at William Hill
- Georgia to Win Southeastern Conference: +250 at BetMGM
- Georgia to Win SEC East Division: -250 at DraftKings
JT Daniels & Georgia Market Analysis
Daniels is low as +600 to win the Heisman at BetMGM, and Georgia is as low as +450 to win the national championship at FanDuel, so a good deal of line-shopping value is available now in the market.
But given how immobile Daniels is, I can't bet on him to win the Heisman or Georgia to win the title. His lack of playmaking outside of structure will hinder Daniels and his team against good defenses.
And in today's NFL I can't see a quarterback with zero rushing ability going No. 1.
But I do like Georgia to win the SEC East. The Bulldogs have finished each of the past four years as a top-eight team in the Associated Press poll, and in every season but his first at Georgia (2016), head coach Kirby Smart has led the Bulldogs to the best record in the SEC East.
After Georgia, Florida was the only team in the division with a winning record last year, and the Gators enter 2021 without three key offensive starters in quarterback Kyle Trask, wide receiver Kadarius Toney and tight end Kyle Pitts.
The Bulldogs should be able to win their division for a fifth-straight year.
Pick: Georgia to win SEC East, -250; 1.25 units
Bet to: -300
Best Line (May 20):DraftKings
Matthew Freedman is 1,051-849-37 (+92.6 units) overall betting on the NFL. You can follow him in our free app.
