“Just turn on the tape”: Heisman winner Jayden Daniels on "taking soul out of defense" with his 2023 Florida game reference at Commanders presser

Jayden Daniels knows who he is, and he won't apologize for it. The former LSU Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback was picked on Thursday night as the second overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, by the Washington Commanders. In his first press conference in Washington DC, the new Commander's quarterback was asked about what it looked like when he took away the soul from defenses. Daniels simply stated:

"2023 Florida game"

Immediately the room full of reporters busted out laughing, and the reporter reiterated the question and told Daniels to elaborate. Daniels replied:

"Just turn on the tape and watch that game"

The player was referring to the LSU Tigers' 52-35 victory over the Florida Gators this year. In that game, Daniels threw for 372 yards with three touchdown passes.

The question made by the reporter in turn was referring to a comment made by Washington Commanders GM Adam Peters. Peters said this about Daniels after making the pick:

"He's the best deep-ball thrower we thought in the draft, and that's even before you start watching him run. And the way he runs, I'll just talk about, it kind of takes your soul as a defense.

"You think he got him and then all of a sudden he rips off a 40-yard run and this is against the SEC. This isn't against some lower competition. This is against the best of the best. So for all those reasons on the field and off the field, I can't say enough about him."

The Commanders have known for a while now they were going to pick Jayden Daniels

At the same press conference, Commanders' GM Adam Peters revealed the organization knew for quite some time they were going after Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick. There was some debate as to whether North Carolina's Drake Maye would be the second overall pick. Here's what Peters said:

"I think you guys kind of getting to know how we do things and going through the whole process. I think it's important, and I think I said this last week too, you don't want to make a decision until you have to because you never know what's going to happen.

"But that being said, we knew it was Jayden for a while and it would've taken a lot for it to not be Jayden personally, just in reality. And it was the building, the whole building was, I would say unanimous on that one and it's easy to see why."

The reigning Heisman visited the Commanders' facilities earlier this month, and it would seem that was more than enough to make up the mind of the Commanders' management.