LSU QB Jayden Daniels A Favorite To Be Drafted By Bucs

Could LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels wind up in red and pewter on April 25?

The playmaking QB and Heisman Trophy candidate might end up in Tampa Bay as the team’s first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. That’s what draft expert Dane Brugler believes in his most recent mock draft for The Athletic.

Offensively and defensively, the Buccaneers are a middle-of-the-road team, and they’ll have several interesting roster decisions to make this offseason. For one, Tampa Bay will be in the mix to select this draft’s QB3, and Daniels could be it. He has a dynamic skill set to create explosive plays with his arm and legs.

At the beginning of the season, I wouldn’t have guessed that Daniels would appear in the top 10 of my first mock draft. But in studying his tape and seeing his continual improvements, you start to run out of reasons why he doesn’t belong. I think several teams slotted in the top 10 will think the same way.

Daniels, a fifth-year senior, has completed 66.3% of his passes for 12,749 yards with 89 touchdowns and 20 interceptions during three seasons at Arizona State (2019-21) and the last two at LSU (2022-23). A former teammate of Bucs running back Rachaad White, Daniels turned heads in his first season at LSU, where he completed 68.6% of his passes for 2,913 yards with 17 touchdowns and only three interceptions. A true dual-threat QB, he also ran for 885 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging 4.8 yards per carry.

This season throwing to a pair of NFL-caliber receivers in Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas, Daniels has taken his game to an elite level. Daniels has completed 72.2% of his passes for 3,812 yards with 40 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He’s improved his accuracy, more than doubled his touchdowns and kept interceptions to a bare minimum.

A 10:1 TD-to-INT ratio is insanely good at the college level.

Throw in the fact that Daniels has rushed for 1,135 yards and 10 TDs while averaging 8.4 yards per carry and he’s drawn comparisons to Lamar Jackson. Yet Daniels’ skinny 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame, which is his biggest drawback, might not be able to withstand the pounding he would take at the NFL level on scrambles and designed QB runs.

Bucs Could Be In Position To Draft Jayden Daniels In The Top 10

The 4-7 Bucs have lost six of their last seven games following a once-promising 3-1 start. If the 2024 NFL Draft were held today, Tampa Bay would have the seventh overall pick, which is where The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has the team drafting LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Brugler is not alone in that assessment. According to NFLMockDraftDatabase.com, the consensus pick for the Bucs in most current NFL mock drafts is Daniels, who is the 23rd-ranked talent, but a player who is most-often picked at No. 7 for Tampa Bay.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

If Todd Bowles is going to remain the Bucs head coach, his team likely has to win at least five of the last six games to finish 9-8 to have a chance at the postseason. Given the fact that the Bucs have only won four of their first 11 games and have no momentum at all right now, that seems like a tall order.

And it seems like a head coaching change is coming in Tampa Bay unless the team miraculously makes the playoffs by winning the NFC South again or as a Wild Card. A new head coach and possible a Top 10 draft pick likely means a new quarterback in Tampa Bay next season.

Not that re-signing Baker Mayfield couldn’t be considered, but traditionally, new head coaches going to teams with a bad record always like a clean start and a chance to select their own QB.

If the Bucs were to replace Bowles with someone like Baltimore offensive coordinator Todd Monken, picking Daniels make a lot of sense. A former Bucs receivers coach (2016-17) and play-caller (2018), Monken is working with Lamar Jackson this season and Baltimore’s offense averages 27 points per game led by the dual-threat QB, which ranks sixth in the NFL.

Monken’s offenses during Georgia’s back-to-back national championship season averaged 38.6 points per game, which ranked ninth nationally in 2021, and 41.1 points per game, which ranked fifth in the nation in 2022. And that was with walk-on QB Stetson Bennett, an undersized pocket passer with limited mobility.

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