• Daniels adds to his trophy case in Year 1: After winning PFF’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, the Commanders’ starting quarterback claims PFF’s overall Rookie of the Year honor.
• A season to build on: Daniels finished ahead of Josh Allen (eighth), Patrick Mahomes (10th) and C.J. Stroud (11th), among others, in PFF’s wins above replacement metric in 2024.
• 2025 NFL Draft season is here: Try PFF’s best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2025’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.
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PFF’s award winners are selected through a voting process exclusive to 28 senior analysts, contributors and members of the PFF staff, ensuring the decisions reflect the insights and expertise of those deeply involved in the game.
This year’s Rookie of the Year is Jayden Daniels, who earned 26 votes to claim the honor. The runner-up was Brock Bowers with two votes.
To view all 2024 award winners, click here.
Jayden Daniels played like an elite quarterback in his first NFL season, making him fully deserving of PFF’s Rookie of the Year award. He already took home PFF’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award by posting remarkable statistics and being the most valuable piece of the team that made the biggest turnaround this season, the Washington Commanders.
As mentioned in the previous article, Daniels’ 89.6 PFF overall grade ranks second best of any qualified rookie quarterback since 2006 — behind Russell Wilson. The only qualified rookie at any position this season who graded higher than Daniels was Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving, who played less than half of Daniels’ snaps and doesn’t shoulder the immense responsibilities that come with playing quarterback.
The Commanders won just four games in 2023 and picked second overall in this past draft, selecting Daniels. While they did sign some valuable free agents and put together a nice draft class, this was still a very flawed team with a quarterback who hid many of its warts.
Commanders Team Ranks in 2024
| Metric | Rank |
| PFF Receiving Grade | 15th |
| Non-QB PFF Rushing Grade | 11th |
| PFF Pass-Blocking Grade | 22nd |
| PFF Run-Blocking Grade | 25th |
| PFF Defense Grade | 29th |
Terry McLaurin carried a massive load in an otherwise thin receiving corps. The team’s stable of running backs played well, but Daniels actually led the team in several rushing categories — including yards, missed tackles forced and explosive runs. Washington’s offensive line and defense will need plenty of improvement before the team becomes a consistent Super Bowl contender.
To put into perspective how valuable Daniels was to his team, we can turn to PFF’s wins above replacement metric.
PFF WAR by QBs in 2024
| Player | WAR |
| Joe Burrow | 5.05 |
| Lamar Jackson | 3.67 |
| Justin Herbert | 3.49 |
| Geno Smith | 3.05 |
| Sam Darnold | 2.89 |
| Baker Mayfield | 2.68 |
| Jayden Daniels | 2.64 |
Daniels finished this regular season as the seventh-most valuable quarterback in the league, according to PFF’s WAR metric. Bear in mind that he is a rookie who missed roughly six quarters of action and played through several games with a rib injury yet finished higher in the rankings than Josh Allen (eighth), Patrick Mahomes (10th) and C.J. Stroud (11th).
For one last frame of reference for how far ahead of schedule Daniels is, we’ll compare his first full NFL season to that of the player he’s often judged against.
| Metric | 2024 Daniels | 2019 Jackson |
| PFF Overall Grade | 89.6 | 90.2 |
| PFF Passing Grade | 83.0 | 82.5 |
| PFF Rushing Grade | 88.2 | 90.6 |
| Yards per Pass Attempt | 7.4 | 7.6 |
| Big-Time Throws | 20 | 25 |
| Turnover-Worthy Plays | 11 | 12 |
Many of Daniels’ performance metrics stack up well with Lamar Jackson’s 2019 season. But while that was Jackson’s first full season as a starter and his first MVP campaign, it was actually his second year in the NFL. He had plenty of time to prepare with a much better roster than Daniels is currently working with. Daniels’ 2.64 WAR only slightly trails Jackson’s 2019 mark of 2.87.
Through a combination of efficient play through the air and on the ground, Daniels reenergized Washington’s franchise. He played at a consistent level almost every week of the regular season and came through in the clutch on several occasions to carry the Commanders to their best season since 1991. That resumé makes Daniels the easy choice as the NFL’s premier rookie in 2024.
