Todd McShay recalls what drove Brian Kelly 'f****** crazy' from Jayden Daniels' early LSU days

Everyone is now well aware of how good Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is. The former LSU star has led the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game as a rookie, following up an impressive regular season with even better performances in the playoffs.

But before Daniels was lighting up defenses in the NFL, he was struggling to gain confidence during his first season at LSU. NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay recently shared an interesting story of how Brian Kelly helped make Daniels a more confident player.

McShay joined Bill Simmons on his podcast recently to discuss Daniels and how he has blossomed into one of the brightest stars in the NFL.

“I remember being on the field with Brian Kelly before the Tennessee game (in 2022), and Tennessee came in, big favorites, and they wound up blowing out LSU in that game,” Todd McShay recalled. “And I remember being on the field with him and watching Jayden and having watched his tape and just saying like, ‘What do you see in practice that I’m not seeing? Because it looks like he can make all the throws but he just doesn’t seem to trust it. And the anticipation isn’t there’ and all that.

“And he said, ‘Watch the first play of this game. Just watch. Because we’re forcing him to make this throw. I’m not going to tell you where it’s going. But we’re forcing him to make this throw. Because we’re trying to prove to him that if you just trust your read and your eyes and you get the ball out on time, you’re special. You’re different than anything we’ve been around or seen.'”

As McShay said, the game didn’t go well for LSU, with Tennessee beating the Tigers 40-13, but Daniels threw for 300 yards in the loss and made some big-time throws in the process.

“So the first play of the game comes, and of course I’m on the sideline peaking over, and it’s a deep comeback route to the left side. And he gets back to the top of his drop and just rips it. And if it gets picked it’s a pick-six, and at that point he hadn’t thrown an interception,” McShay said. “And everyone in the local media was, ‘Oh, this Jayden Daniels is great. He hasn’t thrown an interception through five games. How good has he been?’

“And Brian’s point was, ‘I can’t wait for him to throw an interception. It’s driving me f****** crazy that the media is talking about the interception thing. But the reason he’s not trusting is he’s so concerned about throwing a pick.'”

Ultimately, Daniels got over his concerns about throwing interceptions and not being good enough. He threw for more than 2,900 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2022 before producing an all-time great season in 2023.

Daniels won the Heisman his final year at LSU after completing 72 percent of his passes for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns, with four picks. He also rushed for more than 1,100 yards and 10 scores. Now he is already proving himself to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, just a few years after he was struggling with his confidence at LSU.

“So anyway, the ball comes out, perfect throw, right on time, completion. And you saw it there, that was like the first step in his confidence, like, ‘You know what, if I trust what I’m seeing and my instincts, I can build from here.’ Then he just kept getting better and the following season was 2023 and he just took off,” McShay said.