Mel Kiper debates how Bryce Young's rookie season could impact Jayden Daniels draft stock
In an NFL Draft class loaded with talent at the quarterback position, nobody has increased their stock quite like LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels. Taking college football by storm with his breakout, Heisman Trophy-winning season for the Tigers in 2023.
Daniels’ doesn’t have the biggest frame listed at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, but he surely played big last season similar to how last year’s No. 1 overall pick and another former Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young did at Alabama.
Young had a disappointing first season with the Carolina Panthers as a rookie, and with that in mind, ‘First Take’ host Stephen A. Smith asked ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. how much size should factor into Daniels’ evaluation given Young’s rookie season and the overall NFL landscape at the quarterback position.
“I think once Russell Wilson did what he did Steven A. I don’t think it mattered anymore,” Kiper said on Wednesday. “I think what Bryce Young will do possibly, and people are going to beat him up for this year, he got beat up. He was sacked more than anybody else and guess what? For his size the one great positive for Bryce Young, he came out of the year healthy. He didn’t get injured. Will Levis got beat up and then missed a game.”
Young did miss Week 3 with an ankle injury in his rookie season, but it may have been for the better. With the Panthers finishing the season 2-15 amid a year highlighted by collective offensive struggles in Charlotte.
“You think about Bryce Young, protect him, get some better receivers, and then we can evaluate Bryce Young. It’s still to be determined what kind of quarterback he will be,” Kiper explained. “[CJ] Stroud went to a team that had the infrastructure and he bottled that Georgia game. We said can he bottle that game and take it into the NFL? He did.”
Young was sacked 62 times last season, with his offensive line failing to protect him and his pass catchers struggling to get separation from defenders. This was not the case for the Houston Texans, whose rookie quarterback was sacked 24 fewer times and was able to lead the team to a playoff appearance.
But in the case of Daniels, Kiper believes that his physical abilities can overcome his slender frame at the next level. Throwing for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns along with rushing for 1,134 yards and 10 scores on the ground at the highest level of college football.
“But in terms of where we are right now with Jayden Daniels, he’s put weight on, but he’s still kind of the splendid splinter and he is in that 6’3-6’4 range. To me is he 205 [pounds]? He’s gonna be around that range. That’s what Bryce Young was, a manufactured 206, which he played at probably 190-195. For Jayden I don’t think it matters,” Kiper said.
“What he does on the football field speaks volumes and he did it against SEC teams. He did it running, he did it throwing, and he did it consistently week in and week out. When his defense couldn’t stop anybody, he had to take his team down the field and bring them back in the third-fourth quarter, second half. He did that.”
Jayden Daniels has time between now and the start of his NFL career to continue adding weight to his frame. But even in his current form, he is one of the most explosive athletes and passers in this year’s draft class who Kiper believes will be selected No. 2 overall by the Washington Commanders after Caleb Williams and before Drake Maye.
“So for Jayden there was no hiccups, there was no red flags, there was no ‘well this game bothers me’. There was none of that. That’s why he goes two, I believe, and Drake Maye goes three,” Kiper concluded.