Not Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes: This is who Jayden Daniels’ former coach compares the QB to

He was named the 2024 Rookie of the Year. Jayden Daniels got his career off to a great start in the NFL, but his former coach, Herm Edwards, says he saw this coming.

Edwards discovered Daniels

Edwards was on Adam Schefter’s podcast in January, 2025 discussing the quarterback that he lured to Arizona State when he was coaching there from 2018-2022. After Daniels emerged as a top talent in the high school ranks around the state of California, Jayden signed with the Sun Devils and was named the starter by Edwards in his freshman year.

Daniels played three years under Edwards at Arizona State before heading to LSU for his final two years in college. The Commanders rookie went on to win the Heisman and the Davey O’Brien Award in 2023 for the nation’s top player and the nation’s top quarterback while passing for 3,812 yards, 40 TDs and throwing just 4 INTs. The Washington Commanders took note and took him with their second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and the rest is history.

“What he has accomplished, I mean he is uncharted waters for a rookie quarterback, and I will say this. It’s not surprising for me. Not at all. When you know what his make up is about and how he really works at the game.”

Cunning comparison from Edwards

Before his time at ASU, Edwards spent decades in the NFL first as a player then as a coach. He played in the NFL for 10 years, spending most of his time in Philadelphia, before his last year in the league, which was split between Atlanta and the LA Rams.

After his playing career he went on to be a coach, working his way up to being named the head coach for the New York Jets, and then the Kansas City Chiefs from 2006 to 2008. He stepped away from coaching for a while and was a long time studio analyst for ESPN before taking the job in Tempe, Arizona in 2018.

“I told him when I had him at Arizona State: there’s going to be a lot of comparisons with a lot of quarterbacks that have played in the National Football League, but this is the guy I would compare you to… Randall Cunningham. Randall was about an inch taller and weighed five more pounds, but had the same attributes.”

Edwards and Cunningham played together in Edwards final year in Philly which just so happened to be Cunningham’s rookie year. Randall played just four games that year, but would go on to have a long and successful career in the NFL. He was a four time Pro Bowler, voted the Pro Football Writers MVP in 1990 named to the All-Pro team after leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 15-1 record.

Cunningham took the Vikes to the NFC Championship game, but they would lose to the Atlanta Falcons when Gary Anderson missed a 39 yard field goal for the first time in two years which allowed the Falcons to force overtime with a game tying touchdown with under a minute to go in the game.