Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has helped turn around the franchise and won the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award. As the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, what is Daniels’ contract, salary, and net worth?
Jayden Daniels’ Contract and Salary
Daniels’ four-year rookie contract is worth $37.75 million and includes a $24.2 million signing bonus. The deal is fully guaranteed, with an average annual value of $9.4 million. The contract features a fifth-year team option for the 2028 campaign.
For reference, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he signed a fully guaranteed four-year deal worth $39 million, with a $25.5 million signing bonus.
Quarterbacks on their rookie deal are widely regarded as the biggest bargains in all of professional sports, especially when a team finds a stud like Daniels.
For comparison, Daniels makes less annually than New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson ($10.5 million) and Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young ($9.48 million). He’s earning slightly more than his backup, Marcus Mariota, who has an average annual salary of $8 million.
Daniels’ Net Worth
Even before entering the NFL, Daniels was making great money at the collegiate level. He was one of the nation’s top NIL earners according to On3’s NIL valuation, bringing in an impressive $2.2 million annually.
While at LSU, Daniels had deals with companies such as Raising Cane’s, Beats by Dre, Urban Outfitters, HEYDUDE, Powerade, and Fry’s Food Stores. And thanks to a partnership with Jones Auto Center, he also secured a 2020 Ford Mustang GT.
Since entering the NFL, Daniels has inked an agreement with Nike and done endorsement deals with NextGenCamps, Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys, and The Athletic Collection, among others.
Daniels’ net worth is currently estimated to be around $2 million, and that figure will surely increase as his NFL career continues. The Commanders’ quarterback has a bright future ahead of him, and given the state of the quarterback market in the NFL, his earning potential is through the roof.
Commanders Players’ Fantasy Outlook for Week 9
Here’s what PFSN’s Kyle Soppe wrote about the Commanders players’ fantasy outlooks for the Week 6 game against the Chicago Bears:
Jayden Daniels
All reporting last week suggested that the low-grade hamstring injury that Jayden Daniels suffered in Week 7 had a great chance of only costing him the one game, and I’m inclined to follow that logic.
With that game on Monday night, they opted to give him the week off rather than push him to play and risk a short week recovery. This is the type of move a forward-thinking franchise makes, especially one with long-term plans.
The Seahawks are a tough matchup on a good day, let alone after their bye. That said, they’ve played three QBs with some shiftiness in their profile (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, and Trevor Lawrence), and all three of them cleared 16 fantasy points.
I’d be surprised if Daniels threatened the top of the quarterback scoring board this week, but that doesn’t mean you should hesitate in playing him. He’s a rare talent, and if Washington feels good about putting him out there, we should, too.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt
Jacory Croskey-Merritt is the lead back of an offense we believe to be above average. That’s about all I got in terms of positive notes for Washington’s RB1.
JCM hasn’t scored during this three-game skid, has carried the ball 32 times since his last gain of 10+ yards, and has seven catches on the season.
If you’re blindly starting him, you’re overweighing his role. That’s not to say he can’t hit your lineup, but without any versatility, how much different is he really than the committee backs that we struggle with weekly in Seattle, Carolina, Houston, Tennessee, etc.?
If you want to play him when Daniels is active, under the pretense that this is now a 75th-percentile offense that comes with a handful of red-zone trips, I’ll listen. That fuels some upside, but the floor remains low, and if the script works away from him for any reason, you’re really drawing dead.
Croskey-Merritt is my RB27 this week, a part of a tier that keeps me up at night over the spots where I have to dip into it.
Deebo Samuel Sr.
Deebo Samuel had two catches for 11 yards two minutes into Monday night’s loss to the Chiefs. It was a start we wanted to see with Terry McLaurin back, but it didn’t last. Over the next 58 minutes, he caught as many of his four targets as the Chiefs did (one) and didn’t pick up another receiving yard.
The Chiefs are a tough matchup, and their holding the ball for over 34 minutes didn’t help either.
I think you still have a viable flex play here. Samuel and McLaurin play well off of one another, and the return of Daniels gives this offense a level of upside that Mariota simply doesn’t.
Chalk up Week 8’s dud to the game. My thoughts about him haven’t changed since this time last week.