Jayden Daniels

Daniels' 2023 was the second-best dual-threat season ever produced — Cam Newton 2010 is the only one in front of it on most ledgers, and Newton played fewer games. The yards-per-attempt was 11.7, the highest of any FBS starter that season by margin, and the rushing line (1,134 yards, 10 touchdowns) was a starter's whole season for most quarterbacks of the era. He arrived at LSU as a transfer from Arizona State, gave Brian Kelly his first signature year in Baton Rouge, and made the Florida game (372 passing, 234 rushing, four touchdowns with two minutes left) the master tape of the year. The Commanders took him second overall and got the rookie season the Saints had hoped for from Caleb in 2024. He is the era's best argument that the modernized dual-threat — pocket-stable, then explosive — is the ceiling of the position, not the floor.