“He’s the real deal,” Terry McLaurin said to the media after what he saw in Jayden Daniels during the Commanders’ offseason. Make no mistake—this came from a player who had already played with 10 different QBs in just 5 seasons in Washington. Yeah, the first impression does matter, especially when you are a rookie. But it isn’t enough for you to earn everything without proving yourself week in and week out. And that’s the thing that made Jayden Daniels the star he is today, not only in DC but in the whole of the NFL.

Jayden Daniels may be the orchestrator of the Commanders’ resurgence from a 4-13 team to an NFC Championship-calibre franchise. However, the mastermind behind Daniels’ developments remains Dan Quinn. It was his plan with Daniels that actually helped the Commanders’ rookie QB develop into the player he is right now. Sitting down with Kay Adams on her show, she revealed how Quinn used to restrict her from interviewing Daniels because he wasn’t ready yet.

Then, Daniels also echoed the same sentiments, revealing his journey to stardom through Dan Quinn’s roadmap: “I had to earn everything. I wasn’t a captain. I wasn’t a leader, I wasn’t a part of the leadership group, I had to learn that, I had to earn the starter role. For me, they really treated me like another player.” See, Daniels didn’t just come in and get the starter gig and captaincy he bears today. When the season didn’t even begin, Dan Quinn used to keep Daniels in the second unit. In his place, veteran QB Marcus Mariota used to take snaps as a starter.

The Commanders’ head coach also revealed the plan that went into developing Daniels without hurting others, “I think if you do it beforehand. It’s not authentic. If you anoint somebody as a leader and they’re not. It’s b——-.” Even Daniels added to these thoughts on the Up & Adams show, “I wanted to earn the respect of my coaches, my teammates. Cause if they just came in and handed me everything. You know I wouldn’t have the right to that.” Well, Daniels may have that natural talent that every QB in the league would desire. But without his coaches, it wouldn’t have been possible.

Jayden Daniels credits his coaches in Washington for his overwhelming success

Coming out of college, picked as the No.2 overall by the Commanders. Very few in the NFL could have contradicted the Commanders’ decision to make Jayden Daniels a leader right away. Considering their condition a year ago, Daniels was their only chance to come out of the trenches. Now that they have done more than just remove darkness hovering above their franchise for almost 3 decades. Daniels was asked to share his thoughts on the Pat McAfee Show regarding how the transition from college to the NFL was made so easily, “The coaching staff made the transition to the NFL so comfortable for me.”

One of the things that Dan Quinn did with Daniels was letting him slowly earn that leadership in Washington. Before Jayden was anointed captain, McLaurin, Bobby Wagner, and Jeremy Reaves all received the honors. Even lesser-known players like Jeremy McNichols and Percy Butler got captaincy before Jayden could even break into that role. Like it was not until week 5 against the Browns that Daniels finally broke into the captaincy group in Washington.

But that constant praise from his coaches was always there for Daniels to stay motivated. As OC Kliff Kingsbury once said, “His football knowledge is beyond what I think any rookie quarterback anybody could ever possibly expect it to be. He’ll bring up things and I’m like. Yeah, I didn’t even think about that. But it’s a valid point.” So, with that touch of guidance, praise, motivation and hard coaching. Daniels came out to be the player he is. Yes, he couldn’t get the job done to complete a fairy tale run by getting the Commanders to the Super Bowl. But next season, he will surely come back stronger with that vengeance in his mind and that hunger to go one further.