Jayden Daniels is the Hail Mary Washington, DC football fans have been praying for – Andscape

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Star Black quarterbacks are no longer the exception – they are the rule. Throughout the football season, this series will explore the prominent role and impact of black quarterbacks from the grassroots level to the NFL.

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On Saturday, with a trip to the NFC Championship on the line, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels returns to the city where his professional life began at the 2024 NFL Draft: Detroit. The big difference now is that he has an entire city and franchise that doesn’t just believe in him. They could not imagine their football life without him.

He’s a fan of theatrics in a way that makes football fun and awe-inspiring in ways not seen in the nation’s capital since Robert Griffin III’s rookie year. And consistently much further back than that. What the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner has done on the pitch is remarkable. He’s the presumed front-runner for Offensive Rookie of the Year and could steal an MVP vote or two. While he wouldn’t take credit for it, he has helped lead the Commanders to the franchise’s best season since the heyday of Joe Gibbs and the team’s former name. With the Commanders winning their last five games on the last drive — and a Hail Mary in week 8 vs. Chicago, who branded themselves as the play of the year – the argument can be made that Daniels is in the running for football’s most clutch performer. That includes last week’s dramatic wild-card win at Tampa Bay, when Daniels led the team in both passing and rushing.

Still, it’s Daniels’ impact far beyond Northwest Stadium that begins to illustrate how important he already is to the fabric of a city known and criticized for its political prowess far more than its griron success. Travel anywhere in the city and surrounding areas. Daniel’s name and tall tales of his rookie year dominance are ubiquitous. He is a human purge for a city whose football team had become synonymous with mediocrity and disappointment and for generations.

“He’s a great representation of what the team was and still is — and what it can be when we have a franchise player,” said Grammy-nominated rapper and DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia) native Wale. “After a while we lost that energy, and several generations passed when we didn’t have it. It has been beautiful to see how the culture has blossomed not just at home, but around the country. We were hopeful when new ownership came in and hope grew when Jayden was appointed. We have someone to believe in who has not let us down.”

To understand the light Daniels basks in now is to understand the darkness that preceded him.

Washington was a proud and accomplished fan base in the 1980s and early 90s, winning multiple Super Bowls. This included the 1988 title with Doug Williams under center, making him the first black starting quarterback to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Under previous owner Daniel Snyder, who bought the franchise in 1999, success was scarce. Scandal, despair and hopelessness became the norm. Washington reached the playoffs five times in Snyder’s 24-year run as owner.

New ownership and practical signings have given hope to a new era in Washington football. One that could ultimately lead to the team on the way back to town it held the court in its glory years. It’s a move that could happen in large part because the team and fan base believe they have their franchise quarterback. What Daniels has done to revive a fan base that was stifled for a quarter century under the reviled former owner’s regime.

“He’s what was needed here,” said Vic Jagger, host of the popular Washington, DC morning show Vic Jagger in the morning with Huggy Lowdown. “Jayden is an example of someone who is a doer and doesn’t give up. It’s like a miracle worker. When you think you are about to be defeated, he gives you hope. He teaches being a team player and shows people how to keep pushing even when people count you out. People really gravitate to that and it makes you proud to wear his number. All it takes is a winning season to get people hyped and energized.”

A lifelong Washington fan, Jagger stopped to collect his thoughts for a moment.

“He’s good for the city. He’s good for the community because he worries. All service work what he does is just a good example for the youth. He is amazing. And he is ours.”

All the love swirling around Daniels is not blind. Hard times and heartbreaking losses are part of life’s journey in the NFL. Still, something has to be said for how effortlessly the quarterback and the city have embraced each other so quickly. It’s a testament to the city’s history of athlete transplants embracing the energy around them. Doug Williams, currently the team’s senior advisor and Daniel’s mentor, is forever beloved. So does his former teammate, Darrell Green, who speaks of DC and the surrounding areas with almost religious reverence. Allen Iverson, the late Sean Taylor, Elena Della Donne, John Wall and more make up the list of “honorary Washingtonians.”

“It means everything because we don’t like outsiders,” Jagger said with a serious laugh. “For someone like Jayden to come here and make such an impact so quickly and so important … he’s going to be one of them, you feel me?”

The everyday people who have always given DC and the DMV its culture and vibrancy deserve the love of neighborhoods that are the true test of spiritual endurance.

“We want this to be his home and we want a statue of him when it’s all said and done. But no pressure!” Wale said. “Knowing him personally, he dreams big and DC is a place that can grow with him. We want him to spend his career here – and hopefully create and sustain a dynasty.”

Before a dynasty can be built, moments like Saturday go into its construction. The fan base knows what’s in front of them. They walk into a stadium against another maniacal, even more championship-deprived ecosystem (Detroit has never won a Super Bowl). The Lions are 15-2 for a reason and boast an electric and overwhelming offense. It will undoubtedly be Washington’s most challenging test yet. All eyes won’t be on Jayden Daniels because there will be star power all around the field.

For Daniels, however, each play puts him in rarer territory for a rookie — and certainly a quarterback in Washington DC. What he does has not been considered remotely possible for a signal caller on to team. Assume Daniels and the Commanders are in another close game in the waning minutes and seconds of the fourth quarter. If so, the collective heartbeat of an entire fan base will be loud enough to make Daniel Snyder cover his ears and close his eyes. In any yacht, mansion or private jet his money can be bought. Money can put a down payment on happiness, but it can’t buy it.

Each dropback will enter a new stratosphere. Each match will promote pigskin hypertension Commanders fans do not know. But the hysteria is welcomed. On the other side of the hysteria is success. They just have to get there first.

They are a fan base that is no longer on life support. This is a new life. And Jayden Daniels is the realtor.