The New York Giants never had a real chance to draft Jayden Daniels—selected second in the 2024 NFL draft by the Washington Commanders—but one of his answers to a question during the pre-draft process might have had them wishing they could've.
In a clip promoting an upcoming episode of HBO's Hard Knocks, which this offseason is following the Giants as they enter their historic centennial season, showed a pre-draft interview where Giants brass grilled Jayden Daniels.
Head coach Brian Daboll put Daniels through a situational wringer, having him draw up plays on the whiteboard, rename positions, and recall play names back to him.
Brian Daboll put Jayden Daniels to the test at the Combine. ✍️
— NFL (@NFL) July 9, 2024
New episode of #HardKnocks Offseason with the @Giants premieres tonight at 9pm ET on @StreamOnMax. #Giants100 pic.twitter.com/DMtyT8xVZV
After he threw the play back to Daboll (with just a minor error), Daboll layered on another aspect.
"If it's Cover 1, what do we want you to do?" Daboll asked.
"Throw a touchdown," Daniels responded.
A pretty iconic answer, and a massive display of confidence from a would-be rookie quarterback. Of course, that confidence is part of why he was taken with the No. 2 pick, never to be made available for the Giants, who drafted sixth. New York wound up taking wide receiver Malik Nabers with their first-round pick. They did not take a quarterback in the draft and enter the 2024 campaign with a depth chart of Daniel Jones, Drew Lock (signed as a free agent this offseason), and Tommy DeVito.
The irony now is Daniels may very well end up throwing touchdowns against the Giants twice per year for the foreseeable future as a division rival.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Commanders’ Jayden Daniels Dropped Funny One-Liner in Pre-Draft Interview With Giants.
