Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht has truly fielded the full pendulum of quarterbacks in his tenure.
Licht once drafted Jameis Winston with the No. 1 pick in 2015, brought in an all-time great in Tom Brady and revived the career of Baker Mayfield. Now, Licht can add an undrafted free agent rookie coming into training camp and claiming the backup job to that list.
Jalon Daniels, a former Kansas star, beat out Jake Browning for the QB2 job, and the Buccaneers cut Browning afterward. Licht detailed what his staff saw in Daniels during training camp and the preseason for a UDFA to pull off such a feat.
“Well, that’s an incredible accomplishment for an undrafted rookie to get that position,” Licht told reporters on Tuesday. “I can’t think in the last decade [of] another time it’s happened. But the number one thing is he earned it. It wasn’t just given to him.”
“You don’t get that honor by just being lucky or having somebody pull strings for you,” Licht added. “He earned it. Like I said, he earned the trust of his teammates, his coaches.”
Daniels will be No. 2 on the depth chart behind Mayfield when the Buccaneers open with the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 13 because of those efforts.
Jalon Daniels Proved Himself
Licht continued talking how Daniels won over the coaching staff and the locker room. Daniels threw for 111 yards in his preseason debut and 71 yards in his second game.
“You guys have seen him out here practice during camp, [he] did some really great things in the game,” Licht said. “You can go back and forth with the experience argument, but we’d rather have a very talented, prepared, inexperienced quarterback than going with experience just for the sake of saying the guy is experienced.”
“So, like all rookie quarterbacks, whether you’re the number one overall pick or undrafted, there’s going to be a learning curve, there’s going to be ups and downs, but we feel good about where he’s at, his trajectory, and we’re excited,” Licht added.
Jalon Daniels Sold Buccaneers in First Preseason Game
Licht acknowledged that he and head coach Todd Bowles discussed Daniels early on, and the first preseason game only solidified things.
“I think it was before our first preseason game, we loved what we were seeing out here, what we were getting from Zac [Robinson] and Chandler [Whitmer] and T.J. [Yates],” Licht said. “Then I think after the first preseason game with the Jets, I think the conversation started going towards, well, he’s got to prove that he can’t be the number two more so than he’s got to prove that he can be.”
Daniels put up strong numbers at Kansas with 9,282 yards passing and 1,445 yards rushing in six seasons. However, his 6-foot-0 frame isn’t considered ideal for the NFL.
Daniels nonetheless proved otherwise during the preseason with big plays, and he led the Buccaneers to a win in the second game. If the Buccaneers ever need to call on Daniels in place of Mayfield this season, Bowles and company have confidence in the former Jayhawks star to keep things rolling on offense.
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