Chalk Talk

I don't see why some experts like Kansas QB, Jalon Daniels. To me, he's not a draft worthy prospect. My NFL comp for him is Joe Hamilton, a 7th round pick in 2000 out of Georgia Tech.

NFLMDD consensus big board 14th QB, 132nd overall (5th round)

BuffaloFAMBase big board 6th QB, 58th overall (2nd round), estimated 4.58 second 40 time.

Shane Hallam 20th QB, not in top 250 (UDFA)

PFN draft simulator 13th QB 124th (4th round)

NFLDB 859th overall (UDFA), 4.70 second 40 time. Natural athlete. Confident. Extends plays. Carries ball loosely. Sloppy mechanics when moved off spot.

PFN (Ian Cummings) 11th QB.

Drafttek 24th QB, 278th overall (UDFA)

Background

Name: Jalon Daniels. Turns 21 years old in October of 2023. True senior

School: Kansas. Studying sports management. Was 2nd team Academic All American in 2022 with a 3.51 GPA.

Size: Listed by KU at 6' tall and 215 pounds. Sports Illustrated 5'11 3/4'' tall, 215 pounds, 4.58 second 40 time.

3 star recruit. Born and raised in Lawndale, CA, which is part of the Los Angeles metro area. Former Ram, Fred Dryer, is from Lawndale. Lightly recruited. Was committed to Middle Tennessee State, but flipped to Kansas.

2022 (9 starts): 66.1% completions, 2,014 yards, 18 TDs, 4 INTs, 223.8 yards per game, 77-425-7 rushing, 4 fumbles, 7 sacks

2021 (3 starts): 69.2% completions, 860 yards, 7 TDs, 3 INTs, 33-83-3 rushing, 1 fumble, 7 sacks

2020 (6 starts): 50.0% completions, 718 yards, 1 TD, 4 INTs, 73-20-3 rushing, 4 fumbles, 28 sacks

2 punts in 2022.

Has a positive personality in interviews.

Separated his right shoulder in middle of 2022 season and missed over a month. Lower body injury in 2020, wearing walking boot. Undisclosed injury in 2020, reportedly after colliding with wall. Limited in spring 2022 due to unspecified injury.

Strengths

Very young. Even if he were to declare for the draft after senior season, he'd be a year younger than a normal prospect. Good academic student, intelligent.

Improved from being ineffective as a freshman to getting Heisman Trophy hype during early part of 2022 season.

Muscular legs. Small, but strong relative to his size.

Sees field well, despite being short.

Doesn't have a strong arm, but has enough arm to make most throws.

Kansas was behind 31-7 in their bowl game, but had a wild rally late in the 4th quarter, before finally falling in 3 OTs. Daniels had 544 passing yards and 5 passing TDs in that game, plus another TD on the ground.

One of his INTs appeared to me to be caused by route running mistake by the WR.

Composed, made some clutch plays in close games.

Weaknesses

Not very accurate. Ball placements all over the place, sometimes forcing receivers to make circus catches. Forces WR to adjust to off target balls even if they are wide open. Passes don't have tight spirals and aren't thrown with proper trajectory. Helmet tilts at exaggerated angle when he tries to drive the pass harder and he loses accuracy on the ball. Crazy inconsistent footwork, his feet are wild and undisciplined, can be influenced by pass rush pressure. Losing velocity and accuracy when pressured resulted in terrible red zone INT. Does not always properly align his feet to make shorter throws. Lets his feet get too close together on dropback, then overstrides on the throw. Drops the ball low when he winds up.

Surprisingly average explosiveness. He's a small QB who is supposed to have a good 40 time, so you'd think he'd be very quick and fast, but he doesn't have a great short area burst and doesn't have elite elusiveness. Insufficient speed to win races to the edge. Oddly elongated 1st step, lacking suddenness to escape sacks.

Zero pass rush pressure on him many plays, like he's throwing the ball in practice. Piled up stats against bad defenses. Good supporting talent around him. Nice play designs and calls by coaching staff to set up easy throws. Receivers repeatedly schemed wide open. Yardage stats assisted by big YAC plays.

Ball swings loosely as he runs. Swings the ball around wildly in one hand even when under heavy pressure in pocket.

Very short. He's like a slot WR trying to play QB.

I don't see much developmental upside with him. Even if he were to have a very good statistical season in 2023, I still might grade him as an UDFA.

2023 Outlook

KU plays at Texas on September 30th. Last season, KU went to their first bowl game since the Mark Mangino era. The school has historically had very limited success in football, so if Jalon Daniels could have a huge season, it potentially could be one of the most exciting seasons for the program over nearly the last 20 years.

NFL football has evolved to the point where short, dual threat QBs who previously would have been written off and moved to other positions (see e.g. Antwaan Randle El playing WR for the Steelers) can remain viable candidates to play QB at the NFL level. Dorian Thompson-Robinson is a very athletic, but flawed QB and was a 5th round pick in the 2023 draft. I'm skeptical about whether Jalon Daniels qualifies as a true dual threat QB, because he doesn't excel either as a runner or as a passer. If you go back and compare tape on Trace McSorley, a 6th round pick in 2019 out of Penn State, in my opinion McSorley is a considerably better prospect, but McSorley himself is marginal as even a 3rd string QB in the NFL. Rams fans complain about Bryce Perkins and John Wolford, but when McSorley got to play last season, he had a 42.8 passer rating. A disaster. There are many QBs in the NFL, but how many of them can actually perform at a competent level in a regular season or playoff game?