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July 20, 2025 • 7 mins

Washington Commanders QB1 Jayden Daniels joins Next Man Up for a special offseason sit-down. We talk about his first full NFL offseason, the pressure after a breakout rookie year, staying grounded, getting stronger, and what he's expecting from himself in Year Two. Jedi5 keeps it real in this can't-miss conversation.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's good command this family and wilcom into a special
edition of Next Man Up because we got our QB
one here for the first time.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
This off season.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
We got the boy that called him Jedi five Jad
and Daniels. It was good, bad man, I'm good, bro.
It's really good to see you.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Man. First things first, bruh, he's getting the start of
year two.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
What was this first NFL off season, like a first
official off season like for you?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Man?

Speaker 3 (00:22):
It was different.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
I mean because you have so much time after going
through the season, you're going to draft, press and everything,
so it was it was It's different.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
It was difficult to navigate.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Did you really feel like you had time? Man?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
I feel like when you do what you do in
the year that you had, that rookie year you had,
everybody wants a piece, everybody wants you to talk, everyone
wants you to sit down and do an interview. Did
you really get time to enjoy the fruits of your labor?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:45):
I did.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
I think I had a team, and you know, my
family did a good job.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Like nah, you don't do nothing. You just take some
time for yourself and recharge.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
When you look back, if you've gotten a chance to
look back. Have you gotten a chance to.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Reflect on really what that rookie year was or has
it just been just going straight forwar? Because I know
you're a guy that's really locked in it.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Don't look backwards too much.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Just to know.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
I mean, I kind of got caught up in well
I did last years, last year, and I'm like onto
year two because I got to go out there and
prove myself again. So a little bit I did, you know,
I was able to look back a little bit, but
I was still moving forward the whole time.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
What to me is special about you is now you're
the bar for what a rookie quarterback needs to do.
Cam wardsh the door saying, it's all these quarterbacks that
come in one day.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
We haven't even been drafted yet.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Are looking at Jaden Daniels and I know you had
that thing on your wall.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
I want to be an NFL player. But a lot
of times with that, with all the fame and all the.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Good stuff, comes a lot of negativity, a lot of
eyes on you, a lot of speculation. Man. You can't
even go to a basketball game piece right, But it's
been so great to see you navigate that so professionally. Man,
give advice to these future quarterbacks because all of them
are going to have to deal with that.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Right. The eyes are going to be on them, the
scope is going to be on them. How did you
maneuver that? Bro?

Speaker 3 (02:00):
It was tough.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
It was tough because everywhere you go, you know, as
you know, you get more fame and more recognition. You know,
people want a piece of you, like, oh, they want
you to do this or do that. So I mean
it's like, you know, no, know yourself and you know,
have a good team around you that's gonna able to
say no more.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
You Uh.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
That's probably the biggest thing is all seasons people say
no for me because it's tough for me to say no.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
It's tough for me to tough people to know.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
So you have the right people around you that's gonna
say no, or you know, have a conversation like this
is what I want to accomplish is off season. I
think this is good for my brand, This is good
for what I wanted to get accomplished, and you know,
and go from there.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
But that's something a lot of rookies don't really grasp yet.
What keeps Jade and Daniels so grounded.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Just my foundational God.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
That that's the main thing, just you know, leaning on
him because you know, at any point, you know, you
get too high, you get too low, like you can
take anything, like if you start think you're above everything
and you know, stuff like that, with a have a finger,
you ca'll be gone and now you back a rock bottom.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
So no, just staying ground.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
And I always remember where you came from, because none
of this would happened if you didn't come from diversity
that you went through.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
And it's very obvious how confident you are, but you
also are very very humble. But I know you're harder yourself.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I know you look last season and say Jad and
Daniels could have done more. Talk about how you feeling,
what you want to improve after you've reflected on this
past season.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, I just want to get better off fastest.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
That's you know, mentally, physically, you know, mostly I just
want to continue to grow, you know, on and off
the field, because I think off the field, I'm able
to grow.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
I mean I'm able to grow on the field.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
You know, take care of the people around me first,
you know, just you know, continue growing up, growing up,
continue being man.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Talk about the word growth. So I got to mention it. Man.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
This picture behind me right here made some buzz because
your arms was popular little bit.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
People were saying, this guy's gotten bigger, a stronger.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
But Cliff Kingsbury also said in this Pressure Today that
you got bigger and got stronger.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Why was that a point of emphasis for you? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (03:56):
I think just for me, it's like, okay, what can
I do better?

Speaker 4 (03:59):
Can I ask more armor on, you know, to what
we're staying another you know, seventeen games hopefully more? And
you know, it was a long season last year, so
it's like I didn't know I was getting myself into.
Now I have a kind of idea this is what
I'm getting myself into going into year two. Now, it's like, okay,
put the team around me as ask questions, asked, bets ask.
You know, people reach out to other individuals like how

(04:22):
did you navigate your first off season?

Speaker 3 (04:23):
How did you not navigate this?

Speaker 4 (04:25):
And you know kind of take pitts and beat bits
and pizzas from it. But honestly, I really got that
advice from Bobby Wagner. So he gave me that advice.
We were having conversation and he's like, man, this is
what he did is first all was and hit up
a whole bunch of people. You know, they give advice like,
I think this works, it worked for me, this worked
for him.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Uh, we'll see. I'm gonna try it.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
So and when you navigate that, you're getting your advice,
but you got to live it yourself, right, you got
to go through it yourself. What surprised you the most?
Did you mentioned it that seventeen game season? What surprised
you the most about that?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
It's a long season? Yeah, a long season.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
But they said, man, your rookie years your longest year
because you're going so much. You're basically going for a year,
You go to playoffs, you make a deep brand, so
you're basically going for a whole year as far as football.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
So, uh, just.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Knowing how to be able to unplug and make sure
you're still pouring back into yourself and you know, the
right energy and recharging.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
And after this rookie year, everybody was looking at the
commanders of saying what are they going to do in
free agency?

Speaker 2 (05:24):
What are they going to do in the draft.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Well, a big emphasis of that was adding some offensive lineman,
but also adding you some new toys as well, some
new weapons.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
When you see a front office and coaching staff make.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
That a priority, does that give you a little like
a little more confidence knowing that, hey, we're bought into
Jaden Daniels. We're gonna do whatever we can to make
him even more successful.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
I think so, I think obviously, you know you you
wanted to have that feeling. And you know, I try
to Adam and his squad, you know, to go out
there and do it's right for the team. So I
got to, you know, handle my side. You know, he
has to handle the side. DQ has to handle this side.
And you know it's all collective.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
And as you said, man before we let you go,
everybody wants a piece of Jaden Daniels and all this stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
You're a very busy guy. But the people that notice.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
First was this fan base, was this Burgundy and gold
fan base. Man, give a message to the fans, and
which is what they mention you as you are a
young man navigating your rookie year.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Men's a lot.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
I mean, they welcome me with open arms, you know,
to take care of my family, you know, whenever they
see them at their game or you know, in the city,
stuff like that. So they show so much love and support,
you know, just everything I've been through in my life,
everything always there, whether that's wishing me well, you know,
wish them you know, my mom happy, Mother's there at

(06:38):
the birthday, you know, wishing the people, my loved ones,
you know well, wishes and prayers and stuff like that.
So I genuinely appreciate them for how much love they showed.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Me, man, And it's all genuine love. Bro. We appreciate
you when you earned that love as well.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Last thing for you, Man, Fans have expectations, Coaches of expectations,
media has expectations.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
What are Jad and Daniel's expectations for you two?

Speaker 4 (07:03):
Just take take, take the next step, be able to
continue to grow. I think the biggest thing for me is,
you know, being a bezz bord of myself day in
and day out.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
No matter if I'm.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Tired and energized, you know, I still gotta go in
there and look myself in the mirror every day.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
It is like, how can I get better?

Speaker 2 (07:19):
And jay and dance. We've got no doubt you will
get better. Man. We appreciate the time. Brother. Congratulations your
Success're so busy.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
I've got to take congratulations, man, Thank you for taking
the time, but we cannot wait to see what you're
doing yet to Let's do it, and Sir commanded family,
our next man up, very very special.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Next man up j D five Jaden dance. Thank you brother,
Let's do it.
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