2022 NFL Draft: JT Daniels a potential Heisman finalist
Strengths
Because he reclassified, Daniels is still young. He won’t turn 22 until February 2, 2022. If everything goes well, he’ll have 2 and half full seasons of starting, which should be plenty of experience to be able to step in and play in the NFL.
JT Daniels has solid mechanics, and many of his positive qualities stem from that. He is springy in the pocket and is rarely off balance when he throws. He has shown the ability to consistently win from the pocket, which many NFL teams covet. I’ve also seen him make multiple accurate throws rolling to his right.
His strong mechanics give him pinpoint accuracy on short and intermediate throws. He does a great job of hitting receivers in stride at those distances and setting them up to gain more yards after the catch.
Daniels completes enough long passes that defenses need to account for the threat of him going deep, and this often opens up the underneath and intermediate throws he excels at.
There were a couple of throws that I noticed Daniels make where he split the difference between a bullet pass and a lob pass adroitly and put just the right amount of touch on the ball to complete the pass for a significant gain.
Daniels has above-average arm strength and should be able to consistently make the throws he’s asked to by NFL offensive coordinators. He’s also skilled at making reads and going through his progressions after the snap.
Daniels is a cerebral and intellectual quarterback. He is coachable and willing to learn and tirelessly study film. His studying allows him to recognize coverages and diagnose blitzes before they happen and use that information to clarify his pre-snap reads.
Mental toughness is his forte. In the film I watched on Daniels, it was not unusual to see him make a terrible throw that was almost intercepted and turn right around on the next play and throw a 25-yard dart or a 40-yard bomb for a big gain. He bounces back quickly from mistakes and doesn’t let one bad play turn into two or more bad plays.
Daniels showed noticeable improvement from his freshman year to his redshirt sophomore year. In the 2018 game at Texas he played for USC, there were times where he looked overmatched and out of his element as the Trojans got dusted by 23 points. Last year for Georgia in a similar situation at Missouri, he showed more poise and composure and looked much more in command while tossing three touchdowns in a blowout win.
Daniels is not afraid to throw the ball downfield and even into coverage. He’s very aggressive with his throws and will never be accused of being a Checkdown Charlie. If he finds a receiver matchup he likes, he will trust his receiver and throw it there even if the receiver is covered.