Jayden Daniels is everything the Browns hoped Deshaun Watson would be

In the second quarter of Sunday's game between the Cleveland Browns and Washington Commanders, Jayden Daniels made a crucial four-down snap right at midfield on a one-score play. He dropped seven steps from the shotgun, putting him a total of 10 yards from the first-down marker, and turned to see Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah screaming toward him, completely unblocked.

Owusu-Koramoah is one of the fastest hybrid defensive players in the NFL and an excellent open-field tackler, but with a hip snap from Daniels, the Browns linebacker went flying into the air and to the side, looking a bit like a kid was thrown out of one of these metal playground carousels. Daniels got the first down and kept goingwho advanced nearly 34 yards past the marker on a play that, one could argue, put the already lifeless Browns out of striking distance.

This was generously a 5.5 out of 10 on the ever-growing Daniels Scale of Excellence, which puts him on a crash course for not only Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, but also the league's MVP award. With the game tied 0-0, Daniels was hit by a six-man pressure on third-and-13 (a down-and-distance combination used as a punt for more than half the teams in the NFL). seems worthy). The running back in protection was taken down by a charging defender and a small horde of bodies nearly collapsed on top of Daniels. He hopped out of a challenge, fought his way through the air and threw an absolutely gorgeous pass to Terry McLaurin to set up the Commanders' goal (perhaps the only play Daniels wanted back came shortly afterward when he hit Owusu-Koramoah). Pick threw).

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Compare that to Deshaun Watson, who despite relentless pressure was sacked seven times in the Browns' 34-13 loss to the Commanders on Sunday. At times there were open outlet recipients. At other times, there was a bewildering lack of properly aligned backfield protection, leaving entire sides of Cleveland's broken offensive line unhelped and unprotected. And another time, Watson was simply swallowed up like a lone surfer by a tidal wave. But in almost every situation, getting taken down seemed inevitable for the Browns' franchise quarterback.

He remains a quarterback who plays like a passer, interested and willing to extend plays. On the way there Football on Sunday eveningsOnly two quarterbacks in Week 5 held the ball longer than Watson did on Sunday, who averaged more than 3.2 seconds per dropback.

I suspect the juxtaposition wasn't lost on the Browns, and I wonder if seeing Daniels up close was a reminder of everything they thought they were getting from Watson when they signed him to a fully guaranteed five-year contract committed over $230 million.

I expect Watson's remaining supporters will point out that he had one of those explosive, Daniels-like plays last week against the Las Vegas Raiders – despite being recalled for a phantom hold – and that the offensive line was punished on Sunday even without Watson in the game (This look at a failed fourth-down conversion proves the point) and that his struggles ended in a series of false starts, other procedural penalties and wide receiver drops, the story at the end of another lost game was inevitable. Here was a broadcast booth showing footage of a friendly, laughing Daniels alongside Watson and Jameis Winston, discussing the replacement of Watson as starter, which seemed like some sort of inevitability. Cleveland's offense is the worst of the bunch in terms of yards per play any crime within five weeks since 2018.

Watson and the Browns have suffered from the countless, incessant, weekly statistical comparisons to the man who had the job before Watson, Baker Mayfield. I expect the Daniels comparison is even more painful considering Daniels plays, dodges, soars (back to a fumble by Zach Ertz in that game, which Daniels appears to be helping out), a ten-year-older veteran to calm down and then pass him the ball). the next play on a play that I assume was designed to help Ertz get back into the flow of the game) and conjure magic in exactly the way the Browns hoped Watson would. That's why the Browns paid him so much money and guaranteed his contract.

Daniels plays spectacularly, but what the Commanders did with Daniels isn't so spectacular. They placed him on a roster of capable players and assigned him an offensive coordinator (Kliff Kingsbury) who called plays that highlighted his strengths. They allowed Daniels to be Daniels. They'll also pay him $35 million less per season and have a player they can regularly market, celebrate and envision a long-term future.

While Cleveland's historical difficulties in finding a quarterback are well known, I would suspect that this organization ultimately could have acquired someone like Daniels through the draft and brought together the right group of coaches and surrounding personnel. The year after the Browns signed Watson, CJ Stroud was selected second overall by the same Texans who inherited a number of picks from Cleveland because they were excited about signing Watson. Daniels, Caleb Williams and Drake Maye were drafted a year later (not to mention Bo Nix, JJ McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr.). The Chicago Bears, Houston Texans and Commanders have a history at the quarterback position that, while not carrying the same narrative weight as Cleveland's struggles, is almost as harrowing. Each team continued to take hits, building the roster and setting the runway for something sustainable and fun.

That way, it's less about apples-to-apples comparisons – what Cleveland gave up versus what they currently have. This would have opened doors for them if they had never entered the Watson competition. What possibilities. What happiness deferred. What we saw from Daniels on Sunday and what's the focus right now in Cleveland.