Kansas Jayhawks QB Jalon Daniels is a NFL Draft wild card

USA Today

2 days ago

It's a brave new world for star players in collegiate revenue-producing sports who don't ultimately have a professional career. With the explosion of NIL, college football and men's college basketball superstars who don't make it in the pros can still get paid for their athletic prowess.
Back in the day, player payments had to all be under-the-table, so as to avoid NCAA infractions. Now it's all legit.
Of course, if you were a big man on campus who ultimately didn't get a lucrative NBA or NHL contract, there was is another way to monetize your glories in the game. If you were a big name, at a big enough school, friends of the program, alumni, boosters etc. will find a sweet gig for you somewhere.
Often times, this comes in the form of a cushy job at an investment bank or brokerage house, in a client facing role. It's not as much about Wall St. acumen as it is name brand recognition. So in the grand scheme of things, it's not all-or-nothing when it comes to NFL or NBA Draft stock.
When it comes to Kansas Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels, it's difficult to say what his draft stock truly is. He's a wild card for the 2026 NFL Draft in the truest sense. Injuries have taken a toll on him, and that's significantly devalued his draft stock. There are questions about his size too, as he's barely 6 feet tall, which is less than ideal height for a NFL QB prospect.
However, height did not hold back Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, or numerous other signal callers of a height more or less level with Daniels. And Daniels is an electric playmaker and accomplished field general. He will also enter the draft process with the advantage of having worked in a very NFL-friendly system.
'At the University of Kansas, we are all about shifts and motions and mis-directions for the defense, so we have to do a great job offensively of being able to make sure everybody is aligned properly," the 22-year-old said in an exclusive with RG.org.
'Pre-snap, that's a huge deal for me… post-snap, it's trying make sure my pre-snap vision and picture I was trying to get comes to fruition. When it does, it's confirmation we have done what we're supposed to be doing.'
Running an offense like this, and showing insightful improvisation in play-calling will make Daniels a little more pro-ready than many of the other signal callers in his draft class. He has great arm strength and elite mobility.
However, it's very difficult to say where he could end up next April. You can just as easily find a UDFA valuation for him (the knee, back and shoulder injuries have a lot to do with that) as you can a day two grade (his projected 40-yard dash time and statistics for 2022 and 2023 are a big reason why).
It all depends on how his final season at KU goes. Yes, Kansas is a basketball school, no doubt about that, but Daniels has helped make Jayhawks football relevant again. Even Les Miles couldn't do that.
You can easily make the case that Jalon Daniels, despite the fact that his name sounds so strikingly similar to 2023 Heisman trophy winner, #2 overall pick in the 2024 Draft and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels (it's like Dr. Pepper and Dr. Skipper, or when Mr. Burns couldn't get Stephen Spielberg to direct his vanity movie project, so he settled for El Spielbergo) is iconic.
At least by KU football standards, as you can honestly say that Daniels is the biggest individual star the program has had in a decade or two. His brand name and potential ceiling will get NFL people interested.
Daniels' escape ability is what makes him so exciting and successful. However, it's also what makes him so injury prone. He's a little bit like a football version of Derrick Rose- what makes him so great is also the same thing that leads him getting hurt.