ASHBURN, Va. — It has taken only six practices to watch Jayden Daniels and come to a way-too-quick-but-still-definitive conclusion: There aren’t 12 NFL quarterbacks better than this guy.More than that: The player who had maybe the best rookie quarterback season in NFL history is ready to put himself squarely in the top tier of QBs — en route to annually becoming one of the best.Are these burgundy-and-gold-colored glasses? Probably. Does such an assessment come with caveats? Yes, and we’ll get to them.But we come to this topic because a) there’s no more important subject for the Washington Commanders’ present and future, and b) the league has voiced its doubts, and they’re significant.The Athletic’s Mike Sando published his annual quarterback tiers this week. A year ago — coming off his dazzling rookie season and an appearance in the NFC Championship Game — Daniels landed just outside Tier 1 and seemed destined to remain a fixture there. He ranked sixth, the highest debut in the history of Sando’s rankings. (Rookies aren’t eligible to be considered, because the wide array of voters hasn’t seen them yet.)This year: 13th. Tier 2. Behind both Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, the players he was sandwiched between at the top of the 2024 draft. Behind Jordan Love and Brock Purdy. In the same tier as Trevor Lawrence.“He’s got to reprove it,” a defensive coach told Sando.That’s fair. It says here he will.Commanders’ Daniels looks sharp; questions remain at key positionsNicki JhabvalaLet’s start with the most important caveat: Daniels has to stay healthy. A tumble in a quarterback rankings list — a deeply reported project that surveys all manner of NFL team officials, not one pulled out of thin air — was anchored in the fact that Daniels played in only seven games a year ago. That inactivity came from four injuries — a left knee sprain in Week 2, a right hamstring strain in Week 7, an avoidable elbow dislocation in Week 9, and an aggravation of that elbow injury in Week 14.Those matter. They must be avoided. Availability is a tool, and in Daniels’ case, it’s practically the only tool that raises questions. (Well, he should probably be more judicious about how and how often he runs, but we’ll get to that, too.)Put health aside for a minute. The case for Daniels rebounding from a disjointed and, frankly, underwhelming sophomore season is built on a few things.One of them is accuracy. Daniels spent the first six sessions of training camp — during which the offense has looked better and better in 11-on-11 work — placing plenty of balls exactly where they need to be. These aren’t just completed passes. They’re passes that are either dropped in the only area where a receiver can snag them or are timed so perfectly that the pass catcher doesn’t have to break stride and can gain significant yards thereafter.Two that stand out: a play on which the pocket broke down and Daniels kept his eyes down the field, pulling the ball back in once before zipping a laser to tight end Chig Okonkwo to a low spot at the back of the end zone — a place where only Okonkwo, who had a man draped on his back, could make the catch. Another: a low liner to receiver Luke McCaffrey right down the seam, a ball that hit McCaffrey in stride and allowed him a significant opportunity for yards after the catch.“It’s the location of the throw,” coach Dan Quinn said. “It’s one of his superpowers is the accuracy. … Now, in a new system, can he elevate that further?”About that new system: That’s another reason to bet on a Daniels bounce-back. No, new offensive coordinator David Blough has never before designed a scheme or called plays. But the transition from Kliff Kingsbury was intentional, and it came with Daniels in mind.Offseason workouts and the first week-plus of camp were filled with receivers in motion, with Daniels under center on some snaps and in the shotgun on others, with multiple looks and personnel deployed in all kinds of packages. Daniels will have very few designed runs, and he will primarily use his legs when plays break down. That could help keep him healthy.“As we start incorporating this new offense, we’re both just trying to learn our assignments so we can take care of our job first,” wideout Terry McLaurin said. “And then we talk about the little nuances.”From the amount of time Daniels and McLaurin have spent chatting — and how many conversations McLaurin has with his fellow receivers on the sidelines — the nuances are obviously being discussed. But don’t let the tiny wrinkles overshadow another massive reason Daniels might bounce back: McLaurin’s constant presence.It’s hard to overstate how disruptive McLaurin’s absence from offseason workouts and his “hold-in” during most of training camp were for the entirety of the 2025 season. The flip side of that: His presence during this offseason and into the summer — including a trip to Southern California to work out with Daniels and the other receivers — can only be a positive for the entire offense.McLaurin is the Commanders’ best receiver, and it’s not close. In the five seasons before last year’s injury-plagued disaster, he averaged 80 catches for 1,092 yards. Last year, in a career-low 10 games, he caught just 38 balls for 582 yards. A return to his usual production goes a long way to making Daniels right again, and this week’s addition of veteran wideout Stefon Diggs means defenses will have another proven option they must account for.Now, jumping into the top tier of quarterbacks is a big ask following that disappointing 2025 season. It wasn’t just his health.Daniels’ completion percentage dropped from 69.0 in 2024 to 60.6 last year. His yards per attempt fell from 7.4 to 6.7. His QBR dropped from 67.7 to 44.7. More than that: 2024 was filled with so many “How did he do that?” plays, and 2025 was marked by long periods on the sideline wearing a hoodie — and a 2-5 record in the games he did start. So, yes, he absolutely has to reprove it.But if Daniels plays somewhere between 15 and 17 regular-season games — the biggest “if” imaginable, I know — then it says here he will reprove it. He’s too talented, too dedicated and too bright not to. The bet is we get to January, and Commanders fans — along with coaches and execs across the league — are saying, “There aren’t five quarterbacks I’d rather have than Jayden Daniels.”