Is Jayden Daniels in danger of following the fate of a cautionary quarterback tale? Is Dak Prescott on his way to winning his first NFL MVP Award? And speaking of QBs, is second-year Saint Tyler Shough already one of the NFL's best at the position?
NFL fans brought the heat with their takes to our @NFLonFOX Instagram after Week 2. I selected a handful of them to decide whether they're on target or miss the mark. Let’s dive in: Fact or Fiction: Fiction I hate that we’re going down this road, but the comparisons between Daniels and former Commanders quarterback Robert Griffin III are inevitable at this point.
After missing 10 games last season, Daniels is facing another extended absence after dislocating his left elbow for the second time in 10 months in Washington's loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. To this point, a variety of injuries have prevented him from truly building off his historic 2024 rookie season. It's all frighteningly similar to the trajectory of RGIII.
Like Daniels, Griffin was a No. 2 overall pick by Washington and a dual-threat quarterback who won Offensive Rookie of the Year. Unfortunately, RGIII never built off his early success, in large part due to injuries.
In Daniels' case, injuries have slowed him ever more: Entering Week 3 of Year 3, Griffin had appeared in more games (30 regular-season appearances) than Daniels has (26). The only solace I can offer Commanders fans is this: Daniels’ story is still unfolding. This is how his career has started, but that doesn’t mean it will be how it ends.
We don’t know how long he’ll be out with this latest elbow dislocation. We don’t know if he can stay healthy in his ensuing years. Through two weeks of Daniels’ third NFL season, we can’t define his career — even if we’re in the territory of catastrophizing.
So I won’t compare Daniels to RGIII. Not yet. I will say, though, that this is setting up a fascinating offseason for the Commanders.
As I outlined in my Best and Worst piece earlier this week, Daniels is extension eligible in 2027. How do the sides approach contract negotiations? Because of the injuries, will Washington and Daniels’ camp kick that can down the road?
How do the Commanders approach getting insurance at the quarterback position? In Washington, there’s plenty in limbo. But let’s not paint a broad brush on Daniels’ story right now.
Fact or Fiction: Fiction I can’t blame you for thinking that way. Prescott torched the Commanders’ defense in Week 2, completing 83.9% of his passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. His 143.8 passer rating was the fourth-highest mark of his career and his best since Week 18 of 2022.
Entering this season, monster numbers for Prescott felt inevitable, given that he was entering Year 2 with arguably the league’s best wide receiver tandem in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Prescott started poorly in Week 1 against the Giants, but he bounced back big against the Commanders and confirmed our expectations of what he’s capable of this season. Still, I don’t see him winning the league MVP — and it has nothing to do with Prescott.
Saying he'll win MVP is not just saying that he’ll put up MVP-caliber numbers. It’s also saying that the Cowboys will finish as a top-two seed in the NFC. For context, 12 of the past 13 MVPs (all quarterbacks) led teams that finished the regular season in first or second place in their conference.
The outlier in that group is 2025 MVP Matthew Stafford, whose Rams played in a division with two other teams that also won 12-plus games (Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers). And I don’t see the Cowboys being that good, even though I think they'll make the playoffs this season. Dallas has legitimate issues running the football (just 135 rushing yards through two games), and its defense is too much of a wild card right now under first-year coordinator Christian Parker.
Fact or Fiction: Fact Talk like this is warranted! For one, Brian Flores is the best coordinator in football right now. His blitz-heavy scheme held a Bears offense that had scored 59 points in Week 1 to three points (!) in Week 2.
That's the second-largest drop-off by any team from Week 1 to Week 2 in NFL history, according to Next Gen Stats. Caleb Williams’ injury midway through the fourth quarter doesn’t take away what Flores did to Chicago through the first three-and-a-half quarters, frustrating one of the NFL’s most potent offenses. And this was just a week after Flores wreaked similar havoc on the Packers’ talented offense.
Quarterback Jordan Love was pressured on a career-high 50.0% of his dropbacks, per NGS. Don’t be surprised to look up at the end of the year and see that Minnesota has a top-five defense. These 2-0 Vikings become truly scary if Kyler Murray, returning from concussion protocol this week, can be just a competent quarterback for coach Kevin O’Connell.
Minnesota already has impressive talent at the offensive skill positions — led by superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson — and on the offensive line. Last season, the Vikings went 9-8 with essentially the same supporting cast despite below-average quarterback play from J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer.
Minnesota doesn’t need Murray to be what Wentz was in relief in the season opener against Green Bay (12-of-19 for 133 yards, three touchdowns, a two-point conversion, 123.5 passer rating). But if Murray recaptures the Pro Bowl form from his early Arizona Cardinals days, all of sudden the Vikings will belong in the conversation with the top NFC contenders. Fact or Fiction: Fiction I’m a massive Tyler Shough fan.
He’s leading the league in completions (62), first downs passing (30) and passing yards (662) through two weeks. He has the Saints looking like a contender to take the NFC South — they're coming off an upset victory at Baltimore, where they scored 15 unanswered points to win. Given Giants QB Jaxson Dart’s knee injury and Titans QB Cam Ward’s uneven play, Shough is the one passer from the 2025 draft class positioned to be a true franchise quarterback right now.
He’s a star in the making. With that said, he has a long way to go to becoming a truly elite quarterback. Elite quarterbacks can consistently put together great performances for full games.
Shough still needs to show that he can play at a high level for one full game. Through two weeks this season, he’s been lights out in the fourth quarter and overtime — a 78.4% completion rate for 350 yards and four total touchdowns with no turnovers. But Shough has left much to be desired during the first three quarters — a 62.3% completion rate for 312 yards with no touchdowns and three giveaways, including two interceptions.
Even if you want to look at Shough's rookie year, the three games in which he had a 100-plus passer rating came against the Tennessee Titans and the Carolina Panthers (twice), both of whom were below .500 teams last season. We haven’t seen Shough play at a high level for four quarters against a great team yet. I think he'll get there.
Remember, he’s started just 11 NFL games so far. The late-game prowess tells you what he’s capable of. But he’s not elite right now.
