Regardless of what happens this weekend, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix have already made NFL history.
Daniels, the dual-threat dynamo behind the Washington Commanders’ rapid turnaround, and Nix, whose steady playmaking turned the Denver Broncos into one of the league’s biggest surprises, are only the fourth pair of rookie quarterbacks to make the playoffs in the same season after serving as full-time starters.
And while the postseason debuts of their predecessors suggest deep playoff runs are unlikely, Daniels and Nix have already demonstrated their abilities to defy the odds.
“It’s exciting, but you’ve got to deal with those emotions,” Daniels said this week. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to go out there and play ball.”
Both quarterbacks are scheduled to play on the road Sunday.
Nix, whose Broncos finished 10-7 and as the AFC’s No. 7 seed, will face the second-seeded Buffalo Bills at 1 p.m. Denver is an 8.5-point underdog.
Daniels, whose Commanders went 12-5 and are the NFC’s No. 6 seed, will play on “Sunday Night Football” against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who won the NFC South at 10-7. Despite their superior record, the Commanders are three-point underdogs.
Nix and Daniels are the last rookies standing after a 2024 NFL Draft in which a record six quarterbacks were taken within the first 12 picks.
It is likely no coincidence that Nix and Daniels both entered the NFL with five years of college experience.
Nix started 61 games for Auburn and Oregon, taking advantage of the 2020 season’s COVID-19 waiver that granted an extra year of eligibility. Daniels started 55 games at Arizona State and LSU.
After winning the Heisman Trophy with the Tigers in 2023, Daniels entered April’s draft with sky-high hype. The Commanders made him the No. 2 overall selection — one pick behind fellow quarterback Caleb Williams, who went first to the Chicago Bears.
Daniels, 24, delivered and then some, passing for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns against nine interceptions while rushing for 891 yards and six scores.
He led Washington to eight more wins than they recorded in 2023 — including five in a row to end the regular season.
One of his few losses came against the Buccaneers, who beat the Commanders, 37-20, in Tampa in Daniels’ NFL debut.
“He can process it really quickly and be onto the next play,” Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said of Daniels. “He wants to be perfect, he wants to play great, he wants to win every rep, but once the play is over, he’s onto the next one really quickly, and that’s not easy to do as a young player or an established player, even.”
Nix, meanwhile, was more of a polarizing prospect. Lauded for his accuracy and ability to limit mistakes, Nix arrived with questions about his upside but showed enough for Sean Payton and the Broncos to use the No. 12 overall pick on him.
The 24-year-old Nix got off to a slow start, failing to throw a touchdown pass in any of his first three games, but he broke out soon after.
He recorded seven games with multiple touchdown passes and zero interceptions, including a four-TD performance in a Week 18 win over the Kansas City Chiefs to clinch the AFC’s final wild-card spot.
Nix finished his rookie year with 3,775 passing yards and 29 touchdowns against 12 interceptions, along with 430 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
“This is where I want to be,” Nix said ahead of his playoff debut. “These are the moments that matter. These are the moments that people remember you by, so we’ve just got to go out there and cut it loose.”
These NFL playoffs are set to become the first with multiple rookie quarterbacks since 2013, when Andrew Luck started for the Indianapolis Colts; Robert Griffin III started for Washington; and Russell Wilson started for the Seattle Seahawks.
Wilson was the only one of those rookies to win his playoff debut, beating Washington in a game in which Griffin suffered a knee injury that required surgery.
The previous instance of multiple rookie starters came in 2009, when Matt Ryan lost his playoff debut with the Atlanta Falcons and Joe Flacco won two playoff games with the Baltimore Ravens.
The only other occasion occurred in 1983, when John Elway of the Broncos (although in a relief appearance vs. the Seahawks) and Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins both lost.
And while only seven rookie quarterbacks have won a playoff start, neither Daniels nor Nix expects the moment to be too big.
“I know it’s cliché, but it’s literally just another game,” Daniels said. “There’s only a couple of teams that are still playing.”
