Don't really think concerns about Jayden Daniels' weight, and taking hard hits, should be a significant factor in evaluating him as a prospect; he played 26 games in the SEC last 2 years at LSU, didn't miss a game due to injury. He's also put on a lot of muscle weight during college - can you believe he weighed 158 (!) as a freshman at ASU? He weighed 185 beginning of his first year at LSU. He played 2023 at 210+ according to multiple reports in his well-documented journey to get bigger. At 6'4", I can see him realistically putting on another 10-15 pounds in his first couple/few years in the NFL.
I think people might forget that one of the big concerns about Lamar Jackson coming out of Louisville, and into his first year at Baltimore, was whether his slight frame (even now, he's only listed at 212) could hold up to NFL hits. Ravens were worried because the dude would *never* slide. I think I saw a stat in one article where during his first two years in the NFL (31 games), Jackson slid a total of 2 times.
Now I totally agree that Lamar Jackson seems other-worldly in his ability to get out of bounds or otherwise avoid big hits, which Daniels hasn't shown as much aptitude for - yet - but I do see signs that Daniels is getting better there. For example, he took 43 sacks for LSU in 2022, but only 22 this year, and a lot of that difference was not because the OL was much better (it really wasn't), but because he's gotten better at throwing the ball away (something RG3 regrettably never really learned to do) and escaping pressure. I'm also impressed with Daniels soaking up all the VR and other analytics/tech-driven training LSU devoted to him, resulting in better footwork and quicker reads that clearly paid off in his 2023 performance; that's a good indicator, I think, that he'll be coachable on sliding/avoiding/getting out of bounds etc. - and I did see Daniels using the slide this year. It's just a matter of using it more consistently.
I do see similarities in the running styles for Daniels and Jackson - both 'glide' rather than sprint, surveying the field as they run. Jackson seems to have a much stronger arm; but I think Daniels' is good enough to make all the throws - remember, he was ridiculously accurate and productive on deep balls at LSU (but thank you Malik/Brian).
So, I get the worries about Daniels' weight, and ability to take hits, but I think maybe part of that is our collective PTSD from watching 165-pound Forbes get completely bullied this year. Seems like Daniels is a different animal.
We don't want to wait 2 minutes. We want to know every detail of everything that happened RIGHT NOW DAMMIT! 🙃
