By admin 
TAMPA, Fla. – It is not yet a relationship. We’re barely at the hand-holding stage.
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And yet there is something sweet, something special about this young man we’re seeing.
For instance, when he picked up the first of Tampa’s first downs in Thursday night’s 24-16 win at Dallas. It’s not just that he scrambled on third down and gained the necessary yardage. It’s the way he lowered his left shoulder and bulldozed linebacker Dee Winters to get past the chains.
And it’s not that he completed 19 of 25 passes for 189 yards in his second NFL start, but how he immediately recognized Tez Johnson had separated from the Dallas secondary and then got the ball in the air for a 64-yard gain before the defensive backs could recover.
Yes, I think Tampa Bay may be developing a crush on this Jalon Daniels.
When he stepped into the huddle against Green Bay five days ago, he became the first undrafted free-agent quarterback to start as early as Week 4 since the NFL merger in 1970. And now, he is the first undrafted QB to win a start by Week 5 of his rookie season.
That’s a pretty remarkable jumping-off point, don’t you think?
The NFL occasionally sees an undrafted quarterback make a splash in the league. Warren Moon was one. So was Kurt Warner. Tony Romo, Jeff Garcia and Jake Delhomme are also in the fraternity. But, for the most part, their journeys were more circuitous. Some spent time in the Canadian Football League. Others spent considerable time on practice rosters or as backups.
“At the end of the day, I know where I came from and I think that’s key, being able to remember where you came from,” Daniels told reporters after the game. “Obviously, you don’t want to harp on the past, you don’t want to look too far in the future, you want to stay where your feet are, but you have to be able to remember who you are and where you come from.
“Because, at the end of the day, I think that’s my main motivation and why I continue to keep being the person I am.”
Yes, there’s something about this kid that makes you want to embrace him.
It’s his joy and confidence. His determination and humility.
You see it, right? You see what the coaches were talking about when they first began throwing praise his way in training camp.
He can run and he can throw which is nice, but hardly unique. JaMarcus Russell could run and throw, but he was out of the league just a few years after being taken with the No. 1 pick in the draft. The world is filled with elite athletes who lack the temperament or the wisdom or the poise to succeed in the NFL.
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And, to be fair, it’s way too soon to assign all of those qualities to Daniels. Remember, we once thought Bruce Gradkowski was following a similar path.
All we know for sure is that Daniels beat backup Jake Browning out of a job. He beat the Cowboys in his second start and he beat his nerves if he ever had them.
But can he beat the odds?
Can he be the rare quarterback who slips into the NFL through a side door and makes himself at home?
His learning curve just took a sharp right turn Thursday night, but it’s still nowhere near complete.
The fairy tale nearly came to a gruesome end when Daniels recklessly threw a pass that could have cost the Bucs the game against Dallas. On a third down, Daniels threw to Emeka Egbuka on an out route but cornerback DaRon Bland was waiting in the weeds and jumped the pattern. The ball hit Bland in the hands and he would have had an easy route to the end zone and a potential tying score, but he inexplicably dropped it.
It’s easy to dismiss that play in the euphoria of an upset, but it’ll be interesting to see if Daniels continues his growth trajectory. He was better Thursday than he was on Sunday. And, if the Bucs want to continue climbing out of the NFC South, he will need to be better still next week against Pittsburgh.
But, for now, he’s good enough.
He’s better than Josh Johnson.
Better than Chris Chandler and Joe Ferguson, too.
Better than Steve Spurrier, Terry Hanratty, Randy Hedberg, Jeb Blount and just about every other starting quarterback Tampa Bay employed in 1976-77.
At 1-1, Daniels has already moved past quite a few names for career victories as a Bucs starting quarterback.
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Yes, Tampa Bay, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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This story was originally published October 12, 2026 at 2:38 AM.