Jayden Daniels celebrates with Washington Commanders teammates Zach Ertz and Bobby Wagner after defeating the Detroit Lions in the NFC divisional playoff game on January 18, 2025 in Detroit. Nick Antaya/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide title
Jayden Daniels is one win away from becoming the first rookie quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl.
He and the Washington Commanders just need to beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Sunday's game will be the team's first NFC Championship Game since 1991, a testament to the rookie's transformative role in Washington.
The success of Daniels and the Commanders is reminiscent of another quarterback who once wore a burgundy and gold helmet, Doug Williams. Williams, now a senior adviser to the Commanders, was the first black quarterback to play in and win a Super Bowl after leading the team to victory in 1988.
Black quarterbacks have been given more opportunities since Williams' historic tenure in the NFL. This year, almost half of the starting quarterbacks in the league are Black.
Williams said the recent success of black quarterbacks like Daniels shows the league is finally starting to catch up to reality.
"We should have been here a long time ago," Williams told NPR. consider everything. "We've just gotten to the point where we're putting our best players on the floor and I think that's what's happening right now."
"It's not because they're black, it's not because of the color of their skin, it's because they're people who can play ball," he said.
Former Washington Commanders quarterback Doug Williams, now a senior advisor to the team, watches a December game against the San Francisco 49ers in Landover, Maryland. Scott Teich/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide title
For decades, coaches were reluctant to give black quarterbacks a chance, according to former quarterbacks. Daniels talked about the racism and negativity he had to endure when he first joined the league.
"You know, in my five years in Tampa, I heard a lot of things about me being the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whether it was because of the color of my skin or whether it was because I was smart enough to do it," he said on the podcast Florida's Fourth Estate 2023.
Williams may have paved the way for quarterbacks like Jayden Daniels and Lamar Jackson, but he also thought of those who didn't get the opportunities they deserved.
"I always think about people who haven't had the opportunities that I had," he told NPR.
But now, he's backing Daniels. Williams said the commander's undeniable talent is rooted in his work ethic.
"No one in the building beat Jayden. You come here at 6:30 in the morning and he's already here. You leave at 6 o'clock at night and he's still here," he said. “What he puts into it, he gets out of it.”
NPR's Juana Summers, John Ketchum and Jason Fuller produced this broadcast interview.