Jayden Daniels’ NFL Influence Grows as Rookie QB Follows Commanders Star’s Futuristic Path

Back at LSU, Jayden Daniels was like just another QB trying to make his mark. Then he strapped on a VR headset from Cognilize, a German tech company that had pivoted from soccer to football. Suddenly, he was facing AI-generated defenses at 1.75x real-game speed. The result? A Heisman Trophy, nearly 4,000 yards, and over 1,00 rushing yards in his final season at LSU.

Daniels didn’t just use VR for practice; he made it his daily ritual. Every morning at 6 a.m., he’d dive into simulations that made real games feel like slow motion. And the result paid off in his rookie season for the Commanders. His track record in his first season in the pros? Even better. 4,459 yards (passing + rushing), and 31 touchdowns. And oh, along the way, he also snagged the Rookie of the Year honors.

Safe to say, the former first-round pick turned VR training into a blueprint of quarterback success. And get this, the guy set a benchmark on how to get better at this position using the technology. And the Seahawks‘ rookie QB, Jalen Milroe, is replicating the same method. Yup, you read that right.

During the offseason, Milroe has been focusing on his lower-body mechanics with his personal quarterback trainer. Considering the guy will develop behind Sam Darnold and Drew Lock, he will be using the virtual reality headset throughout the offseason to work on his mechanics, his progressions, and working from the pocket.

“My new head coach (Mike Macdonald), we talked about doing that,” Milroe said about using VR. “And so from now until game one, I’m going to utilize that.” The Seahawks picked Milroe in the third round with the 92nd overall pick. The guy completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 2,844 yards with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in the last season at Alabama.

If reports are accurate, the rookie was the center of attention at the rookie minicamp. But let’s not sugarcoat this. Given Darnold and Lock are also new to the Seahawks’ offense, it’ll be interesting to see how many snaps Milroe will get when the whole roster is available for OTAs and mandatory minicamp in June. For the time being, the 22-year-old QB is busy focusing on his lower-body mechanics.

Jalen Milroe’s grind to become a more efficient passer

If there’s one thing a rookie QB can’t skip if he really wants to level up his game to the next level, then it’s definitely the lower-body mechanics. And if you want to understand this, just look at Drew Brees—his footwork was on another level. Elite footwork? Check. Making sure his legs were always in the right position to generate power? Absolutely. And if you’re thinking that it was all about the arm, think again.

He worked on getting his hips, legs, and feet to work together, so every throw had perfect balance and speed. How did he do that, you ask? Get this, the former Saints‘ quarterback worked with biomech pros, doing those wild Keiser core rotations, and dropping dimes in like 2.5 seconds flat.

It wasn’t magic. In fact, it was clean footwork, balance, and torque from the ground, doing all the heavy lifting. Cut to the present, and the Seahawks’ rookie QB, Jalen Milroe, is making sure he levels up his game by focusing on his lower-body mechanics.

“The biggest thing is everything works from the ground up at the quarterback position,” Milroe said, per SeattleSports.com. “It’s understanding the lower-half mechanics of how I operate. Every quarterback is different, and so … it’s understanding how to distribute my body when it comes to the lower-half mechanics. That’s been a focus for us.” See, folks out there believe that Milroe has one of the strongest arms in this year’s class.

However, his footwork is where it gets pretty tricky. Back in 2023, Milroe’s footwork was kind of all over the place. The guy had a habit of not getting his feet set right, which messed with his accuracy, literally. Instead of using his legs to drive the throw, he leaned a little too much on just his arm.

And let’s be real—the way Brees’ career unfolded, it’s safe to say that lower-body power is everything if you want the ball to land where you actually aim it. And Jalen Milroe knows it very well. “It’s all about being an efficient passer. And so the more you work, the more you understand your body, you’re going to be more of an efficient passer. So that’s something that we continue to work on,” he continued. At the end of the day, the third-round pick for the Seahawks is going to get better at his footwork.

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