Jayden Daniels has an easy way to make the hate being thrown at him stop, but it requires him to reveal the truth that we all already know
It’s been a very tough week for former LSU Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels.
No one is getting clowned on social media right now quite like Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Daniels has been the butt of jokes on the internet for the last few days due to the cease and desist that his team sent to LSU over the use of his name, image, and likeness.
The issue centers around LSU head coach Lane Kiffin’s decision to give No. 5 — the number Daniels wore with the Tigers — to sophomore cornerback DJ Pickett.
“The Daniels family is deeply disappointed and feels profoundly disrespected by LSU’s decision to give Jayden’s number to another player,” said a statement from Daniels’ spokesperson to ESPN. “Jayden and his family had every reason to believe that his number would remain a meaningful part of his LSU legacy and would be honored and protected in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university.”
Everyone from StubHub to pro sports teams has been poking fun at Daniels on social media in recent days as a result of the drama.
That’s just a small sample of the shade that’s been thrown Daniels’ way. It’s never-ending right now.
Jayden Daniels needs to make a big change
Daniels released a statement on the drama last week that seems to suggest he wasn’t on board with this situation blowing up the way it has.
“I have been locked in on training camp and that’s been my number one focus,” wrote Daniels. “I have a lot of gratitude for my time at LSU and I’m proud of what my teammates and I accomplished there. Obviously there are issues to be worked out between my team and LSU and my hope is that it will get done privately. My sole personal focus is on Commanders’ football. I realize the business of football is unique and I trust this can all be resolved.”
Clearly this is some sort of business decision that was made by Daniels’ team.
And Daniels’ team, of course, is headed by his mom, Regina Jackson.
Jackson is a certified NFL agent — for the sole purpose of representing her son — and she comes off as one of those over-the-top and controlling sports parents who create more problems than they solve.
It’s usually not a good idea to mix business and family, and Daniels is learning that the hard way.
Jackson has a history of causing problems for her son and the teams he’s been associated with.
One example is when Daniels was at Arizona State, and Jackson — who attended Sun Devils practices at times (that’s a bad idea for parents when their kids are in middle school and high school, let alone in college) — reportedly “helped arrange unofficial visits for recruits during the dead period which resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Arizona State was hit with recruiting violations as a result.
It would be in Daniels’ best interest to hire a real agent and business manager who can put his best interests first. Parents are often just too close emotionally to make the best decisions for multi-million dollar athletes. That’s clearly the case here. A real agent or business manager would’ve seen the PR disaster coming from a mile away and handled the number situation a lot differently.
Daniels could salvage his relationship with LSU and the fan base, and the rest of the sports world, by coming out and saying that it was his camp that made this a big deal and that he was never that concerned about it. And then he should fire his agent, hire a real one, and follow the lead of hundreds of other pro football players who manage to navigate the business side of sports without the influence of an overbearing parent.
