On Saturday, with a trip to the NFC Championship on the line, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels returns to the city where his professional life began at the 2024 NFL Draft: Detroit. The big difference now is he has an entire city and franchise that not only believes in him. They couldn’t imagine their football lives without him.

He’s a savant of theatrics in a way that makes football fun and awe-inspiring in ways that haven’t been seen in the nation’s capitol since Robert Griffin III’s rookie year. And consistently much further back than that. What the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner has done on the field is remarkable. He’s the presumed runaway for Offensive Rookie of the Year and could find himself stealing an MVP vote or two. Though he wouldn’t take credit for it, he’s helped lead the Commanders to the franchise’s best season since the glory days of Joe Gibbs and the team’s former name. With the Commanders winning their last five games on the final drive — and a Hail Mary in Week 8 vs. Chicago that stamped itself as the play of the year — the argument can be made that Daniels is in the running for football’s most clutch performer. That includes last week’s dramatic wild-card win in Tampa Bay when Daniels led the team in both passing and rushing.

Yet, it’s Daniels’ impact far beyond Northwest Stadium that begins to illustrate just how important he already is to the fabric of a city known and critiqued for its political prowess far more than its gridiron success. Travel anywhere in the city and surrounding areas. Daniels’ name and tall tales of his rookie year dominance are omnipresent. He’s a human cleanse for a city whose football team had become synonymous with mediocrity and disappointment and for generations. 

“He’s a great representation of what the team was and still is — and what it can be when we have a franchise player,” said Grammy-nominated rapper and DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) native Wale. “After a while, we lost that energy, and several generations passed when we didn’t have it. To see how the culture has blossomed not just at home but around the country has been beautiful. We were hopeful when new ownership came in, and the hope grew when Jayden was drafted. We’ve got someone to believe in who hasn’t let us down.”

Understanding the light Daniels basks in now is to understand the darkness that preceded him.

Washington was a proud and accomplished fanbase in the 1980s and into the early ’90s, winning multiple Super Bowls. This included the 1988 title with Doug Williams under center, making him the first Black starting quarterback to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Under former owner Daniel Snyder, who purchased the franchise in 1999, success became scarce. Scandal, despair and hopelessness became the norm. Washington made the playoffs five times in Snyder’s 24-year run as owner. 

New ownership and practical signings have given hope to a new era in Washington football. One that could eventually lead to the team heading back to the city it held court in during its glory years. It’s a move that could happen in large part because the team and fanbase believe it has its franchise quarterback. What Daniels has done to reinvigorate a fanbase that suffocated for a quarter century under the regime of the maligned former owner.

“He’s what was needed here,” said Vic Jagger, host of the popular Washington, D.C. morning show Vic Jagger in the Morning with Huggy Lowdown. “Jayden’s an example of someone who is a doer and doesn’t give up. It’s like a miracle worker. When you think you’re about to be defeated, he gives that hope. He teaches being a team player and shows people how to keep pushing even when people count you out. People really gravitate towards that, and it makes you proud to wear his number. All it takes is one winning season to get people hyped and energized.”

A lifelong Washington fan, Jagger stopped to gather her thoughts for a second.

“He’s good for the city. He’s good for the community because he cares. All the service work that he’s doing is just a great example for the youth. He’s great. And he’s ours.”

All the love swirling around Daniels isn’t blind. Tough times and heartbreaking losses are part of life’s journey in the NFL. Yet, something must be said about how effortlessly the quarterback and city have embraced each other so quickly. It’s a testament to the city’s history with athlete transplants that embrace the energy around them. Doug Williams, currently the team’s senior advisor and Daniels’ mentor, is forever beloved. The same goes for his former teammate, Darryl Green, who speaks of D.C. and the surrounding areas with near religious reverence. Allen Iverson, the late Sean Taylor, Elena Della Donne, John Wall and more make up part of the list of “honorary Washingtonians.”

“It means everything because we don’t like outsiders,” said Jagger with a grave chuckle. “For someone like Jayden to come here and make such an impact so quickly and so importantly … he’s going to be one of them ones, you feel me?”

Earning the love of neighborhoods, the everyday folk who have always given D.C. and the DMV its culture and vibrancy is the actual test of spiritual endurance.

“We want this to be his home, and we want a statue of him when it’s all said and done. No pressure, though!” said Wale. “Knowing him personally, he dreams big, and D.C. is a place that can grow with him. We want him to spend his career here — and hopefully create and maintain a dynasty.”

Before a dynasty can be built, moments like Saturday go into its construction. The fanbase knows what’s in front of them. They’re walking into a stadium against another maniacal, even more championship-deprived ecosystem (Detroit has never won a Super Bowl). The Lions are 15-2 for a reason and boast an electric and overwhelming offense. It will undoubtedly be Washington’s most challenging test yet. All eyes won’t be on Jayden Daniels because there will be star power all around the field.

For Daniels, though, each game places him in rarer territory for a rookie — and certainly a quarterback in Washington D.C. What he’s doing hasn’t been considered remotely possible for a signal caller on that team. Suppose Daniels and the Commanders are in yet another close game in the fourth quarter’s waning minutes and seconds. In that case, the collective heartbeat of an entire fanbase will be loud enough to make Daniel Snyder cover his ears and close his eyes. In whatever yacht, mansion or private plane his money can buy. Money may put a down payment on happiness, but it can’t buy it.

Each dropback will enter a new stratosphere. Each scramble will foster pigskin hypertension Commanders fans aren’t familiar with. But the hysteria is welcomed. On the other side of hysteria is success. They just have to make it there first.

They’re a fanbase no longer on life support. This is a new lease on life. And Jayden Daniels is the realtor.