Jalon Daniels

A 17-Year-Old Starter in an 0-9 Season, 2020

Kansas put him on the field as a 17-year-old freshman in the 2020 season. The team lost all nine games. Daniels played in seven of them and threw for 718 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions, CBS Sports records.

His first real result came the next year. In his first start of 2021, Kansas beat Texas 57-56 in overtime. He threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 45 yards and another score.

Kansas Ranked for the First Time Since 2009

In 2022 Kansas opened 5-0 and entered the national rankings for the first time since 2009. Daniels threw for 2,014 yards, 18 touchdowns and four interceptions and was named second-team All-Big 12. The On3 NIL Valuation, an algorithmic projection rather than a tally of signed deals, put his annual name, image and likeness value at $88,000 that November, when he and tight end Jared Casey appeared in an Applebee's commercial arranged through a Kansas collective. No dollar figure for that deal or any other was disclosed.

The next season began with him named Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. A back injury limited him to three starts. Kansas won all three and finished 9-4 with a bowl win, according to the Buccaneers' biography of him.

He came back for two more years. In 2024 he threw for 2,454 yards, 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and ran for 439 yards and six scores. In 2025, his sixth season at Kansas, he threw for 2,531 yards, 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions on a 5-7 team, and was a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy and the Pop Warner College Football Award. He studied sport management.

His Kansas totals, as the Buccaneers record them: 49 games, 734 completions on 1,193 attempts for 9,282 yards and 67 touchdowns, plus 1,445 rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns. Those numbers put him second in school history in passing yards, touchdowns, completions and attempts. CBS Sports lists his record as a starter at 19-26.

257 Picks Without His Name, April 2026

At the scouting combine he measured six feet and 219 pounds and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds, Sports Illustrated reported. Ten quarterbacks were drafted in 2026. Daniels was not among them, and the AP later counted 257 selections that went by without his name.

On 25 April 2026, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported that he had agreed to terms with Tampa Bay as an undrafted free agent, with a $25,000 signing bonus and $247,000 in guaranteed base salary, as summarized by Pro Football Rumors. Pewter Report put his 2026 guarantee at $272,500 a month later, second among the Buccaneers' undrafted signings, in a class that received $1.9 million in guarantees overall. The two figures do not match and neither outlet explains the gap. The length and total value of the contract have not been reported in any source we could open, so this article gives no net worth estimate. The Buccaneers list the signing as 8 May 2026.

He started training camp third on the depth chart behind Baker Mayfield and Jake Browning. In three preseason games he completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 239 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions, and ran for 37 yards and another score. On 30 August the team released Browning and made Daniels the backup.

Green Bay, Then Dallas: October 2026

Mayfield dislocated his right thumb against Minnesota on 27 September. Before his first start, Daniels said Mayfield had told him to just be himself. "Obviously, your first start, you get one first start. You don't do it twice," he told the team's website. "This is a dream come true."

That start came on 4 October against Green Bay. Tampa Bay lost 17-14. Daniels completed 19 of 27 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown, threw two interceptions in the first half, and ran eight times for 55 yards. The AP noted he was the first undrafted rookie to start at quarterback for the Buccaneers in more than 50 seasons, and the first rookie quarterback to start for any NFL team that season.

Four days later, on Thursday night, he started again at Dallas. He went 19 of 25 for 189 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers, and Tampa Bay won 24-16 for its first win of the season. "I know where I came from and I think that's key, being able to remember where you came from," he said afterward. Coach Todd Bowles said he "played smart" and that "he learned so much from his first start." Bowles said he expected Daniels to start again on 18 October against Pittsburgh while Mayfield recovers.

After the game Daniels called his mother over to join him on the postgame television set. "Ma, come here!" was the line FOX 13 used for its headline.

The Mom2JD6 Foundation

Daniels runs a charity called the Mom2JD6 Foundation, named after his mother's email address. According to FOX 13, it helps single mothers pay league fees and buy uniforms and equipment so their children can play youth sports. On leadership, he told Sports Illustrated: "You can't be the thermometer. You have to be the thermostat."

Sources

• Jalon Daniels
• From undrafted to primetime star: Meet Jalon Daniels, the Buccaneers rookie QB - CBS Sports
• Who is Jalon Daniels? Four Things to Know About the Buccaneers' Rookie Starting Quarterback
• Buccaneers rookie Jalon Daniels played like a quarterback who should've been drafted - ABC News
• Rookie QB Jalon Daniels eager to build on first NFL start with struggling Buccaneers
• Jalon Daniels: Baker Mayfield Told Me to Just Be Myself | Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Jalon Daniels - Pro Football Rumors
• Bucs Dished Out Some Serious Cash To UDFAs In 2026
• 'Ma, come here!': Bucs QB Jalon Daniels shares postgame moment with mom after first NFL win | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
• Kansas QB Jalon Daniels, TE Jared Casey star in Applebee's ad - On3