Former Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels continues to make a strong case that he belongs in the NFL.
And on Saturday night, the former Big 12 star used a little trickery to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rally for a 16-15 preseason win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Early in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay faced a third-and-one while trailing Kansas City. Before the Buccaneers even reached the line of scrimmage, Daniels had already decided how he wanted to pick up the first down: don’t run a play at all.
“I literally came into the huddle, I said, ‘All right, guys, we got a third-and-one right here. We’re gonna try to be able to get them to jump offsides,’” Daniels said after the game.
Daniels noted that Tampa Bay had already committed multiple false starts earlier in the game, so he stressed to his teammates that they couldn’t make the same mistake themselves.
Instead, Daniels got exactly what he wanted.
Chiefs defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah jumped into the neutral zone, giving Tampa Bay five yards and an automatic first down. The Buccaneers eventually turned the possession into a field goal as part of their second-half comeback.
It was another example of the poise Daniels has shown throughout his first NFL preseason.
The undrafted rookie took over for Jake Browning and helped lead three second-half scoring drives against Kansas City, including a two-yard touchdown pass to Ko Kieft. Tampa Bay ultimately erased a 9-0 halftime deficit to improve to 2-0 in the preseason.
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles has taken notice.
“He did a good job closing out the game second week in a row,” Bowles said. “He made some plays, some clutch plays.”
Daniels’ performance against Kansas City came one week after an impressive preseason debut against the New York Jets. In that game, the former Jayhawk completed 10 of 15 passes for 111 yards while helping Tampa Bay put together two second-half touchdown drives.
Daniels also credited something he learned during his time at Kansas — the “rule of zero,” or the idea of getting back to the line of scrimmage and avoiding turning one mistake into an even bigger one.
It’s still only the preseason, but Daniels is doing just about everything an undrafted rookie quarterback can do to force Tampa Bay into a difficult roster decision.
Two games. Two strong performances. And now one veteran move to fool the Chiefs defense.
The former Kansas and Big 12 quarterback is turning heads, now let’s see if he can turn it into a roster spot.
