Jayden Daniels didn’t look much like the quarterback who turned college football on its head last season and won a Heisman Trophy. For such an exciting player, what we saw in his NFL debut was dull.

The Washington Commanders were given little to do on offense, but that was partly due to a hyper-conservative game plan. Daniels looked like a rookie in his first NFL game, and the Commanders lost 37-20 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Daniels completed 17 of 24 for 184 yards and ran for 88 yards and two short touchdowns. It was a respectable debut, if unspectacular.

It’s not easy playing quarterback as a rookie in the NFL, no matter how easy C.J. Stroud made it look last season. Caleb Williams didn’t even crack 100 passing yards in his debut in what looked like a good matchup against the Tennessee Titans. Bo Nix struggled at times in his debut for the Denver Broncos in Seattle. Daniels wasn’t bad, but the player who made multiple big plays per game last season at LSU never really hit his stride.

Daniels’ first pass wasn’t even officially a pass. He rushed a pitch and threw it wildly to the running back coming out of the backfield. It was a backward pass and officially a lateral and a fumble. Washington recovered. The backward pass on his first attempt set the tone for most of the Commanders’ passing game plan on Sunday.

The Commanders came into the game focused on a short passing game, trying to get the ball out quickly, likely due to a shaky offensive line. There was no real question whether Daniels would start in Week 1, but he’s not in a great situation because of the line. That’s something Washington hopes to fix. It also means the offense will be limited to the point where they feel comfortable opening things up a bit.

Daniels wasn’t bad. It wasn’t Daniels’ fault that kicker Cade York missed two field goals. That helped the Buccaneers take a 23-7 lead into the third quarter, putting the rookie QB in a tough spot. Daniels wasn’t bad, he just didn’t make many plays, aside from his numerous scrambles. At that point, Daniels had completed just two passes longer than 8 yards. It’s tough to run an offense without downfield passing and having to rely on a quarterback to scramble most plays. It was also concerning to see Daniels take a number of hard hits, including two that blew his helmet off.

Daniels finally got the Commanders into the end zone late in the third quarter. He hit Brian Robinson Jr., who had a nice run downfield for 32 yards. On the next play, Daniels scored his first NFL touchdown on a 1-yard read option run.

The Buccaneers scored a touchdown right after, putting the Commanders back in a deep slump. Washington punted on its next drive, and it was basically over.

Daniels scored a second touchdown on a run in garbage time.

Daniels has the ability to have a long, fantastic career. There’s a reason he was the No. 2 overall draft pick in a strong QB class. But his first game wasn’t the dynamic start everyone was hoping for.