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Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels makes his primetime debut Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner won his first NFL game in Week 2 with Washington’s 21-18 win over the New York Giants.
According to Sports Information Solutions (SIS) data, Daniels has been the best rookie quarterback in the NFL this season. He’s third in the league in completion percentage (75.5%) but much of that is on short passes. He’s behind only Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the shortest throw depth in the league at 4.8 yards per attempt.
On Monday, he’ll face another Heisman Trophy winner: Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who won the award in 2019. This is the first matchup featuring two opposing Heisman winners since last season’s Eagles-Buccaneers NFC wild card playoff game.
Here’s the current state of Heisman Trophy winners in the NFL – plus how Heisman winners have fared historically.
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Daniels is one of the latest Heisman winners to make it to the NFL. He and Burrow are two of 11 Heisman winners who are active in the NFL this season. That group includes:
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The most recent NFL MVP winner is a Heisman Trophy winner as well. Jackson won NFL MVP honors in 2023 and 2019, years after his Heisman Trophy win in 2016. He’s the only two-time NFL MVP to have also won a Heisman in college.
Jackson is the seventh Heisman Trophy winner to win NFL MVP honors. The others are:
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There 371 members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as of the Class of 2023. But only 10 of them won the Heisman Trophy during their college careers:
The National Football Foundation retroactively gave Heisman Trophies to Jim Thorpe (1911), Pete Henry (1918), Red Grange (1924), Ernie Nevers (1925), Benny Friedman (1926), Bronco Nagurski (1929), and Don Hutson (1934) in 2009. All seven are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well.