“Sure Didn’t Look Like A UDFA Making His Second Start”
October 13th, 2026
Bucs QB Jalon Daniels.
The one thing Joe has noticed in Jalon Daniels’ two starts this season is that he uses his head.
Daniels doesn’t try to take off running needlessly. He seems to know when to throw the ball away to live for another down.
Former NFL offensive lineman Brian Baldinger seems to see the same thing. In one of his “Baldy’s breakdowns” highlighting topics from Week 5 games, Baldinger used a video to highlight Daniels.
Baldinger typed about Daniels, “Sure didn’t look like a UDFA making his second start.”
Joe thinks Baldinger is onto something. Among Sunday’s games, Joe was watching Bears-Packers. Chicago started the immortal Tyson Bagent with star signal-caller Caleb Williams inactive with an injury.
Bagent signed with the Bears as a UDFA, just like Daniels did with Tampa Bay. He’s been in the league since 2023 and has three times as many starts as Daniels.
Bagent looked lost against the Packers. He was benched in the second half. Daniels looks worlds better.
Joe wants Daniels to keep using his noggin; laying smart, taking care of the ball is objective No. 1. Then, he’s got enough skills to make a few plays, both with his arm and his legs.
Joe thinks if Daniels plays Sunday like he did in Dallas, the Bucs have a puncher’s chance against the mighty Steelers.
“He played error-free football,” Baldinger said of Daniels facing the Cowboys.
Oh, Joe’s sure Daniels made a mistake or two. But not big enough to hurt the Bucs too badly.
.@Buccaneers @dallascowboys @JalonDaniels6 played smart; error free football on a short week on the road in a game they HAD to WIN. Can't ask for anything more. Sure didn't look like an UDFA making his 2nd start. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/UogxhyyLqN
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) October 9, 2026
October 13th, 2026 at 5:24 am
Baldi is spot on. Listened to Daniels on WDAE yesterday. Sharp, smart young player.
October 13th, 2026 at 7:23 am
The shame is I’m not a baker hater at all I like baker. But I even find myself during games saying baker wouldn’t have completed that pass. That’s bad that a fan thanks one of the highest paid QBs in the league can’t make throws that a undrafted rookie is making. And the shame is there just average throws that college kids make. I know 90% of fans here on that Tez Johnson completion thought the same thing baker would have over/under thrown that wide open pass.
October 13th, 2026 at 7:40 am
“He played error-free football,”
This is the ticket right here. I don’t care if it’s Baker/Daniels, as long as whomever is at QB is doing this then we’ll have a shot to hang/beat almost anybody we line up with.
October 13th, 2026 at 8:22 am
Yes! Absolutely the kid did his job ,definitely fun to watch a good game for the kid! With that being said. I’ve seen Mayfield have quite a few of those games also…
October 13th, 2026 at 8:38 am
The pitiful Dallas defense was also kind to Daniels, especially with the dropped pick 6. Daniels played well and is improving.
October 13th, 2026 at 8:42 am
Ok. He did fine. But let’s don’t overlook the near catastrophic pick that the Cryboy dropped.
Perspective. He needs a strong week from OL. And Zac needs to implement run first for him.
October 13th, 2026 at 8:43 am
He rarely threw the ball more than five yards, and now the league has a tape of film to watch. Let’s let this play out a bit more before we put him over Baker for some reason, folks.
October 13th, 2026 at 8:57 am
One of my major gripes with Baker was not playing smart football. Too many times he took sacks rather than getting rid of the ball. Far too often he missed wide open receivers. Too many times he took needless hits. Lately, he’s been playing scared, leaving the pocket too soon, pannicking, running with his head down and cowering and not looking down the field.
Its so refreshing to bring some calm and level headedness to the position.
October 13th, 2026 at 9:07 am
hopefully he isnt shaun king 2.0
October 13th, 2026 at 9:17 am
We should give him an extension, $50m a year!
October 13th, 2026 at 9:31 am
Mort Good call..To be honest ,I’d start Mayfield if healthy in Pitt ,Just for the experience and if Daniels gets hurt also.. They will be coming after the kid! And they’re pretty good at it.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:00 am
The good teams have two good QBs. Nil keeps QBs in college longer so they are more prepared.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:16 am
The Daniels got lucky when a Dallas Cowboy jumped in front of a Bucs receiver and dropped an easy interception and touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Don’t know if Daniels peed in his pants, but he learned a valuable lesson on that play. Hopefully Baker will need another week to heal. Bring him back too soon has been disaster for the Bucs. LET HIM BE COMPLETELY HEALED and force him watch the game from the sidelines.
A healthy Baker is a dangerous and champion Quarterback.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:27 am
The offense is going to have to do better than dink and dunk. Bucky isn’t likely to have another 150+ rushing performance.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:33 am
The team as a whole looked more inspired with Daniels at the helm last game
October 13th, 2026 at 10:44 am
“Joe thinks if Daniels plays Sunday like he did in Dallas, the Bucs have a puncher’s chance against the mighty Steelers.”
And if Baker starts, we’ll most-likely lose. That will be the case in pretty much every game moving forward.
Daniels gives us a better chance to win than Baker does.
Daniels should be QB1. Bsker can be the new age Wally Pip.
Daniels is a potential star.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:45 am
After we beat Karen Rodgers and the Steelers we have a good chance to be in first place.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:53 am
We are stupid for not making baker play out the year to earn the new contract and now we have this young gun qb ballin and JD has a bright future. Jason licht is too loyal to his players. This is a business we have to make better decisions just like we shoulda never gave otton and Godwin those contracts because we are looking dumb right now at least McCollum is starting to turn it up.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:54 am
Everyone was screaming they had game film to go by on JD, what happened?
October 13th, 2026 at 11:11 am
Amazing how a dropped pick 6 affects evaluation. Kid would’ve been ripped if bland makes that catch . Most of the time, wins and losses come from a critical play. Hurst drop against Cleveland comes to mind.
October 13th, 2026 at 12:36 pm
The Mike Glennon Mob is back baby!
Also, wasn’t Baldy the one building up Cancey before we drafted him? 🤔
October 13th, 2026 at 12:52 pm
I do see promise in JD, but he has a long way to go to be the QB Tampa needs. The resigning of BM was a stupid move, but at the same time who in free agency was going to be available next year and then wants to come to Tampa with so much churn coming for the coaching staff. If BM is healthy, he needs to finish the season out. This may be a down year for BM, but its not because he lost is ability to play well. Get the right offensive minded HC in here, or at least a HC that will hire the right OC, and things will turn around.
October 13th, 2026 at 1:16 pm
ALLEN…Luck is a big ,big part of the game…Its nice to have it on your side…My concern is cleaning up the penalties, that kid did overcome those as well ,no one has said anything about that…
October 13th, 2026 at 1:20 pm
Now if just the o line would play error-free football, we’d start cooking.
When is that going to happen?
But, Daniels played great and I’m proud of him. That was a stellar pickup.
October 13th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
Is it just me or does he kind of stand and throw like Lamar?
He played well but he got away with a pick 6 at the end… so not error free
October 13th, 2026 at 1:39 pm
“He played error-free football,” Baldinger said of Daniels facing the Cowboys.
Oh, Joe’s sure Daniels made a mistake or two. But not big enough to hurt the Bucs too badly.
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Well, he’s pretty damn lucky that Bland dropped a would-be pick-6… cuz we’d be singing a totally different tune right now if he didn’t miss that.
October 13th, 2026 at 2:16 pm
I see 0 of yall giving the coaching staff credit for getting Daniels ready to play not even you Joe. Kudos to Todd and his staff.
October 13th, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Let em Bake,
Jalon Daniels did more than enough for us to seal the the win and go up by 3 scores with 8-min left in the 4th QTR. That would’ve been GAME OVER.
But Todd the dumba$$ Bowles decided not to kick the fg and secure the win and therefore have Dallas a chance to be in the game at that point. Jalon should’ve never even been in that position to have to force a throw and almost give up a pick-6. That’s all on Bowles. Jalon is our best QB by a mile right now.