Jalon Daniels turned a preseason opportunity into a roster breakthrough.
The former Kansas quarterback has won the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ No. 2 job behind Baker Mayfield, according to multiple reports on Sunday morning. Daniels went undrafted in the spring after six seasons with the Jayhawks, but he made enough noise in camp and preseason action to beat out his competition.
“A true find and a very cool story,” wrote ESPN’s Ian Rapoport, who first reported the news.
Tampa Bay moved on from Connor Bazelak on Saturday and is also releasing veteran backup Jake Browning. Browning’s injury-related absence in the preseason opener on Aug. 14 against the New York Jets opened the door for Daniels to get plenty of snaps early.
He made that first chance count. Daniels went 10-for-15 for 111 yards and ran for a touchdown in that opener, flashing the kind of playmaking that kept him in the mix. He followed that with a strong showing in a late comeback against the Kansas City Chiefs on Aug. 22, finishing 9 of 14 for 71 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Ko Kieft.
Daniels got the start in the preseason finale on Friday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a moment he called a dream come true.
“Being able to go out and be the first quarterback out there, obviously that’s a dream come true,” Daniels said afterward, per the Associated Press. “Being able to start an NFL game as a starting quarterback, that’s something that you always dream of.
Grateful for the opportunity. Like I said, we got to get better from there.”
That final outing was rougher. Daniels completed 8 of 15 passes for 57 yards and lost a fumble in Tampa Bay’s 19-0 shutout loss. Even so, the Buccaneers saw enough across the full stretch of camp to hand him the backup role.
“We definitely wanted to see more of him,” Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said, per the AP. “We wanted to give him a long, lengthy look.”
Daniels, a native of Lawndale, California, spent parts of all six of his seasons starting for Kansas, including each of the 2024 and 2025 campaigns. He finished second in Jayhawks history in passing yards, touchdowns, attempts and completions, earned second-team all-conference honors in 2022, and entered the next season as the Big 12’s preseason offensive player of the year.
In Other News...
Three Former Jayhawks Just Kept Their NFL Dreams Alive
The NFL path for a trio of former Kansas football players is still very much open heading into the new season. Tommy Dunn Jr. landed on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, Cobee Bryant is on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad and Emmanuel Henderson Jr. is with the Seattle Seahawks, keeping each of them in position to work their way toward an active-roster opportunity if the chance comes.
For all three, the move matters because practice-squad spots are more than just placeholders this time of year. They keep players in the building, in the weekly grind and close enough to be elevated when a team needs help, which is exactly the kind of break every undrafted or recently waived player is chasing. For Kansas, it is another reminder that the program continues to send talent into the league, even if the next step still has to be earned. [Read more 🡒]
Bill Self Is Building Something Kansas Fans Need To Watch
Kansas has stayed busy on the recruiting trail, and Bill Selfs staff is making sure the next wave of talent keeps flowing through Lawrence. The Jayhawks have already hosted several other top prospects recently, and now they have lined up another important stop with four-star forward Zion Green, a highly regarded Class of 2027 player from Compass Prep in Arizona.
Green is scheduled to be on campus from Sept. 18-20, a visit that gives Kansas another chance to sell its pitch in person to one of the more sought-after young forwards in the country. The Jayhawks will not be alone in that chase, either, with Oklahoma and Alabama also in the mix, which adds another layer to a recruiting battle Kansas will want to keep pushing forward. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Is Pushing For An Early Edge In A Big 12 Battle
Kansas is set to get an early look at one of the more closely watched guards in the 2027 class when Parker McDaniel comes to Lawrence for an official visit during the Sept. 11-12 weekend. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard from South Central Prep in Oklahoma already has a growing list of Division I options, including Kansas, Oklahoma State and West Virginia, and his profile has started to rise with evaluators as he works his way through the early stages of the recruiting cycle.
For the Jayhawks, the visit is another chance to get in front of a player who already carries national attention and fits the kind of perimeter target they tend to monitor closely. McDaniel is ranked No. 96 overall and No. 15 among shooting guards in the 2027 class by 247Sports, and Kansas will not be alone in trying to make an impression as the Big 12 programs circle. [Read more 🡒]