In the 2024 NFL Draft, it wasn't very surprising when the Chicago Bears selected Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick, leaving Jayden Daniels to be selected by the Washington Commanders with the No. 2 pick. However, following each of their rookie seasons thus far, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper claims the Bears wouldn't make the same pick if they had an opportunity to re-draft.

“Right now, no question [Jayden Daniels] would go No. 1 in any draft,” Kiper said when addressing a possible re-draft of the 2024 NFL Draft class. “No question. He's the guy, he's done it all. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the league already, which is pretty amazing. Can he maintain that? We'll see. But, right now, everything is more than positive. It's off the charts.”

Now, there are layers to this claim made by Kiper.

While the Bears were a highly touted team coming into 2024, some glaring problems have seemingly held Williams back during his rookie season. Most notably, his coaching has been a mess.

The coaching, whether by head coach Matt Eberflus or former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, has been a disaster. Eberflus has shown an inability to manage games throughout his tenure as the Bears' head coach, hurting the image of both the Bears and their rookie quarterback.

However, there is a smidge of validity to what Kiper claims, too. When looking at the 2024 NFL Draft class, it's hard to say Williams has outperformed Daniels. In fact, he hasn't.

That being said, if both quarterbacks suited up for the Bears this season, it's unlikely that either would be successful. The Bears have shown to be incapable of developing young quarterbacks, and with Williams having a rocky first season in the Windy City, it appears they're failing once again.

Jayden Daniels benefiting from Commanders' coaching staff

LSU Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels poses after being selected by the Washington Commanders as the No. 2 pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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On the opposite side of that coin, coaching appears to be leading Daniels to his profound rookie season.

Through his first 11 games, Daniels has completed 68.7% of his passes for 2,338 yards, 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions, adding 482 rushing yards and four trips to the end zone with his legs.

Now, it's important to note that Daniels' offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has what many NFL analysts would call an “easy system” to learn for a quarterback. It isn't easy to play quarterback in the NFL, but when Kingsbury can find what his players do well and capitalize on that, it has shown to be a successful strategy for the Commanders.

In Washington's most recent game against the Eagles, Daniels' passing chart gained a lot of traction on social media due to how many passes were within five yards of the line of scrimmage.

Not to diminish what Daniels has done, but when a passing chart has fewer than 10 passes go beyond 10 yards, that does change the perspective a bit. Had Williams' coaches done what the Commanders did with Daniels, maybe this conversation wouldn't have happened at all.

However, with re-drafts not being an actual practice done by the NFL, the world may never know who the real No. 1 quarterback should've been in the 2024 NFL Draft.