More than anything to do with his expected performance on the field headed into Year 3 of his NFL career, the story of Jayden Daniels’ offseason focused on a strange beef that became public with his college team.
The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for LSU, who is now the starting signal-caller for the Washington Commanders, sent his former university a cease-and-desist letter over the use of his name, image, and likeness after the Tigers gave his No. 5 jersey to cornerback DJ Pickett.
The story has already been memed to death, but it’s apparently no laughing matter for Daniels, who refused to answer questions about it during a press scrum earlier this week.
At the end of his press conference today, Commanders QB Jayden Daniels was asked why he filed the cease and desist letter to LSU.
Jayden said, “Nah, I posted a statement on Instagram and I said all I needed to say. Appreciate y’all.” pic.twitter.com/gppkLjo9re
— Scott Abraham (@Scott7news) August 26, 2026
“Nah, I posted a statement on Instagram and it said everything I needed to say. So, appreciate y’all,” Daniels told reporters.
The reporter who asked the question was Nicki Jhabvala, who covers the Commanders for The Athletic. After the video of Daniels refusing to answer the question went viral on social media, some online took issue with asking Daniels about the situation at all.
Jhabvala wasn’t having any of that, directly responding to one critic with a sharply worded post on X.
Why are you offended by me asking this? He sent his school a cease-and-desist letter. It was a choice and his statement left many questions unanswered. He declined requests to talk about it when it happened, and I wasn’t in Detroit to ask him then. So I asked about it yesterday… https://t.co/pQ9SZUZKha
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) August 27, 2026
“Why are you offended by me asking this?” Jhabvala wrote. “He sent his school a cease-and-desist letter. It was a choice and his statement left many questions unanswered. He declined requests to talk about it when it happened, and I wasn’t in Detroit to ask him then. So I asked about it yesterday AFTER asking multiple questions about Wednesday’s practice and after allowing everyone else to ask their questions about practice. You can say it doesn’t matter because it’s LSU, but it does. He’s the face of the franchise I cover, and his letter and dispute with LSU generated national attention, much of which you contributed to based on your feed.”
Jhabvala handled the situation in the exact way a reporter should. And considering the LSU story is much more prominent from a national perspective than anything having to do with what happened at Commanders practice, she exercised a healthy amount of discretion by asking about the cease-and-desist letter last.
This is a story Daniels brought upon himself by filing the cease-and-desist, and he should expect to face questions like this that are of national interest. Of course, he’s also well within his right not to answer those questions, which he opted to do.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.