‘Job’s not finished’: How Jayden Daniels is seemingly drawing inspiration from Kobe Bryant

Washington Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels is enjoying one of the more successful seasons of any first-year signal-caller in recent memory.

He guided the Commanders to a 12-5 record in the regular season and then a pair of playoff victories over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions.

As a result, he is playing in his very first NFC title game on Sunday, with Washington taking on the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s the Commanders’ first conference championship game since all the way back in the 1991 season.

Amid Daniels’ special season in the NFL, former Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III explained how the 24-year-old might be taking a page out of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant’s playbook.

“Well the one thing I love about Jayden is his humility,” Griffin said of the Commanders quarterback. “And I talk to him every single week. I don’t talk to him for extended periods of time. I don’t bog him down. But we talk about this one thing: job’s not finished. Kobe Bryant is one of his favorite players of all time in the NBA, and he is on a mission. And the thing I think is his special secret sauce right now is he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, right?”

Bryant dropped a legendary quote during the 2009 NBA Finals between the Lakers and Orlando Magic after the Lakers won Game 2 by five points to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

When talking to the media after the win, Bryant was asked whether he was happy about being ahead 2-0 in the championship series, and the late Lakers guard provided an iconic response.

“What’s there to be happy about?” Bryant asked. “Job’s not finished. Job finished? I don’t think so.”

The Lakers went on to win that NBA Finals matchup against Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and company in five games, and Bryant was named Finals MVP after he averaged 32.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game in the series.

Earlier this week, Daniels spoke about Bryant, who was ironically an Eagles fan.

Daniels is looking to have a Bryant-like clutch showing as the Commanders take on the Eagles in unfriendly territory, and he might need to have a signature performance if Washington wants to advance to the Super Bowl.

The Eagles were one of the more dominant teams in the league at home during the regular season, losing just once on their home field. The Eagles also won home playoff games against the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 12 and Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 19.