ALLEN PARK >> There were a handful of talented running backs to enter the NFL in 2024, and Jayden Daniels might’ve had a better season running the football than almost all of them.

Daniels, the Washington Commanders’ rookie quarterback, finished the season ranked second in rushing yards (891) among all rookies and set the new record for rushing yards by a rookie quarterback. In this weekend’s divisional-round matchup, the Detroit Lions will have to be wary of Daniels’ scrambling ability as they look to lock up a spot in next weekend’s NFC Championship game.

“Man, he has taken this league by storm by some of the things that he can do,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said of Daniels.

Daniels is one of these new-age, do-it-all-type guys under center who can make defenses pay in a multitude of ways. It’s rare for a guy to possess Daniels’ rushing ability while entering the league with pinpoint precision as a passer. Daniels finished sixth among all quarterbacks this season in completion percentage (69%), the second-highest mark in NFL history for a rookie quarterback through 17 games.

But it’s the threat of his legs that makes the whole thing tick. Daniels has five games this season with 70-plus rushing yards, including an 88-yard performance — his second-highest total of the season — with two rushing touchdowns in Sunday’s playoff win. A few weeks prior, in Washington’s 30-24 overtime win against the Atlanta Falcons, Daniels put up a career-high 127 rushing yards.

“Running quarterbacks are hard … to defend, and it’s like, somebody tells you that, ‘We don’t handle running quarterbacks very well.’ Well, tell me the team that does,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said.

“We know we’ve got our hands full, but we’re going to have a plan in place, (Glenn is) going to have a hell of a plan, our guys are going to execute it, and you know what, he may make a run, he may pop a run or two. That’s just the nature of the game and the way that some of these guys are able to maneuver, but that doesn’t mean that you win the game.”

Glenn and Lions linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard have repeatedly talked about the negative impact of using a spy — a defensive player whose primary job is to sit beyond the line of scrimmage and wait for the quarterback to take off — and Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury articulated it again this week.

“They’re usually short a guy somewhere because of (the spy), and so Jayden, like we mentioned earlier, he’s so good at progressing through stuff that that really helps the passing game,” Kingsbury said. “If they’re not spying, he does a good job of feeling … when it’s time to take off and go. So to me, if they want to burn (a player) just spying him, then somebody’s gonna be open on the back end.”

Detroit has a slight reputation for struggling to contain scrambling quarterbacks, but that has mostly subsided in 2024, with the exception of a few outliers. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen rushed for 68 yards in a win against the Lions at Ford Field in Week 15, while Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson rushed for 61 yards on nine attempts in Week 12.

“If there’s a guy that really wants to escape to his right or to his left, you try not to let him escape that way for the most part, but as you see, this league is trending toward all these quarterbacks that are just so athletic that it’s hard for your defensive linemen to try to contain these guys,” Glenn said.

“So you have to do a lot as far as being disciplined in your rush, obviously sending more people at him so you can make sure you close up as many lanes as you can, and man, we try our best to do that.”

Against some of the game’s other top mobile quarterbacks, the Lions held their own. Brock Purdy (San Francisco 49ers), who torched the Lions with his mobility in last year’s NFC Championship, had just 12 rushing yards. Geno Smith (Seattle Seahawks) had just 38 rushing yards. Kyler Murray was limited to 45.

While some of those totals aren’t anything to write home about, they’re a massive departure from some of the numbers put up by players like Justin Fields and Lamar Jackson a season ago.

“We expect to do a really good job this week against Jayden,” Glenn said.