LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels inks NIL deal with Raising Cane's

Nakos updated headshotby:Pete Nakos08/13/23

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LSU QB Jayden Daniels Interview from SEC Media Days

Jayden Daniels got his first taste of the SEC last year.

Now the quarterback has LSU ready to compete for a College Football Playoff berth. The Tigers made the SEC Championship Game, but Daniels aggravated a right ankle injury as they lost to Georgia by 20. They’re now ranked No. 5 in the Preseason USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll, primed for another run in the SEC West.

Before LSU opens the season Labor Day weekend at Florida State, Daniels has signed a signature NIL deal. The senior has entered into a partnership with the Baton Rouge-based Raising Cane’s. The fast-food chicken finger chain has become a popular brand in the NIL Era, inking notable agreements with Stetson Bennett, Trey Benson, the Cavinder Twins and Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson.

“Nothing I like better than touchdowns and chicken fingers,” Daniels wrote in an Instagram post.

Bennett, Reese and Johnson all held events at Raising Cane’s in their college towns after winning national championships in their respective sport. LSU baseball players held a similar event in June after claiming the program’s seventh College World Series crown.

With more than 700 Raising Cane’s locations across the country, Baton Rouge has become a mainstay. Daniels will now promote the brand throughout the season. A former Arizona State transfer, the quarterback has a 68.6 percent completion rate on 388 attempts. With just three interceptions and 17 touchdown passes, he averaged 4.8 yards per carry and 11 scores in the rushing game.

A former four-star recruit, he’s now in his second year in LSU offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock‘s offense. Daniels’ top target Malik Nabers is also back; the 6-foot, 190-pound receiver racked up 1,017 receiving yards with 72 receptions.

Jayden Daniels’ massive On3 NIL Valuation

The quarterback holds a $566,000 On3 NIL Valuation, which sits at No. 78 in the college football NIL rankings. His valuation is No. 78  in the NIL 100, which is the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

Part of his major On3 NIL Valuation is made up from a strong social media following. Jayden Daniels has amassed more than 97,000 followers. A strong start to the season could easily put him over 100K. He previously inked an endorsement deal with Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys. One of the most active figures in NIL, McKernan hasn’t generated as much national attention as Miami mega-booster John Ruiz and LifeWallet. But McKernan and his firm have struck significant NIL deals with top student-athletes at all of the top college programs in Louisiana.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value

While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.