Week 3 of the NFL season features a doubleheader on Monday Night Football. The first game sees the Jacksonville Jaguars facing the Buffalo Bills at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Following that, at 8:15 p.m. ET, the Washington Commanders will go up against the Cincinnati Bengals on ABC.
This matchup between the Commanders and Bengals presents a rare occurrence for NFL fans: a game featuring two former LSU quarterbacks. Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, who won the Heisman Trophy and the national championship with LSU in 2019, will compete against Washington rookie Jayden Daniels, the Heisman winner in 2023 and the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Historically, this will be the fifth instance of two former LSU quarterbacks facing off in the NFL, with previous matchups occurring between the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Colts in 1980 and 1981. In those games, former Tigers Bert Jones and David Woodley represented Baltimore and Miami, respectively. They battled four times over two seasons, with Miami winning three of those encounters. It’s been nearly 43 years since a similar matchup has taken place.
A total of thirteen LSU quarterbacks have completed at least 50 passes in the NFL, with Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle being the trailblazer after entering the league in 1948. Alongside Burrow and Daniels, the list includes ten other players who have seen NFL action.
In the NFL, it’s quite common for quarterbacks from the same college to meet on the field. A notable recent matchup occurred in last year’s NFC Wild Card playoff game that featured former Oklahoma quarterbacks Jalen Hurts of Philadelphia and Baker Mayfield of Tampa Bay. Currently, seven colleges can boast having multiple starting quarterbacks in the NFL.