Jayden Daniels did not miss a game during his rookie season and was on the field for the first two contests of the Commanders’ 2025 schedule. His streak of availability has now come to an end, however. 
Daniels suffered a knee sprain in Washington’s Week 2 loss, leaving his status in doubt for the team’s upcoming game against the Raiders. The reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. He did take part on a limited basis this morning, but to little surprise head coach Dan Quinn ruled him out shortly thereafter (h/t Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic).
With Daniels unavailable, Marcus Mariota will get the start for Week 3. The veteran will have Josh Johnson in place as his backup against Vegas. Mariota handled first-team reps during practice this week in preparation for his first start as a Commander. The former No. 2 pick spent last season in the nation’s capital but played only 100 snaps filling in for Daniels.
Mariota will make his 75th career regular season start on Sunday. The game will allow him to play against one of his former teams, as the 31-year-old spent the 2020 and ’21 campaigns with Vegas. Following that Raiders stint, Mariota started for the Falcons over a 13-game stretch before being benched; he then spent one year as the Eagles’ backup before signing with Washington.
That $6MM pact was followed up by an $8MM one in March. Mariota took a one-year deal both times, so he is a pending free agent. Needless to say, his market value will be largely dictated by his performances while handling QB1 duties. How long Mariota remains atop the depth chart will be an interesting story to follow.
Quinn said a cautious approach will be taken with Daniels as he recovers. Especially given the timing of his injury, the 1-1 team will no doubt engage in a slow-moving process with its franchise quarterback while looking to repeat last year’s deep postseason run. Daniels will be a major factor in that effort, but only after retuning to game action.
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Mariota sometimes plays with a hot hand. Let’s see how he does. If Mariota is playing well, there’s nothing wrong with postponing Daniels’s career for half a season.
The main priority should be not to play Daniels injured and put his entire career at risk (echoes of rookie RGIII playing injured in the playoffs, as rookie Daniels did last year).
Trusting in Mariota would be a mistake. This is a great opportunity for that obscure RB they drafted in the 7th round to get some notice. Perhaps he can be another Chris Carson.
Mariota is the backup quarterback. The Commies still have Jayden Daniels. It’s just that letting Mariota play as many games as he’s good for gives Daniels more time to recover. Daniels should still be coming to practice and doing film work, just not taking the game time hits while that ankle is still tender. Bandaging Daniels up with a clubfoot and injecting the ankle full of novocaine would be a huge mistake.
KK needs to come up with a new gameplan for Jayden Daniels which does not make him a second halfback. Mobility is great, surprise (rare) QB runs are a calculated risk but running QB means no QB for half the season, unless you have Cam Newton, Josh Allen or Justin Herbert (these are all very big men, solidly built).
Mariota is a quitter