1:03am: A bit of overnight clarity has emerged here. Daniels is believed to have sustained a dislocated left elbow, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. While the star quarterback is not certain to be done for the season, Schefter notes he is out indefinitely. An MRI is scheduled for Monday.
11:10pm: Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels appeared to suffer a significant left arm injury in Sunday night’s game against the Seahawks.
Team medical staff quickly put an air cast on Daniels’ arm. The cart came out onto the field, but he was able to walk off under his own power. Head coach Dan Quinn confirmed in his postgame presser that Daniels injured his left elbow and said that he would provide an update once he knows more.
Despite a 38-7 deficit in the fourth quarter, Daniels was still in the game when a sack by Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas caused his elbow to bend in an unnatural direction. Quinn will surely get criticized for leaving his star quarterback in the game, especially if Daniels’ injury results in an extended absence
Backup Marcus Mariota finished the game, a loss that drops the Commanders to 3-6. Their playoff chances are now just 5%, according to The Athletic, and if Daniels is sidelined, their odds will be even slimmer. Missing the postseason would be a disappointing result for a Commanders squad that made a surprise run to the NFC championship game last season and seemed poised to build on that success this year.
The 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year, Daniels headlined a deep quarterback class by soaring to the top rookie award on his side of the ball. He then piloted the Commanders to the conference title game, the franchise’s first appearance since its 1991 Super Bowl-winning season. The follow-up effort has skidded well off track.
Daniels entered Sunday night having missed time because of two previous injuries this season. Missing Week 8 with a hamstring injury, Daniels was down in Weeks 3 and 4 because of a knee malady. The Commanders have not used IR on their starting QB yet, but it would not surprise — especially after the team lost its sixth game — to see him moved off the roster to foster a smooth recovery. The team re-signed Mariota on a one-year, $8MM deal this offseason. After zero starts in 2024, the 11th-year veteran will almost definitely be needed for another QB1 stint.
Crazy that he was still out there given the score and his injury history. I’d imagine he’s going to be out a significant amount of time if not the rest of the season, even though it was his non-throwing arm. That looked bad.
Down 38-7 in the fourth quarter, he shouldn’t have been on the field. Even if you make the score closer, it’s risk versus potential reward. Scoring there touchdowns in a quarter is a lot to ask, and that still would have left them down 10 points. I wouldn’t do it publicly but, if I’m the owner, someone is going to be explaining that decision to me tomorrow morning.
I agree. Quinn did a great job last year but given where they are this year (now 3-6 with a tough remaining schedule), the decision to have Daniels still out there would have me thinking about firing him. Unless Mariota balls out, this injury effectively ends their season. Daniels was already nursing a hamstring injury, why is he on the field?
To be fair it’s likely their season was done anyways. Still shouldn’t have had Daniels out there though.
Quinn gets credit for a great job last year with a QB that defenses didn’t know a thing about and he excelled……different story this year with an old team, chock full of old guys who’s best days were played for somebody else, and defenses are reminding this kid that when they tackle him, its gonna hurt…..
He decided to run, that is on him. They didn’t call a qb run, they called a pass
He should not have been on the field to even make that decision. He wasn’t even 100% to begin with and there was no chance they were going to make a comeback. He’s their franchise QB. Coaching malpractice to even have him out there. You have Mariota for a reason.
Has nothing to do with it….the first comment was right….a pass was called and he took off trying to re-live last year when he caught defenses by surprise….the surprise is on him this year and those big defensive guys are reminding him that all in all the cumulative hurt they put on him when tackled is gonna hurt….RGIV
He shouldn’t have been out there to make the decision in the first place.
That was brutal
I didn’t see the game live but just saw it on replay. That was absolutely brutal indeed. Good thing it wasn’t his throwing arm, but it still will put him out for a while.
Yeah it was bent like a boomerang. Hope he’s ok he’s fun to watch
They replayed it. His bone was poking through the skin
Dudes cooked this year. Thank god it was not his throwing arm
Through *against
damn sucks . he’s a good QB but his injuries are building up and he will end up getting injury prone tab like Tua
Almost as stomach churning as Joe Theismans leg. They should be taught how to take a wrestling slam. Spread your back out flat as possible to spread the impact, and tuck your head to avoid concussions. Throwing an arm out is never a good idea, and doing so while a 300 lbs man is about to land on you is going to be a disaster. I hope he’s going to be okay, but man it looked bad when it happened.
In my best Randy Macho Man Savage voice: “Wrestling slam…OH YEEEAH!”
I wonder how much they didn’t play Jayden in the preseason factored into keeping him out there during the blowout. It was as if they wanted him to get more live reps since he had also missed significant time due to his previous injuries this season. In retrospect, it certainly seemed crazy to have kept him on the field so late in this loss. The Commanders atrocious defense is another major area of concern.
Where are all the people who said that Daniels was so much better than Caleb last year? Funny how a year makes a whole lot of difference in the NFL.
He was much better last year, and he’s probably still better this year, he’s just consistently injured (which is something a lot of people that were lower on him coming out, had legit concerns about). Daniels can be good and Caleb can be encouraging, it’s not either or.
hard to credit them saying its a “legitimate” concern when they just say that about every QB who is black and can run.
You do realize the qb that he’s being compared to in the original comment is black and can run? Stop being racist.
Caleb’s stock went up after Chicago won that shootout in Cincinnati. May go up even more if Da Bears handle the Giants as expected.
Two of the worst defenses were exposed in that game so I don’t think anyone’s stock should improve much.
The game never should have been even close. The Bengals got their first ten points gifted to them by the Bears Special Teams. Then the Bears missed 2 FG’s that were makeable( Sorry but Cairo gotta go). Then for some reason that totally escapes me, Hightower had Hardy on the onside all “Hands” team at the crucial moment. Even the announcers were calling the plays when Allen inexplicably left the whole middle of the field open for the whole last quarter. It really didn’t take a genius like Sheldon Cooper to see that the last team that had the ball was going to win. Bears couldn’t stop the pass. Bengals couldn’t stop the run. Thought I was watching a Madden game between two ten year olds. Woody Johnson would have been proud.
The RB won that game for the Bears, not Williams. He still had times where’s he’s throwing the ball all over the field and running for his life. He still sucks in the red zone. Using trick plays to score a TD because your QB can’t is sad. Bears record isn’t indicative of how good they are since they’re playing weak Ds like NO, DAL, and Cincy. They got lucky beating the Raiders. Darnold put on a show last night. Williams is not even in the same ballpark as him. I’m rooting for Williams to succeed, but you gotta be realistic with his play.
He’s had 8 games with a decent coach. The irony is that Eberlose could have hired the guy who ended up being Daniels OC( Kingsbury) and opted for Waldron instead. And as stupid as Eberlose is the fact is if Stevenson hadn’t been talking to some chick in the stands and had been playing football Williams should still be 2-0 against your hero. Have a nice day.
If Caleb Williams went down with a similar injury, no one on the Bears team is upset like the Washington players were last night.
That might be the dumbest comment I’ve read here and that’s saying something.
You seem to have two issues unclemike, one with timing and another with observation.
When you OBSERVE Caleb Williams leading the Bears to a playoff berth and then making an NFC championship game, then it will be TIME to have this discussion. Until then, Jayden Daniels will be universally recognized as a more successful QB than Caleb Williams.
Instead of shouting at everyone from this tiny little hill you stand alone on, I’d really focus on finishing the season above .500…. The Bears previous disaster at QB, Justin Fields, also scored a bunch of points on the Bengals with no Garrett Wilson.
No you just put Daniels on a pedestal last year without being able to think about just how lucky they were last year. While Caleb got saddled with Eberlose and his parade of terrible offensive coaches( Well all his coaches in general really) and how many games Eberlose himself cost the team with his moronic decisions and game management, You’d have to be an idiot to still think one is really any better than the other. The facts are they are 1-1 against each other no matter what kind of home spin and dumb comments you want to make. Have a nice day.
Jayden Daniels reads the field as well as any QB in the NFL, including the best vets. Brady read the field better. It’s incredible in a rookie (he was doing it last year).
The Commies/Redskins coaching staff deserve to be pilloried for running such a slight QB so regularly. They promised to stop doing so last year when Daniels was injured. They’ve gone back to their bad ways again to try to save their season (and their jobs). And instead, they’ve put the future of the franchise in danger.
In fairness, in the off-season the GM did trade for one of the top five left tackles in the NFL. The trade was too expensive to my taste in picks for Tunsil’s age and for the salary, it would have been better to buy a free agent with no picks. Still, it happened. And then the Commies spent their top draft pick on a right tackle. At some point someone had a plan.
When Daniels was injured early this year and the defense fell apart, it would have made a lot more sense to play Mariota most of the season and only let Daniels back on the field when he’s really healthy and the Commies coaches came up with an alternate game plan which would protect Daniels. Not the current hero ball.
In short, Jayden Daniels is indeed head and shoulders above Caleb Williams as a prospect. Durability does have its own value and Williams may become a Baker Mayfield level talent. Daniels may have no future unless his coaches account for his build and stop building a QB run first offense.
How QB’s do in the NFL has as much to do with their coaches and their offensive line. Look at how Sam Darnold was broken on the NYJ and how Kevin O’Connell managed to put him back together again to the point Darnold plays very decent ball on his own in Seattle. Darnold is still shell-shocked from those NYJ years as the end of last season showed.
I absolutely do not see Caleb as a better QB than Jayden. Healthier this year? Absolutely. I was truly shocked that Caleb made that throw yesterday to win the game. I was watching maybe the first two downs when they were down and needed to come back and Caleb looked like a train wreck, not seeing anything, happy feet, scrambling and waiting for something to open up because I dont think he sees the field too well or cant see the guy who is going to get open. Similar to RG3 in his waiting for guys to get wide open and lack of accountability that its a flaw in his game. Then he would rather hold the ball and get sacked than let it impact his stats. Does not want to risk throwing an INT to try to win the game. Would rather have a nice TD to INT ratio and completion % and lose. He has not been a winner, more of a stat preserver.
I’d say he is below average in accuracy. In college he was inaccurate. What he has is a strong arm and an ability to scramble and extend plays. But it doesn’t matter if he throws it so many mph and avoided a sack if he misses the guy. Think his skill set was too highly regarded around draft time. Also dont think his personality was seen as a drawback but I think it is.
He and his father were quick to blame previous coaches but I think it was more him than he is willing to admit. Again, similar to RG3. I think the success he is having this year, which is not phenomenal, is a product of having one of the top 3 top 5 offensive minds in the sport. But I think even with that Johnson does not trust him or feel he is his kind of guy. I have noticed at times Johnson wants to rely on the run game instead of relying on Caleb and his arm and decision-making.
I’d say in that class Drake is the best QB, Jayden is 2 even though being able to stay healthy is a big part of how you rank. Time will tell. I am not ready to put Caleb at 3 yet. Tools, ability, different thing. How good of a QB he is, another thing. I mean I wonder if Rattler was in Chicago with Oduze and Moore and Ben Johnson, if he could shine. I could see all of Nix McCarthy Penix as better QBs than Caleb in time. Not saying they will but wont be surprised.
Sure don’t need ESPN to confirm the injury, really!
Rg3 vibes
RG4
Said it before….everybody was putting him in the HOF based on his first year (last year) performance when defenses didn’t game plan for him and he looked like a rival for GOAT…this year a far different story…defenses are ready for his tendencies, his line isn’t holding up for him, he’s got older players all around him, and when he does get tackled to sacked, the big guys are reminding him he’s basically a very little guy…..yeh…RG IV with that offense……didn’t learn a thing…
Jaxson Dart is next if he keeps taking all those hits.