![\"Jayden](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/washington-commanders-v-dallas-cowboys-arlington-texas-september-20-jayden-daniels-3-e1790106462632..jpeg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. <\/p>\n
The Washington Commanders<\/a> are dealing with a harsh reality at quarterback \u2014 it\u2019s hard to argue that starter Jayden Daniels<\/a> isn\u2019t injury-prone after he missed 10 games in 2025 and is now facing time off after a dislocated elbow suffered in a Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget Daniels also missed 1 game in 2024 \u2014 essentially \u2014 when he suffered a shot to the ribs and left the game after the first offensive series of a win over the Carolina Panthers<\/a>.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Ben Solak thinks<\/a> everything points toward the Commanders creating a backup plan that could very well lead to a new starting quarterback in 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cI might think \u2026 the Commanders will have a new starting quarterback in 2027,\u201d Solak wrote on September 22. \u201cI\u2019ll know what I actually think when we get real news about Jayden Daniels\u2019 elbow injury. He\u2019s getting imaging and multiple opinions over this week. But Daniels missed 10 games last year. If he misses 15 games this year, I don\u2019t see how the Commanders don\u2019t consider a young, developmental investment in QB2. They won\u2019t give up on Daniels. If he\u2019s healthy, he\u2019ll get the 2027 Week 1 start, and they\u2019ll do everything they can to recapture his 2024 magic<\/a> (and availability). But the Commanders will have to have a better long-term view at QB2 than Mariota. Anthony Richardson<\/a> Sr., anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n Suggesting Richardson is an insult \u2014 and probably tongue-in-cheek \u2014 but with 1 of the best crops of college quarterbacks set for the 2027 NFL<\/a> Draft, it\u2019s definitely something to consider.<\/p>\n Commanders Moving Forward With Marcus Mariota<\/p>\n The Commanders will turn to Marcus Mariota<\/a>, who is in his 3rd season as Daniels\u2019 backup and was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft \u2014 Daniels was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n The Commanders seemed cooked before Daniels got hurt and, if you were being a true optimist, saying he was their only hope would have been your take.<\/p>\n Now? Now things could get really ugly. The winless Commanders face the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cMarcus Mariota is expected to start on Sunday, and I would expect him to start multiple games,\u201d NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport said<\/a> on Tuesday morning. \u201cThe Commanders are hopeful that Jayden Daniels doesn\u2019t have to go on Injured Reserve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pair of NFC East Starters Went Down in Week 2<\/p>\n Daniels also wasn\u2019t the only NFC East quarterback to go down in Week 2. New York Giants<\/a> starter Jaxson Dart suffered what could be a season-ending knee injury in a Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>. He\u2019ll be replaced by Jameis Winston<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing the injuries to Jaxson Dart and Jayden Daniels, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota once again find themselves as starting QBs in the NFL,\u201d DraftKings Sports wrote<\/a> on its official X account. \u201cThe No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks in the 2015 NFL Draft are starting over a decade after entering the league.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, and the entire NFC East Division. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. The Washington Commanders are dealing with a harsh reality at quarterback \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1007969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,855,111,2480],"class_list":["post-1007968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117316485741566549","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1007969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}