The Washington Commanders are shutting down quarterback Jayden Daniels for the remainder of the season and turning to backup Marcus Mariota for the final three games.
Daniels’ second NFL season was limited to seven starts because of injuries to his knee, hamstring, and, most recently, left elbow. He dislocated the elbow in Week 9 against the Seattle Seahawks and aggravated it in his first game back, a 31-0 shutout loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Mariota has started every game in Daniels’ absence, including the team’s 29-21 win over the Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
NFL Network was the first to report the Commanders’ decision to sit Daniels.
Coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters informed Daniels, as well as Mariota, of the decision Monday afternoon. It was made based on the totality of the circumstances — the team’s elimination from playoff contention and the fact that Daniels has yet to be cleared for contact and may not have been cleared in time for Saturday’s game against the Eagles.
Quinn said Daniels was disappointed with the decision, but also understood it. He also felt strongly that he didn’t want to be placed on injured reserve and not be able to practice.
Jayden Daniels will not be placed on IR. According to Quinn, that piece was important to Daniels; he wanted to still be able to practice.
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) December 15, 2025
The team then plays on Christmas Day in Week 17, making for another short week for Daniels to be medically cleared to play.
“It was a lot — part medical and part team,” Quinn said of factors that went into the team’s decision. “… We believe this decision allows him to take advantage of the next few weeks in a different way. He wants to practice and he will practice. He also wants to support Marcus in a way that Marcus has demonstrated and helped him.”
After a 12-5 season that ended with an NFC Championship game appearance and rookie of the year honors for Daniels, his second year with the Commanders has been a gross disappointment for the team. He is one of two dozen players — most of whom are starters or key reserves — to have missed game time because of injuries, leaving Washington’s already thin roster totally depleted. Washington’s defense has been disastrous for much of the season — missed tackles, blown coverages, big plays allowed — contributing to an eight-game slide that finally ended last Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Asked if Daniels would’ve played in the final three games if the Commanders were, say, 10-4 instead of 4-10, Quinn responded: “We’re not, so we didn’t have that discussion.”
But the victory came after the team set a new low with a “baffling” and “unacceptable” loss to the Vikings, as Quinn described it.
Daniels completed only nine of 20 pass attempts for 78 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception (which resulted in him aggravating his elbow), and a career-low 35.0 passer rating.
He left the game in the third quarter after getting picked off by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel in the Vikings’ red zone. Daniels chased after Van Ginkel to try to tackle him on the return, but was shoved by Isaiah Rodgers and landed hard on his left arm.
Daniels writhed in pain for a few seconds before popping up and heading to the sideline, where he was met by the team’s doctor and athletic trainers. Mariota finished out the game, throwing another pick shortly after taking over.
Washington’s losses and especially the way the team has lost have been baffling after such a successful first season under Quinn.
The strengths of the 2024 team — situations, details, strong quarterback play, good health, clutch play in the final minutes — turned into glaring weaknesses for this year’s team.
Last year, Daniels suffered a broken rib but didn’t miss any starts. This year, his injuries — a knee sprain in Week 2, a hamstring strain in Week 7, the dislocated elbow in Week 9 and aggravation of the elbow injury in Week 14 — have cost him most of the season: seven full games, plus parts of three others.
“It’s been a lot of adversity, but I’m young in my career and something that I got to battle through,” he said earlier this month, prior to the Minnesota loss. “You go through adversity at some point, so however you approach it and try to weather the storm and come out and see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Throughout it all, Quinn was steadfast that returning to play, when healthy, was important for Daniels, in part so he could learn how to protect himself without compromising aggressiveness as a passer and runner.
But after the team’s loss to the Vikings, Quinn backed off on that a bit. He had to weigh the risks vs. the rewards. Another injury could cost Daniels and the team — possibly more than the remaining game reps could provide him at this point.
“Injuries, when you have three different ones and the fourth one is an aggravation, it would mess with anybody,” Quinn told The Athletic late last week when asked if he believed the injuries and losses shook Daniels’ confidence. “What I can say is confidence-wise, he’s strong, we’re strong. But there’s a lot of growth and development that needs to happen, for sure. That’s what I was hopeful (for) going back, like, ‘Okay, let’s use this, but here’s the one thing that can’t happen.’ And that’s the part that’s frustrating for sure.”
Daniels finished his season with a 60.6 percent completion rate (down from 69.0 percent last season), 1,262 passing yards, eight passing touchdowns, three interceptions and an 88.1 passer rating. He also ran the ball 58 times for 278 yards and two touchdowns.
As he begins to turn the page to 2026, the Commanders will turn to Mariota to close out their final stretch of divisional games: a home game against the Eagles on Saturday, a home matchup against the Cowboys on Christmas Day, and a road meeting against the Eagles to seal it.
“At the end, a great season doesn’t make a career,“ Quinn said of Daniels. “This year also doesn’t make a career. The thing that excites me is we’re going to set him up to be great for a long time. That did not happen this season for him and for us, but I got a lot of confidence that he will, just based on how we’ll go about it and train him. But to say it got off-course, no doubt about it.”