Pro Football Rumors
The Commanders have a potential franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels and a solid second-stringer in Marcus Mariota, putting them in good shape at the game’s most important position. The team’s only QB-related drama this summer will center on the No. 3 job. Sam Hartman and Athan Kaliakmanis are vying for the role, per John Keim of ESPN.
Hartman, a former Wake Forest and Notre Dame starter, has been on and off Washington’s practice squad since he signed as an undrafted free agent in 2024. The 6-foot-1, 209-pounder has yet to get into a regular-season game. During his most recent in-game action last preseason, he completed just 25 of 46 passes for 207 yards and four interceptions over three contests.
The Commanders liked Kaliakmanis enough to take him in the seventh round (No. 233 overall) of this year’s draft. Kaliakmis began his college career in 2022 at Minnesota, where he became a full-time starter in his second season. However, after a 14-touchdown, nine-interception showing, he transferred to Rutgers in 2024.
Kaliakmanis was a two-year starter as a member of the Scarlet Knights, with whom he connected on 57.9% of attempts, threw for 5,820 yards (the seventh-most in school history), and tossed 38 TDs against 14 picks over 25 games. The 6-2, 216-pounder showed off improved mechanics and pocket presence as a senior, per The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who wrote before the draft that Kaliakmanis “should have a legitimate chance” to earn a roster spot this summer.
No team in the league wants to start a third-string passer, but the Commanders had to resort to it last season. They saw Daniels miss 10 games during an injury-wrecked second year, and Mariota also didn’t get through the season without issue. He was out with hand and quad injuries in Week 17, which forced Washington to start journeyman Josh Johnson in a Christmas Day loss to the Cowboys. The Commanders hope they won’t have to turn to a No. 3 signal-caller again this season, but if they do, it could be either Hartman or Kaliakmanis.
Elsewhere on Washington’s roster, a battle between kickers Jake Moody and Drew Stevens will also take place in the next couple of months. Stevens, a four-time All-Big Ten selection at Iowa, joined the Commanders as an undrafted free agent. Before then, the Bills and Titans showed interest in signing Stevens, he told Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic. Stevens saw a better opportunity in Washington.
“They’re paying Tyler Bass a gazillion dollars in Buffalo, so that’d be probably harder,” Stevens said.
Bass, who took a pay cut in early March, will count $3.05MM against the Bills’ cap this season. It is anyone’s guess what he will provide after missing all of 2025 with hip and groin problems. The Bills signed Matt Prater as his replacement days before the regular season began. Even though Prater sunk 18 of 20 field goals and hit 46 of 49 extra points as a Bill, the 41-year-old has gone unsigned since free agency opened...
