Pro Football Rumors
The Commanders were just beginning to enjoy the return of quarterback Jayden Daniels after a two-week absence earlier in the season, but they may be looking at another absence in Daniels’ sophomore campaign. Daniels was knocked out of today’s game in Dallas with a hamstring injury, and there’s a chance the injury could affect him long term.
After playing through fractured ribs in his rookie season, Daniels has spent quite of bit of his sophomore campaign working to get healthy. He first appeared on the injury report in Week 2 with a reported injury to the wrist on his throwing hand. He would play in that game, but he would come away from it with a knee sprain that would cause him to miss two games. Daniels was able to return to the field, though, and continued to look like his usual, mobile self.
Things took a turn in today’s loss to the Cowboys, when linebacker Shemar James strip sacked him, and Daniels was left on the ground grabbing at the back of his leg. The team took Daniels straight to the blue medical tent to be evaluated, and he was eventually seen jogging to the locker room. While seeing him put active weight on it seemed a good sign, he was soon diagnosed with a hamstring injury and listed as questionable to return, getting ruled out for the rest of the game 30 minutes later.
There may be nothing to fret about yet, but the team has scheduled an MRI for Monday in order to determine the severity of Daniels’ injury, per JP Finlay of NBC Sports. The fact that they find an MRI necessary at all could be cause for concern. If bad enough, hamstring injuries can easily require multi-week recoveries, which means Daniels could be in danger of missing even more time this year.
If the MRI brings back unfortunate results, Washington does employ one of the league’s more formidable backup quarterbacks. By the time Marcus Mariota entered today’s game, a 41-15 deficit was too much to overcome. Earlier in the season, though, Mariota split his two spot starts, winning big against the Raiders at home but losing by a touchdown in Atlanta. In those two starts, he completed just under 65 percent of his pass attempts for three touchdowns and an interception. He added another touchdown on the ground, along with 60 yards on eight carries.
Washington will hope for the best news to come out of tomorrow’s MRI, but either way, they will have a quarterback who can give them a chance to win games. With a 3-4 record and a daunting three-game stretch on the horizon, there’s very little room for error if the Commanders want to make the playoffs. We’ll likely find out over the next couple of days whether or not it will be Daniels behind center for a Monday night trip to Kansas City followed by back-to-back home games against the Seahawks and Lions.
