Jayden Daniels' week doesn't get off to the start he wants heading into Bears matchup
The Washington Commanders (5-2) are heading into a big matchup against the Chicago Bears (4-2) and naturally, everyone is keeping up with/monitoring Jayden Daniels' health.Daniels was listed as week-to-week by Commanders head coach Dan Quinn on Monday, so the odds of the rookie sensation playing against the Bears aren't great to begin with. However, Quinn […]
The Washington Commanders (5-2) are heading into a big matchup against the Chicago Bears (4-2) and naturally, everyone is keeping up with/monitoring Jayden Daniels' health.
Daniels was listed as week-to-week by Commanders head coach Dan Quinn on Monday, so the odds of the rookie sensation playing against the Bears aren't great to begin with. However, Quinn hasn't ruled him out for Sunday's game and he's letting the week "navigate" the decision.
Daniels is the ultimate competitor and one of the hardest working players in the NFL, so if it were up to him, he'd be on the practice field as soon as Wednesday. He was unable to practice, though, per Quinn. It's definitely not the start he wants, but as mentioned, the door isn't completely closed on playing Chicago.
"He won't practice today," Quinn told reporters Wednesday. "He'll continue all the meetings and our individual stuff… but he'll get the treatment today, and then he'll continue to progress, you know, through today and tomorrow. And I'll update you guys after Friday's practice, and we'll kind of go from there….
"… That'll be the key going through the week, [can he] be him, you know, fully turned up."
It's simply a matter of how healthy Daniels is. He doesn't need the practice reps, per se, but he does need to show that his body can handle at least parts of practice that equate to being able to play in a game. He's obviously not getting hit throughout the week, so that part will remain unknown until he actually gets on the field, but there are still things he can do throughout the week that show it's at least OK to trot him out against the Bears.
"[The] good news for him, is there's a lot of banked reps, a lot of plays," said Quinn. "And so for us, there's not, you know, 50 new plays that go in every game. So there's a lot of banked reps on the things that he's done exceptionally well. Some plays, you guys have seen, being at practice, that other people haven't. So those are still banked reps, but they may be new to the opponent, but they're not new to us."
As expected, we won't have a solid idea of what's going to happen until the end of the week, but Wednesday's update is still significant, as the ball is now rolling when it comes to whether or not Daniels plays against the Bears in Week 8.
