The Commanders could be even more short-handed than expected with recent injury updates to key players with big roles to fill
The Commanders are a banged up team right now.
It’s early in the season, but the Washington Commanders are one of the many banged-up teams in the league right now. We already know about Austin Ekeler and Deatrich Wise missing the rest of the season with major injuries, but we’ve been waiting on updates with a lot of other key players.
We finally got an update on Monday from head coach Dan Quinn, and the team could be short-handed come Sunday. Starting quarterback Jayden Daniels has a sprained knee and is in doubt for Sunday, but two other starters on offense will unlikely play, according to Quinn.
Noah Brown and John Bates updates
Losing Daniels for a week is already a big blow, but adding wide receiver Noah Brown and tight end John Bates to it really puts the offense behind if Marcus Mariota is the quarterback come Sunday. Bates and Brown both left the game and never returned, and Quinn said both are “long shots” to play against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“Yeah, I think it’s a long shot,” Quinn said. “But we’ll have to find out when we get through Wednesday and where we’re at. Both of them had soft tissue injuries, and we’ll just see what it looks like as we get through Wednesday, but we’re still assessing him and John [Jones] and Jayden [Daniels] as well. So those are the four that it’s too early to call for me. And so, once we get in, we’ll get together on Wednesday and have a better discussion for that.”
Brown is the third-best wide receiver on the team, but he’s been dealing with a handful of injuries since last season, and even had a knee injury heading into the season. The Commanders desperately need another wide receiver to step up from a depth piece to a real contributor. Bates’ absence can’t be stressed enough. He’s easily one of the best blocking tight ends in the league, and as we saw last week, we need him on the field to help out in the run game and in pass protection as well with a struggling offensive line.
Next man up
The Commanders desperately need Jaylin Lane or Luke McCaffrey to step up as the next option in the wide receiver room with Brown out. The team already called up Chris Moore, and they should do the same with Ja’Corey Brooks as well. Bates is impossible to replace, but Ben Sinnott and Colson Yankoff can block, and maybe earn a small role in the passing game as well.
Possibly losing Daniels for Sunday’s game is already a rough start to the week, and it won’t be any easier for whoever plays with Brown and Bates, very likely out for at least a week. The Commanders looked rough against the Packers and desperately need a bounce-back win against the Raiders to fix the vibes.
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