Jayden Daniels misses practice with knee injury, but recent history leads to speculation that he may still play in Week 3
Jayden Daniels didn’t practice, but there’s still a chance he plays.
The biggest storyline for the Washington Commanders right now is the health of franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels. The team is preparing for a much-needed bounce-back win against the Las Vegas Raiders, but they don’t know who will start at quarterback on Sunday.
Daniels went down in the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers after taking many hits and came up limping with a sprained knee. Nobody is ruling Daniels out just yet, and if you look back to last year, Daniels could actually still be playing on Sunday.
Don’t count out Daniels
Daniels missed practice on Wednesday, and head coach Dan Quinn said that he did throw the ball and had a great rehab session. The team will assess him again on Friday and determine where he’s at, but we still may not have a true answer for his game status against the Raiders. They can wait until the last minute to announce it, like they did last season.
If it were up to me, I personally wouldn’t start Daniels with any kind of knee injury just to protect the franchise quarterback, but it’s up to the coaching staff and Daniels himself. We all know he’s the ultimate competitor, and he wants to be out there Sunday to battle through an injury just like he did last season.
Daniels suffered a rib injury against the Carolina Panthers, and he missed practice time because of it. We pretty much assumed he wouldn’t play against the Chicago Bears, but two hours before the game, they announced Daniels would start, which would lead to the most memorable finish of the season. This is a knee injury, though, and holds a lot more risk for long-term harm, even though Daniels did end up having broken ribs, as we would learn much later on.
Marcus Mariota is ready
If Daniels doesn’t play on Sunday, then veteran Marcus Mariota is the next guy up, and he’s very capable of winning games. The Commanders getting Mariota back in free agency was crucial, and now they may possibly lean on him to earn a much-needed win. Mariota fits the offense perfectly, and threw the ball effectively with 364 passing yards, four touchdowns, and no turnovers. He also showed off his legs with another 92 yards on the ground and a touchdown, and a big play against the Dallas Cowboys, before throwing the game-winner to Terry McLaurin.
We will learn more about Daniels’ status on Friday, but we probably won’t fully have an answer until Sunday, unless the team just rules him out on Friday, which they don’t have to do. My prediction is that Daniels doesn’t play, especially after Quinn said they want to be “smart, and not just fast” with his injury.
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