When the Washington Commanders decided late last week to keep starting quarterback Jayden Daniels sidelined for another week out of caution for the left elbow he dislocated two weeks ago in Dallas, it was a choice made from a position of relative luxury: in veteran Marcus Mariota, the Commanders had one of the best backup quarterbacks in the NFL, one who had just led them to a season-saving upset win over the defending Super Bowl champions the week before.
It is a luxury that now appears to have vanished — along with whatever momentum and good vibes carried over from last week — during Sunday’s dispiriting 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
With Mariota now lost for an undetermined amount of time thanks to a knee injury suffered on a sack late in Sunday’s first quarter (coach Dan Quinn said postgame that the team will know after tests Monday how long he’ll be out), the complex calculus governing Daniels’ return to action now carries an urgency and immediacy that didn’t exist before that fateful play.
The Commanders (1-3) no longer merely prefer that Daniels is able to return next week at home against the NFC East rival New York Giants. If there still any hope of salvaging this season, they absolutely, positively, 100 percent need him to.
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You typically don’t want decisions involving injured players to be influenced by positional need, particularly when it comes to your franchise quarterback, but in a brutal sport where legacies and jobs are riding on every game, the temptation is always to be aggressive. That’s not to suggest the Commanders would push Daniels to play before he’s ready, but in the absence of Mariota as a palatable plan B against the Giants, it would only be natural for the team’s sheer plight at the position to influence that calculus.
“That’s the hope for us for sure, Jay coming back [next week],” Quinn said. “He’ll have a full week of practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. That’s the goal that he could get into that space.”
It’s not as if third-stringer Athan Kaliakmanis, a rookie and seventh-round draft pick out of Rutgers, was a disaster when pressed into duty Sunday. He showed flashes of the big arm and the poise that attracted them to him in the first place, mixing in a handful of well-thrown deep balls among his 15-of-33, 186-yard, one-touchdown, one-interception performance against the Colts. He also had an apparent 87-yard touchdown to fellow rookie Antonio Williams called back for an illegal motion penalty.
“He showed a lot of confidence, some fearlessness,” Quinn said of Kaliakmanis. “I don’t think we did enough around him.”
But there is a reason seventh-rounders rarely turn into serviceable NFL quarterbacks, with the most prominent exceptions being Brock Purdy and Ryan Fitzpatrick. And if it turns out the Commanders harbor any doubts about Daniels’s readiness for Week 5, they would be smart to look into signing a stopgap veteran until he’s ready rather than rely on Kaliakmanis against the Giants.
Things got this bad for the Commanders on Sunday, who weren’t carrying a third quarterback on their active roster: For more than three quarters — with Daniels in a street clothes on the sideline, Mariota in the care of the team’s medical staff and Kaliakmanis absorbing some big hits in the pocket — they were one awkward fall away from seeing Colson Yankoff, a fourth-string tight end and special teams ace who had been a highly regarded quarterback prospect in high school, pressed into duty as their emergency signal-caller.
(Speaking of tight ends, that position was supposed to have been a strength for the Commanders this season following the signing of veteran Chig Okonkwo, who has three 50-catch seasons on his resume. But on Sunday, the entire tight end room was outgained in receiving yards by left tackle Brandon Coleman, who rumbled for 13 yards and a first down after hauling in a batted pass during the game’s waning moments.)
It certainly didn’t help either Mariota nor Kaliakmanis on Sunday that the Commanders’ offense was also without top wideout Terry McLaurin (hamstring), third-down back Rachaad White (shoulder) as well as their two top linemen, Laremy Tunsil (torn triceps, likely out for the season) and Sam Cosmi (concussion). A clean, clutch performance from the offense still might have made it a game down the stretch, but the Commanders torpedoed their own hopes with 10 penalties for 84 yards — a mix of inexcusable mistakes and questionable officiating — and a 3-for-19 showing on third- and fourth-down tries.
Daniels, in the meantime, prowled the sidelines Sunday, a sight that has become all too familiar these past two seasons, during which he has missed a total of 12 games. He wore a headset under his hood to listen in on the Commanders’ play-calls and a bulky elbow brace under his left sleeve, presumably to help him get used to wearing it on the field once he returns. He frequently sauntered over to Kaliakmanis between offensive series, offering support and encouragement.
“I think Jayden Daniels is the ultimate leader, coaching me throughout the entire game. That’s what a true pro looks like in my eyes,” Kaliakmanis told reporters. “He’s coaching me, giving me hints and stuff like that about the game, what the defense might be doing, play-call recommendations. I couldn’t be more thankful for a guy like that.”
The Commanders’ first-half schedule, meantime, is unrelenting. After the resurgent Giants on Sunday, they travel to San Francisco for a Monday night game against the 49ers in Week 6 before reaching their bye week. Finding a way to at least split those two games would seem to be the bare minimum requirement for keeping their season hopes alive — because coming out of the bye, they have the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams, both playoff teams last season.
“I really believe in these guys,” Quinn said. “I think a good fire’s been lit and it will stay lit. I have high expectations of what we can be, despite the start [to the season] we’ve had. It has not dampened my belief in them in any way. It is difficult to overcome some of the injuries. But I’m certain these are the right guys to battle for it.”
At 1-3, the Commanders’ season is on the edge of the same abyss it collapsed into in 2025, and for many of the same reasons. This time, thanks in large part to a defense that has been dependable for most of the past four weeks, there is still a defined pathway for them to put themselves in playoff contention by the time the schedule eases in the second half.
But it is a narrow and perilous pathway:
Get McLaurin and Cosmi back from injuries.
Clean up the penalties and the other mistakes.
And most importantly, pray that Daniels is healthy enough to get back on the field — without regard to how desperately the Commanders need him — and that once he’s back, he stays there.
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