Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels incurred a left knee injury Thursday, leaving his status for Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders in doubt, Commanders coach Dan Quinn said Monday.
Quinn did not specify the injury, but sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Daniels has a knee sprain. Quinn said Daniels is “day-to-day.”
Daniels, the 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, injured the knee in Thursday’s 27-18 loss at Green Bay. He had a large ice pack on his knee after the game and walked with a limp out of the building. A day later, he underwent an MRI, which revealed no major damage, a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.
Daniels was injured on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Green Bay star pass rusher Micah Parsons chased Daniels to his left. As Daniels cut, safety Javon Bullard hit him on his left knee with his helmet.
Quinn said Daniels must hit “all the markers” before they return him to the field. “We know how important he is,” Quinn said.
Daniels has passed for 433 yards and three touchdowns and has run for another 85 yards in two games. Quinn outlined what the quarterback needs to display to compete again.
“It starts off first on the strength, the movements,” Quinn said. “Then on the field change direction, the pivoting, the moving, all of those would be the things to go. So we’ll just take it as it goes through the week, but he’d have to see all of the steps along this week to hit those marks. The speed, the stopping, the change of direction, all of it.”
Daniels hasn’t missed a full regular-season game in his young career. He left in the first quarter of last year’s Week 7 win over the Carolina Panthers with a rib injury. He did not play in the second half of the regular-season finale against the Cowboys because of “mild leg soreness,” Quinn said.
Marcus Mariota would start in place of Daniels. Mariota replaced Daniels in both of those games last season and was 33 of 41 for 366 yards and four touchdowns.
“We’ll take it all the way to Friday,” Quinn said, “and then have a good idea of where we’re at. … This is an elite competitor; our confidence in him is through the roof.”
Against the Packers, Washington saw two starters suffer season-ending injuries — running back Austin Ekeler (Achilles) and Suffolk native/defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (quad). Two other Commanders left with groin injuries — receiver Noah Brown and tight end John Bates — and cornerback Jonathan Jones incurred a hamstring injury.
Quinn called Brown and Bates “long shots” for Sunday. Washington placed Ekeler and Wise on injured reserve Monday and signed veteran receiver Chris Moore and defensive end Jalyn Holmes, a Lake Taylor High graduate, off its practice squad and signed running back Chase Edmonds to the practice squad.
