Quarterback Jayden Daniels has been ruled out for Sunday's game against the New York Giants after re-aggravating his elbow against the Minnesota Vikings, head coach Dan Quinn confirmed on Wednesday.
Daniels, who returned to the starting lineup three games after dislocating his elbow against the Seattle Seahawks, landed on his elbow after taking a hit while chasing Andrew Van Ginkel after the quarterback threw an interception. Daniels did not experience any structural setbacks, meaning that he did not re-dislocate the elbow, but the Commanders are choosing to sit him after the team doctors advised that he not play this weekend.
Marcus Mariota will start at quarterback this weekend.
"Really bummed for Jayden," Quinn said. "He's working incredibly hard to get back on the field with his guys."
Daniels will practice in a limited capacity this week. As for whether he will be available for the rest of the season, Quinn said the team will "see where we're at next week."
"We're always going to make the best decisions for him and the team with the medical staff," Quinn said.
Daniels will miss his seventh game this weekend. He experienced knee and hamstring injuries prior to dislocating his elbow in Week 9, which forced him to miss Weeks 3, 4 and 8. Last week's game marked the third time Daniels was pulled before finishing a game, as the hamstring and elbow injuries occurred in the second half against the Dallas Cowboys and Seahawks games, respectively.
Quinn said after the game that Daniels could have returned to the game, but he decided to sit the quarterback because of how the game was unfolding. The Commanders trailed 17-0 following Daniels' interception.
"I felt like that was the right call for us," Quinn said after the 31-0 road loss to the Vikings.
The Commanders have stressed the importance of Daniels playing in their final stretch of the season, if healthy. He's played in 405 snaps through Week 14 -- more than half of the 885 he had played at this point in the 2024 season. Although the team is eliminated from postseason contention, the Commanders want him to get as many reps as possible so he can continue his development.
"It's an important development time for him," Quinn said. "There's no 'zero-risk' game. We try to manage that, but for the development part of it, it's important."
Quinn said the team hasn't "gone down the road yet" of discussing whether to shut Daniels down for the remainder of the season.
"We're really bummed it got re-aggravated on this specific injury," Quinn said. "Going into it, [I] thought he had a good week. There were things to improve upon into the game to get started, but we haven't gone down all the way yet. We just kind of went through the first evaluations this week to get ready to play. So, I'll have a better update as we're moving forward."
In seven games this season, Daniels has completed 60.6% of his passes for 1,262 yards and eight touchdowns with three interceptions. He's also run the ball 58 times for 278 yards with two scores.
