Josh Johnson will start during the Washington Commanders' Christmas Day game against the Dallas Cowboys, head coach Dan Quinn confirmed Wednesday.

Jeff Driskel, who the Commanders signed earlier in the week, will serve as the primary backup. Practice squad quarterback Sam Hartman will be signed to the active roster and be the emergency quarterback, Quinn said. Marcus Mariota (hand/quad) has been ruled out.

"It won't look exactly the same with Josh under center compared to Marcus and Jayden into that space," Quinn said. "He's got lots of versatility and so we wanted to make sure when you're going into it, when you're getting the reps as a starter, what can we do to feature the things that allow you to be that. All these guys bring different things to the table. And so, we'll try like hell to feature Josh in that way, too."

Johnson, who signed with the Commanders in the offseason, finished Washington's 29-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, completing five of his nine pass attempts for 45 yards and an interception. Thursday's game will be the 10th start of his career and first for Washington since the 2018 season.

"I'm embracing it with gratitude and just trying to be a light for this team and show them that I'm gonna be on my job to do what I gotta do to give us a chance," Johnson said.

The Commanders have not decided on which quarterback will start in their season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, although the Commanders are hopeful that Mariota will be healthy enough to play.

"I'll have a better sense for it for next week, but I'm hopeful for that," Quinn said. "But I don't know exactly when it was just not able to go turn now. I think after this it'll be three more days and as we get into Monday of next week, we'll have a better sense of, 'Okay, let's push it to make it to there.'"

Here's the full injury report for the Commanders' Week 17 game: