Jayden Daniels has faced several challenges this season while trying to battle back from multiple injuries. He has a new challenge for the next three weeks: watch and learn as much as he can from the sideline.
Daniels, who reaggravated the elbow he dislocated after being hit to the ground against the Minnesota Vikings, will sit for the final three games of the 2025 season. Daniels will still practice with the team, but the decision, which head coach Dan Quinn said was "part medical and part team," was made so Daniels could recover from his injury and head into the offseason as healthy as possible.
Daniels admitted after Tuesday's practice that he was disappointed that he will not play for the rest of the season. He's a competitor, and he wants to play every week. He plans to make the most of the situation, though, and do whatever he can to learn and improve.
"I'll be out there practicing whatever they need me to do," Daniels said. "If I gotta do scout team, I'll have fun with that and give the best looks."
Daniels has suffered multiple injuries over the course of his second season. He sprained his knee in Week 2, injured his hamstring in Week 7 and suffered his dislocated elbow in Week 9. As a result, Daniels has played in seven games and was pulled because of an injury in four of them.
Prior to Daniels aggravating his elbow, the Commanders planned for the quarterback to play in the final five games to continue his development. But Daniels was ruled out of the Commanders' Week 15 game against the New York Giants, and Quinn said that Daniels "still wasn't all the way clear to play" following another medical evaluation. The Commanders have back-to-back short weeks of preparation, as they play the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 20 and the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day.
Quinn said Daniels elected not to be placed on Injured Reserve so he could practice and be around his teammates. Now, Daniels will be able to get some exposure to the offense and continue his development on the practice field, which Quinn said is "a big deal." And Daniels intends to soak in as much information as possible.
"Ask questions -- as many questions I can," Daniels said. "Kind of have that time to really sit there and maybe ask DQ about situational football or go talk to the DB coach, Simmons [Defensive Backs Coach Jason Simmons] and all those guys to see what they're thinking and how they would call this and what are the rules and principles. So, there's a lot I can learn."
Quinn said a lot of Daniels' workload will center around working outside the pocket.
"He'll work some of the scout cards on concepts that we have, so it'll be a little bit of a mix. Today's not quite as much, we're not going as fast, but even then there's some post-practice work that he'll do too. So, we felt like we got these three weeks, can we get like very customized and specific of things outside the pocket first? And once we do that, then we thought that's how we'll see how we can take best advantage of this."
Daniels also wants to make sure he's being a good teammate for Marcus Mariota, who will take over as the starter for the rest of the season. Mariota said Daniels has been active in meeting and helping him with preparing for Saturday's game, just as he did for the previous game Mariota filled in for him.
"That's my focus, man," Daniels said. "Being the best teammate in the locker room, anything Marcus needs to be there for him. And just how supportive he's been for me in my career, exchange roles and do that for him."
Daniels admitted it's been a frustrating season for him. "Nobody wants to be injured," he said, and he's dealt with more adversity than he anticipated. There will be a time for him to evaluate how the season went for him, but for now, the only thing he wants to do is move forward.
"I just gotta go with the battles, and obviously it's the story that God had written out for me, so I'll move on, move forward and learn from it."
