This was supposed to be a different year for Jayden Daniels. He had already spent much of 2025 watching from the sideline, appearing in only seven games as a knee injury, hamstring issue and a troublesome left elbow repeatedly interrupted his sophomore campaign. Washington, too, needed its young quarterback back on the field long enough to build something again.

For six quarters, that plan was working. Daniels came into Dallas and helped Washington erase a 10-point deficit, throwing a touchdown, running for 69 yards and taking the offense to the Cowboys’ 1-yard line just before halftime. The Commanders were three feet from a chance to change the game. Then came the play that brought back a familiar fear: an elbow injury. But the latest medical evaluation has given Washington reason to believe this setback may not keep him out as long as feared.

“Commanders QB Jayden Daniels will not be placed on IR, per me and @AdamSchefter. After imaging was evaluated and multiple specialists were consulted this week, the consensus is Daniels is week-to-week, and both WAS and Daniels are aiming for him to return as soon as possible,” Ian Rapoport reported on Thursday.

The injury happened on the final play of the first half, with Washington facing third-and-goal from the Dallas 1-yard line and three seconds remaining. Daniels had taken the snap from under center when left guard Chris Paul inadvertently stepped on his foot as the quarterback pulled away from the line of scrimmage.

Daniels stumbled backward and tried to brace his fall with his left arm, his non-throwing arm. His elbow buckled inward, and although he managed to throw the ball away, he immediately grabbed the arm in pain. He tried to make his way toward the sideline but eventually went to the ground as trainers and teammates rushed over. Daniels was later carted off with his arm in an air cast and left AT&T Stadium with it in a sling.

The scene was jarring, but the way the injury happened also made it unusual. A 2021 review of 82 NFL elbow dislocations recorded from 2000 through 2014 found that only 13 involved offensive players, while just one in-game dislocation during that period was suffered by a quarterback. Most were caused by contact with another player; only about 10% resulted from contact with the playing surface or another non-player source. Daniels’ injury came from exactly that kind of fall.

Initial X-rays provided one piece of relief: they showed no fracture. But because Daniels had already dislocated the same elbow last season, the Commanders needed more than an initial scan before determining whether surgery would be necessary. He underwent further imaging after returning to Virginia and spent the early part of the week consulting multiple specialists.

That concern was understandable. Daniels’ first left-elbow dislocation came in Week 9 of the 2025 season against Seattle. He missed the next three games and returned in Week 14 wearing a brace. But during that return against Minnesota, he fell hard on the same arm while pursuing linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel after an interception. The elbow was aggravated again, and although there was no new structural damage reported, Daniels was eventually shut down for the final three games of the season.

That distinction matters now: the Dallas injury is a second dislocation of the same elbow, not simply another aggravation of last year’s injury.

After the Cowboys game, head coach Dan Quinn had little interest in pretending the moment wasn’t devastating.

“Man, are we bummed for him. I thought he was really playing his a– off. And we will rally so hard around Marcus [Mariota] until Jayden is back,” Quinn said.

Quinn also defended the decision to stay aggressive on the final play of the half. Washington needed a touchdown from the 1-yard line, and the coach said afterward that he did not regret the call despite the injury that followed.

The reaction inside Washington’s locker room went beyond the loss of its starting quarterback. Rachaad White, who played with Daniels at Arizona State, said, “That’s my brother.” Terry McLaurin said the scene “took the air out of us a little bit,” with teammates reluctant to leave the field while Daniels was being attended to.

However, the Commanders general manager Adam Peters also offered some positive news regarding Daniels’ status.

“As of right now, surgery is not on the table, and we haven’t discussed IR,” Peters said Friday on The Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan radio. “So it’s just a matter of how we’re going to get him back on the field. That’s still to be determined.”

The absence of an IR designation is significant because a player placed on injured reserve must miss at least four games before returning. Washington’s decision not to use the designation suggests the team believes Daniels could return before that four-game minimum, but Peters has not given him a return date. Rapoport and Adam Schefter subsequently described Daniels as week-to-week.

That leaves the next few weeks open rather than setting a fixed timetable. Daniels will miss Sunday’s home opener against Seattle, with Marcus Mariota starting and seventh-round rookie Athan Kaliakmanis serving as his backup. Washington then travels to London to face Indianapolis on October 4 before returning home to play the New York Giants on October 11.

For now, the Commanders will lean on Marcus Mariota under center while prioritizing Jayden Daniels’ full recovery, especially given the injury setbacks the young quarterback has faced early in his career.

Mariota already showed he can keep the offense functional in Daniels’ absence. After taking over against Dallas, he completed 11 of 16 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown to Stefon Diggs. Quinn has since praised Mariota’s command of the offense, giving Washington a veteran option while Daniels works through his recovery.

Daniels entered the NFL in 2024 as the second overall pick. Coming off a breakout college season with LSU, where Daniels threw for 3,812 yards, the Commanders saw him as fit to lead their offense.

That first season quickly validated Washington’s decision. Daniels started all 17 games in 2024, throwing for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions while adding 891 rushing yards and six scores. He led the Commanders to a 12-5 regular-season record, an NFC Championship Game appearance and won Offensive Rookie of the Year.

However, after the rookie season in which Daniels racked up 3,568 passing yards with a 12-5 record in the regular season, multiple injury complications have affected his consistency.

The contrast with 2025 was stark. Daniels played only seven games, missed 10 because of injuries and finished the season with 1,262 passing yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions. Washington went 2-5 in his seven starts and finished 5-12.

Last season, Daniels missed 10 games in total due to three separate injuries that completely derailed the Commanders’ campaign. In Week 2, when they came out to face the Green Bay Packers, Daniels suffered a grade 1 left knee strain. He missed two games due to this. Then, during the Week 7 clash against the Dallas Cowboys, the Commanders QB again suffered an injury. However, this time he pulled his right hamstring and missed only one game.

In less than 15 days, Jayden Daniels returned to the gridiron and faced the Seattle Seahawks in the Week 9 clash, where he suffered his first left elbow dislocation. This time, Daniels was out for four weeks and missed three games.

A month later, on December 7, 2025 (Week 14), Daniels returned wearing a protective brace against the Minnesota Vikings. However, during a play, he aggravated the exact same loose joint capsule. Due to this, the Commanders’ QB was shut down for the final 4 weeks of the regular season, ultimately closing out the season with a 5-12 record.

Washington had spent much of the offseason trying to make sure that history did not repeat itself. Quinn had the coaching staff study film of Daniels’ scrambles and identify situations in which he could have avoided hits. New offensive coordinator David Blough also reshaped the offense around more traditional runs, play-action and under-center snaps, while the front office added weapons such as Stefon Diggs, Chig Okonkwo and Rachaad White. The idea was not to take Daniels’ legs away from him, but to avoid making them the answer to every problem.

That work had begun to show in Dallas. Through his first six quarters of 2026, Daniels had thrown for 260 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions while adding 100 rushing yards. Against the Cowboys alone, he was 11-of-17 for 96 yards and a touchdown, with 69 rushing yards on seven attempts.

Now Washington is back in the same waiting game it thought it had left behind. The difference this time is that the latest scans have kept surgery off the table and the IR designation unused, leaving the Commanders with a path toward getting their quarterback back without committing him to a long-term absence.