Jayden Daniels didn’t recover from his knee injury as the Washington Commanders prepare for their Week 3 game vs. Las Vegas Raiders. Dan Quinn just revealed who will take the place of the second-year quarterback.
It will be NFL veteran Marcus Mariota under center as the Commanders navigate through some injuries. Mariota has been with the team since last year and even played some snaps in 2024. Hence, he knows the playbook and how the offense works perfectly. Will he be able to keep the chains moving is the big question.
Mariota completed 77.3% of his passes going 34-for-44 with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He has always been a mobile quarterback, so you can bank on the Commanders to not change much of the gameplan. Of course, his arm is not as polished as Daniels’ but Mariota was a starter in this league for a long time, so he can find alternatives.
Mariota’s career in numbers
This is Mariota’s 11th season in the NFL. He has a career record of 34-40. However, he only had three losing seasons. What happened was that those seasons were really bad.
His completion percentage is a very average 63%. He’s thrown 95 touchdowns to 55 interceptions. While he is not a top-tier quarterback, you could argue Mariota is one of the best backups you could have on a team.
How many weeks will Mariota play?
It seems like Daniels’ knee injury is not something to really worry about as all signs point to him returning next week. Worst-case scenario would be Mariota plays in Week 4 but the Commanders shouldn’t worry about Daniels’ health beyond the Raiders game.
Mariota played three games last season but he didn’t start any, he was entering the games as soon as Daniels’ had them won. However, Mariota has looked good in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense.