Ten months ago, the Commanders were celebrating an upset win over the Lions within the Divisional Round of the playoffs and preparing to face the Eagles for a probability at a Super Bowl berth all on the arm and legs of a rookie quarterback. Fast forward to today, and Washington’s season has gone anything but in line with plan. As second-year passer Jayden Daniels continues to work his way back from his third injury of the season, the surprising position the team finds themselves in could dictate the grounds for his return.
Every week ago, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN passed on rumors that the Commanders were preparing for a possible five- to six-week absence for Daniels, despite other reports estimating a mere three weeks of recovery. The potential for an extended than expected recovery combined with a loss to the Dolphins in Madrid had Fowler speculating a few situation through which Daniels doesn’t play again this yr.
Every week later, that loss to Miami has actualized, and Washington, because of this, now faces every week of reflection and decision-making. Fellow ESPN reporter Dan Graziano noted today that the Commanders will take this Week 12 bye week to “examine the whole lot” and acknowledged that “external debates” have taken place regarding the reasonableness of Daniels not returning this yr, but ultimately, he asserted that he’s been told “the plan in Washington continues to be that Daniels will return to the starting lineup once doctors clear him from his elbow injury.”
While Fowler didn’t dispel the notion of that being the Commanders’ plan, he maintained that his sources have Daniels possibly being back for Week 13, though “the team has loosely braced for an absence of 5 to 6 weeks, just in case.” No teams have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet, but when this turns right into a six-week absence and the team’s six-game losing streak continues, Washington could find itself well out of playoff contention with three games left on the schedule against division-rivals who might be playing for postseason positioning.
If the Commanders are sitting at 3-11 with games left against the Eagles, Cowboys, and Eagles, again, sending Daniels out with nothing on the road feels borderline irresponsible. Considering that Daniels has sustained three different injuries this yr, testing his durability with nothing to play for could obviously do more harm than good. Graziano, though, points out that Daniels is probably going advocating to get back on the sphere and, because this latest injury was not related to his legs or his throwing arm, the team is probably not as cautious with their approach to his return.
They’ll have the remaining of the week to contemplate all of this before they’ve to begin game-planning for a Week 13 game against the Broncos. If Daniels is nice to for the matchup with Denver, the possibilities of reinjury could also be a bit higher against a defense that has a 15-sack lead on the second-best sack-getting team within the NFL.