As gruesome as Washington Commanders star quarterback Jayden Daniels' elbow injury looked in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks, it appears that there's a chance that he could return to action before the 2025 NFL season even ends.
“Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, who left Sunday’s loss with his left arm immobilized, suffered a dislocated elbow and will have an MRI to determine how long he’s out, sources say. The belief is it’s not as bad as it could’ve been. But Daniels will miss several games,” Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network shared via a social media post on X, formerly Twitter.
Rapoport also noted that “X-Rays for Jayden Daniels’ left arm were negative, source says.”
This seemingly keeps the door open for the former LSU Tiger star quarterback to get back on the field for the Commanders sooner than most expect.
An important pertinent question, however, is whether Washington would be able to turn things around and still be in the hunt for a spot in the NFL playoffs in the event that Daniels gets cleared to return during the regular season.
Through nine weeks, the Commanders are just 3-6. Only the 2-7 New York Giants, the 1-8 New Orleans Saints and the 2-5 Arizona Cardinals have worse records than Washington in the NFC standings, thus far. But with several weeks left in the regular season plus the sheer unpredictability of the NFL landscape, the Commanders can still hope that they can catch up in the NFL playoff race — with or without Daniels at the moment.
For now, the Commanders will be rolling with veteran backup signal-caller Marcus Mariota, who's made three starts in place of Daniels this season and went 1-2 in those contests.
The 24-year-old Daniels suffered the elbow injury while trying to find his way into the end zone with over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. He was taken down inside the five-yard line by Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas, with Daniels using his left arm to support his fall, but it bent in an awkward and hard-to-watch manner, as shown in replays of the play.
In six games played in the 2025 season, Daniels has managed to pass for 1,184 yards and eight touchdowns against two interceptions on a 62.5 percent pass completion rate.
