The Washington Commanders’ 2025 season has unraveled quickly, and injuries have played a central role in the downturn. After surprising the league a year ago with a run to the NFC Championship Game during Jayden Daniels’ rookie season, Washington now sits just one spot above the bottom of the standings at 4-10.
Daniels was ruled out of the Week 15 matchup against the New York Giants due to an elbow injury, and with playoff hopes gone, the word around how the franchise should handle its young quarterback has intensified.
Few voices carry more relevance in this discussion than Robert Griffin III. The former Washington signal caller knows firsthand how injuries can alter a promising career. Speaking on Daniels’ current situation, Griffin made his stance unmistakably clear.
“The Washington Commander should 100% shut down Jayden Daniels for the rest of the season,” said Griffin III, (h/t RG.org). “I said this weeks ago, I thought they should have shut him down after he dislocated his elbow. Now that they're clearly out of the playoffs, and they're playing for pride at this point, I don't think they should put their young quarterback in harm's way, because he's had so many injuries. It's a knee injury, it's the hamstring injury, then it's the elbow, and it's the reinjuring of the elbow. I think the best thing for him now and the team for the next 10-to-15 years is for him to sit out the rest of the year, get healthy, and then upgrade the roster.”
Griffin’s comments prompted renewed scrutiny over the Commanders' medical and roster decisions. After suffering a dislocated elbow in Week 9, Daniels returned against the Minnesota Vikings, only to land awkwardly and aggravate the same injury. From Griffin’s perspective, that decision never made sense.
The concern is magnified by the broader context of Daniels’ season. In 2025 alone, the second-year field general has battled hamstring, knee, and elbow issues, missing multiple games before reaggravating the elbow last weekend.
For Griffin, the parallels are impossible to ignore, as both quarterbacks were Heisman Trophy winners and No. 2 overall draft picks in Washington.
With little left to gain in the standings, Washington must decide whether short-term competitiveness is worth the long-term risk.
