It took a while, but the 4-10 Washington Commanders finally did something smart this season. According to several reports, they are shutting down quarterback Jayden Daniels for the rest of the 2025 season.
Daniels was a star player as a rookie in 2024 after the Commanders selected him with the No. 2 overall pick. He led Washington to a 12-5 record, two playoffs wins, and an appearance in the NFC Championship Game. Along the way, he was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He breathed life into a fanbase that has had little reason for hope or joy over the previous quarter century under repugnant former owner Dan Snyder.
Because of Daniels’ early success, there were raised expectations for the Commanders’ 2025 season, and a common sentiment was that he “is only going to get better.”
However, as noted in our Commanders “dumpster fire” article this summer, rookie phenom quarterbacks tend to take a step back in their sophomore seasons. Teams around the league scrutinize strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies, and they are better prepared to game plan for these young quarterbacks.
For example: the following is a list of quarterbacks who recently won Rookie of the Year honors, showing their QBR in their rookie seasons, and their QBR in their follow-up seasons. Disclaimer: Yes, QBR is a rudimentary measure of a quarterback, but we’ll use it here for snapshot purposes. (Sample size, last 20 seasons).
Player RoY QBR Next year QBR Vince Young 56.1 46.9 📉Matt Ryan 68.8 67.7 📉Sam Bradford 46.9 31.4 📉Cam Newton 56.6 58.3 📈Robert Griffin III 69.4 50.4 📉Dak Prescott 77.6 70.0 📉Kyler Murray 57.7 61.9 📈Justin Herbert 62.6 70.9 📈C.J. Stroud 57.5 49.8 📉Jayden Daniels 70.6 45.9 📉
Three of those quarterbacks had upticks in QBR, and now seven have had downticks.
In addition to his regression in play, Daniels suffered an assortment of injuries.
• He was on the Commanders’ injury report Week 2 with a right wrist injury.
• He missed a pair of games in Weeks 3 and 4 against the Raiders and Falcons with a knee sprain. He returned to play Week 5 against the Chargers, but remained on the injury report for three weeks.
• In Week 7 against the Cowboys, Daniels injured his hamstring in the third quarter and did not return. He missed the Commanders’ Week 8 game against the Chiefs.
• Against the Seahawks Week 9, Daniels suffered a gruesome elbow injury while the Commanders were down 38-7 with 7:29 left in the game. He missed the next four games.
• On Week 14 against the Vikings, Daniels returned to the lineup, and he promptly re-injured his elbow while getting shoved to the ground during a pick-six.
The Commanders are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, so shutting Daniels down for the rest of the season was a pretty easy call.
Of course, the Philadelphia Eagles play the Commanders this Saturday, and also in Week 18 the first week of January. The Commanders will continue to start QB2 Marcus Mariota, who has actually outplayed Daniels this season. Their QB3 is 39-year-old Josh Johnson.
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