Commanders quarterback and Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner Jayden Daniels will work out prior to Sunday's kickoff with the Chicago Bears before his status is officially determined.
Sources have cast doubt on Daniels' availability all week due to his rib injury, though the No. 2 overall pick was a limited participant at practice Friday. Daniels did participate in team drills Friday while not doing individual drills. The Commanders want to make sure he can play like his usual dynamic self while also protecting himself from further injury should he play, and that determination would be made in the pre-preworkout portion of the afternoon in advance of the inactives announcement.
Marcus Mariota, also a former No. 2 overall pick and Heisman winner, will start for the Commanders should Daniels be unable to go with Jeff Driskel as the backup. The Commanders did not elevate Sam Hartman Saturday from the practice squad, which would have been a sign Daniels wouldn't play since no team carries four gameday quarterbacks. It's unlikely the Commanders would make Daniels the emergency third quarterback; if he is able to play at all, he'd start.
Daniels suffered the rib injury on his first play from scrimmage last week against the Carolina Panthers. His 46-yard run ended with a tackle where the injury took place. He finished the series but left the game and did not return.
The Bears have operated this week as though Mariota would be the likely starter. Sources say they view the offense as being similar no matter the quarterback, though Daniels offers a more dynamic option with both his feet and legs.
The Commanders put plenty of Mariota in Kliff Kingsbury's system on tape for the Bears this week. Up by at least 28 points beginning in the third quarter, Mariota took 10 dropbacks and went 8-for-9 for 86 passing yards.
Should Mariota get the start, he will be at least the 44th different starting quarterback in the league this year. That's on pace to break the record set in 2022 with 69 starting quarterbacks.
Part of the reason for the increased number of starters has been the play on which Daniels was injured. The league is seeing an all-time high in scrambles for quarterbacks — a 5.9 percent rate through Week 7 with a high of 3,519 scramble yards so far.
