The Washington Commanders are staring at another quarterback problem, and this one could push them back toward a very familiar name.
Marcus Mariota left the Week 4 loss to the Indianapolis Colts with an MCL injury, and head coach Dan Quinn is still waiting on further tests. The early read is that Mariota will miss time again, which leaves Washington thin at the position with Jayden Daniels still working back from a dislocated elbow.
That’s the kind of depth chart that forces hard choices fast. Unless the Commanders get aggressive in a trade - something that sounds highly unlikely - they’ll need a veteran arm off the street to bridge the gap until Mariota is ready to return.
Right now, the internal options are limited. Seventh-round rookie Athan Kaliakmanis is a long-term development project, while practice squad quarterback Sam Hartman is not at the level Washington needs.
The team could decide to stand pat and let Kaliakmanis take snaps for the sake of his growth, especially if they believe Daniels is close. But if they want insurance, they may need to look outside the building.
That’s where Jeff Driskel comes in.
Driskel has already spent time in Washington over the last two years, and even though offensive coordinator David Blough is running a new scheme, he’s the kind of veteran who can catch up quickly. He isn’t a flashy fix, and nobody would mistake this for a long-term answer, but he does check a lot of boxes for a team in survival mode.
The Commanders signed him off the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad last year, so general manager Adam Peters would at least be familiar with the process. At a minimum, Driskel could help with game-week prep. And if Daniels were to get hurt again, Washington would have a steadier option ready to go.
Of course, there’s no guarantee Driskel would even want the call. Teams weren’t lining up for him this offseason, and the Commanders didn’t bring him back. He may have gotten comfortable being away from the daily grind.
Still, these are the kinds of decisions bad injury luck forces on a team. The Commanders have seen this script before: Daniels got hurt, Mariota stepped in, and then Mariota ended up on the shelf too. Last season slid off the rails, and if this one follows the same path, Quinn could be the one feeling the heat when it’s over.
Driskel isn’t going to change the picture. But he knows the building, understands the job, and can step in without much drama. For Washington, that may be enough.
If Mariota is out for any meaningful stretch, the Commanders may decide they need another veteran on the roster. And in that case, Driskel looks like one of the most sensible names still sitting around.
In Other News...
Virginia Is About To Get A Spotlight Fans Will Notice
ACC Tipoff in Charlotte offered the first real public glimpse of how Virginias season is being framed around experience, opportunity and a changing league landscape. Ryan Odom spent the event talking through his teams outlook alongside Dukes Jon Scheyer, while the conversation around the Blue Devils centered on how their new pieces fit and how much room there is for growth as the year unfolds. North Carolina also drew attention through Michael Malone, who has been working to adjust to college basketball and connect with the program and its former players.
For Virginia, though, the bigger stage may come after the event itself. The Cavaliers are set to be one of the leagues most visible teams on the schedule, the sort of profile that ensures every step of Odoms first season will be watched closely by a national audience. In a conference full of familiar powers and fresh storylines, that kind of exposure only raises the stakes, and it puts an added spotlight on how quickly Virginia can turn its experience into something that travels well beyond Charlottesville. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia O-Line Faces Urgent Pressure After Pass Protection Collapse
Virginias offensive line spent the early part of the week digging through the film after a rough night in Tallahassee, where protection issues became impossible to ignore in a loss at Florida State. The Cavaliers are trying to sort out what broke down so badly and how to get the front five back on track, because pass protection is now a central issue for a unit that has to hold up if the offense is going to settle in.
The challenge is not just about cleaner technique or better communication, either, because the looks Virginia faced kept changing and made the operation harder to sort out on the fly. With the Seminoles mixing up their approach and testing the Cavaliers in different ways, the next step for Virginia is finding answers quickly enough to keep the problem from carrying over into the rest of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Faces An Early Syracuse Test That Could Set The Tone
Virginias 2026 start has already gone sideways sooner than expected, with two losses arriving before the Cavaliers could really settle into the kind of opening that preseason models had hinted at. Even so, the next few weeks still carry real weight, and the visit from Syracuse stands out as the kind of game that can either steady things or deepen the unease around a team trying to find its footing.
Syracuse brings its own uncertainty into the matchup, with recent roster moves and a quarterback situation that has changed quickly from one week to the next. For Virginia, the bigger issue is less about the numbers in any projection and more about whether this group can turn a frustrating early stretch into something more stable before the season starts to slip further out of reach. [Read more 🡒]