Commanders fans are split on Jayden Daniels, but the biggest worry is impossible to ignore: health.
In this week’s Reacts survey, 36% of respondents said they have complete confidence in Daniels heading into the upcoming season. But the larger chunk of the conversation landed on injury fear, with 40% saying their top concern is that the third-year quarterback will again deal with one or more serious injuries.
That anxiety has real footing. Daniels has not been able to finish four games he started over the last two seasons because of injury, and he also missed 10 games in 2025 with a mix of injuries and ailments. The list from last season is especially hard to brush aside: a knee sprain in Week 2, a hamstring injury around Week 7, and then the elbow issue that ended his year.
The knee sprain came on a scramble up the middle in a Week 2 Thursday Night Football loss to the Green Bay Packers. Daniels landed awkwardly while being tackled, finished the game anyway, and then an MRI the following Monday confirmed the low-grade sprain.
The hamstring injury followed a sack-and-fumble play early in the third quarter against the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas linebacker Shemar James came up the middle on first-and-10, Daniels pulled the ball down to avoid an interception, and as James hit him and dragged him backward, Daniels lunged forward to protect the ball. On the sack, James landed awkwardly on the back of Daniels’ leg.
Then came the elbow. Late in the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks, Daniels took a snap on second-and-goal, scrambled right, and was sacked by Seattle linebacker Drake Thomas at the 4-yard line.
As he was thrown down, Daniels put his left hand down to break the fall and dislocated the elbow. He returned in Week 14, but the injury flared up again in Minnesota when he was blocked to the ground while chasing a defender after an interception of his pass to Terry McLaurin in the red zone.
All four of Daniels’ injury events in 2025 came on a called pass play: a scramble, a sack, a scramble-and-sack sequence, and then an awkward fall while moving toward a ball-carrier after an interception. None happened on a called run.
That matters, because Daniels’ mobility is also a big part of what makes him dangerous. It helps him extend plays and create offense, but it also raises the odds that he gets hit in awkward ways.
There’s also the injury from 2024 that some fans are quick to minimize because he never missed a game: he broke one or more ribs on an awkward tackle from behind at the end of a 46-yard run off a zone read on the first play of the game.
Still, the Commanders and Daniels are clearly trying to change the equation. Adam Peters, Dan Quinn, David Blough and Daniels himself have all discussed adjustments meant to protect Washington’s franchise quarterback.
The front office has worked to build a steadier group of blockers across the offensive line, tight ends, running backs and possibly even wide receivers. The coaching staff is also pushing a scheme with more running back carries and more play-action passing to cut down on the hits Daniels takes.
There’s reason to believe some fans are buying into that plan. More than one-third of survey respondents seem willing to trust that Daniels and the coaches will make the necessary adjustments, or that 2025 was a one-year outlier rather than a sign of what’s to come.
And the upside is still enormous. In 2024, Daniels carried a middling roster and a bad defense to the NFC Championship game and won Offensive Rookie of the Year in the process. The 2026 roster is deeper and more talented than the one he had as a rookie, and if he stays healthy and builds on that foundation, he has the kind of talent that can bend a season in his team’s favor.
After one spectacular year and one frustrating one, 2026 feels like the proving ground. If Daniels stays on the field and plays to his level, Commanders fans could be looking at the beginning of another golden age of burgundy and gold football.
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