ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday morning that doctors around the NFL believe it is a matter of when, not if, Jayden Daniels dislocates his left elbow again. That is the news out of Washington this weekend, and it lands on the same morning Daniels returns to the field.
The caveat matters. None of the doctors who voiced that concern to Schefter have examined Daniels. Their reasoning is structural rather than specific: a quarterback who has already popped the same elbow out of joint twice inside a year is no longer a normal risk case.
The specialists who did examine him, reportedly in New York and Los Angeles, cleared him to play in a brace. Washington listed him as a full practice participant Wednesday through Friday and gave him no injury designation. Dan Quinn confirmed he starts against the Giants.
Twice in Eleven Months
Daniels first dislocated the left elbow on November 2, 2025, against Seattle. He missed three games, returned, aggravated it at Minnesota, and Washington shut him down for the rest of the season. The second dislocation came September 20 at Dallas, in Week 2 of this season.
Imaging after the Dallas injury found no fractures and no major ligament damage, which is why he avoided surgery. A procedure after the season remains on the table. Nobody in Washington has said it is scheduled, and the team has not put a number on the reinjury risk.
The mechanism is the problem. Both dislocations happened the same way, with Daniels extending his non-throwing arm as he fell and the joint giving out on impact. The brace he will wear holds the elbow in a slightly bent position so it cannot fully extend. Whether that works is unknowable until the next time he hits the ground hard.
Why Washington Is Taking the Risk
Daniels himself waved the concerns off, saying he would have had surgery if he were worried and that he plans to embrace the brace. That is the right attitude for a young quarterback trying to save a season, though it carries no medical weight.
The roster explains the rest. Marcus Mariota is out with a right knee sprain and did not practice all week, which leaves rookie Athan Kaliakmanis as the only other quarterback on the roster. Washington is 1-3 and two games behind the Giants in the NFC East. There is no version of this where the Commanders sit a healthy-enough Daniels.
That is still the wrong call for the franchise. Daniels has thrown for 260 yards and three touchdowns on 56.9 percent passing this year, with 100 rushing yards on 12 carries, and he becomes eligible for a second contract once the season ends. Washington is about to hand him the largest deal in team history while sending him out to play on a joint that two different medical camps disagree about.
A fourth quarter where Daniels scrambles, gets hit, and lands on that arm would cost the Commanders more than one game in a season they are already losing. The brace is a bet, not a fix. Washington is making it because the alternative is a rookie who has never thrown an NFL pass, and that is a different problem the front office should have solved in August.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.