Why Jayden Daniels' Elbow Injury Could Become Major Concern After Recent Setbacks

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was carted off the field during halftime of Sunday's Week 2 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys after dislocating his left elbow on the final play before the break. Head coach Dan Quinn confirmed postgame that Daniels had dislocated his elbow, though X-rays did not show a fracture. Marcus Mariota stepped in for the second half, but the damage was done. Dallas won 37-20. And for Commanders fans, the score was almost secondary to what happened on that final drive.

Is Jayden Daniels' elbow injury serious this time?

A dislocated elbow caused Jayden Daniels to miss four games last season. In his very first game back, he re-injured it and did not play again for the rest of the year. He appeared in just seven games total during the 2025 season, with most of that absence tied directly to the same elbow.

That track record is what makes Sunday's injury hard to brush off as a routine setback.

During the 2025 season, the Commanders eventually shut Daniels down with three games remaining on the schedule. He was re-evaluated and still not cleared after aggravating the same elbow in Week 14. In his seven starts that year, Daniels completed 60.9 percent of his passes for 1,262 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions, with 278 rushing yards and two more scores. Washington went 2-5 in those games. 

The elbow has now been a recurring problem across back-to-back seasons. Sunday's incident against Dallas is the same joint, same arm, different game. And the Commanders went into Week 2 already knowing Daniels carries that fragility. Last season, offensive lineman Samuel Cosmi summed it up bluntly after one of Daniels' elbow injuries: "Gut-wrenching. You could hear the air just taken out of everybody in the stadium. It's just not a good feeling." 

Daniels is scheduled for further imaging Monday, which will determine whether this is another dislocation without structural damage or something worse.

What does Jayden Daniels' injury history tell us about his long-term availability?

The elbow is just one piece of a larger, more unsettling pattern.

During the 2025 season alone, Daniels missed time due to three separate injuries. He sat out two games with a sprained left knee and another with a bad right hamstring, before the elbow became the most damaging blow of all. 

He came into 2026 as a player trying to put all of that behind him. Daniels spent the offseason embracing a leadership role as the Commanders prepared for the new campaign, which made Sunday's first-half exit all the more deflating for a team that still believes it has the tools to compete in the NFC. 

The broader concern now is not just this game or the next few weeks. It is whether Daniels can consistently stay on the field for a full season. His rookie year, 2024, offered a glimpse of what he can be when healthy. He played in all 20 of Washington's games that season, including the playoffs, when he led the team to its first NFC championship game appearance in more than three decades. That version of Daniels is worth building around. But the 2025 version, limited, fragile, and ultimately shut down early, has complicated the picture significantly. 

Dan Quinn, reflecting on a similar situation last year, was direct about his own role in letting Daniels play through risky situations: "That is 100 percent, that's on me." Whether the coaching staff makes smarter decisions around game management in 2026, especially when games are out of hand, could genuinely determine how far Washington goes this season. 

The immediate priority is the imaging report. But the longer conversation, about how Washington protects its quarterback and whether Daniels' body can hold up through a full 17-game slate, starts now.