With Zach Ertz sidelined for the final four games, John Bates and Ben Sinnott will now get a chance to showcase themselves in the Washington Commanders' offense, starting on Sunday against the New York Giants.
The Washington Commanders’ offense will return to his short-handed roster again this weekend after head coach Dan Quinn ruled quarterback Jayden Daniels out for Sunday’s road game against the New York Giants.
“Jayden did aggravate his elbow injury in the game. No structural setback," head coach Dan Quinn said, setting the stage for quarterback Marcus Mariota to make his seventh start in 2025.
With a two-month losing streak heading into a divisional stretch to end a disappointing year two of the Dan Quinn era, Mariota reiterated the team is “setting the foundation” over its final four games with Quinn stressing “there’s a lot to play for.”
“It's definitely one of the things that we discussed to say, where were you here in September and where are you now?,” Quinn said on Wednesday.
Part of that stems along the offensive line including starting right tackle and former first-round pick Josh Conerly Jr., who enters the final month of his rookie season allowing a team-high six sacks.
“He's the ideal person to talk about that first NFL game,” Quinn said.
But tight end is the next position under the microscope over the final stretch after news of Zach Ertz suffering a season-ending torn ACL in the 31-0 loss vs. Minnesota, testing the limited depth behind him. But now, that depth gets its first chance to shine in arguably their biggest role yet with tight ends John Bates, a fourth-round selection in 2021, and Ben Sinnott, a second-round selection in 2024, now stepping in for Ertz. And with four games left, it’s the perfect sample size for the staff and front office to evaluate the pair of draft picks, who are both under contract through 2027, before looking to upgrade the top of the room this offseason.
“I think that’s a good evaluation by you and like Ben, like behind the scenes as not necessarily behind the scenes, but in the practice, the work that he's put in and Zach's made a big impact on that,” Quinn said. “Him and [TE Colson] Yankoff, both are like guys we see ascending and developing, we feel his speed, we feel his energy to go do that. So, it is that moment where you do have more chances, you know when an injury takes place. So yeah, you're accurate on that and we're looking forward to that for him. Don't like the circumstance of how it happened, but when it does and you take advantage of it, it's a big deal.”
“Zach [has] done an unbelievable job, I think being a leader for those guys and setting the tempo,” Mariota added. “And then these guys just kind of all fall in line, so they understand what the expectation is and they understand that there's going to be more opportunities and I'm excited to give these guys a shot.”
The chance to get back on track against divisional opponents adds to Washington’s fuel to end the season on a high note.
“You have to travel that journey a little bit the first year of the up’s and down’s to go. And so yeah, there's a side that to say, I want to show it again,” Quinn said. “And when it's a pretty long, extended time between that, that's a big deal. And so, sometimes they're close like the two Philadelphia ones are. So, getting to redo it again. After that one, you get to look at that game a lot. So, okay, where am I at. For the veterans, you can now go through that game, last year's game. So, it adds value and a player learns, ‘Okay, I'm starting to get what division means, why they say you know each other well. Okay, I literally just saw myself playing these guys and now I get to see it again.’ So, it's the first step of understanding division football.”