The Washington Commanders are coming off arguably their most impressive performance of the season despite a 27-26 overtime loss vs. Denver, but now, the discussion has shifted back to the future – both the rest of the 2025 season and beyond.
In the short-term, the question of whether quarterback Jayden Daniels returns remains an ongoing question after returning to practice last week before being ruled out this week. Head coach Dan Quinn noted Daniels is “not cleared for contact” heading into the week 14 road game vs. Minnesota before later adding his status will go “all the way [until] Friday, quite honestly.”
“It’s more of the functional contact. Think of stiff arm on a bag, think of diving on the ground,” Quinn said during Monday’s press conference. “So there's more functional movements that he'll go through. He did some of that today and he'll do more of that during the week. So the practice portion, for him throwing, like ripped a bunch today and threw it hard. It's the functional movement that he'll continue to work with. So some of that actually will be in an individual and working to the side. We'll continue to work that part and that's the step that we need to see from like let's say a functional evaluation, functional contact. It's not traditional in the sense of like taking a hit.”
While that will likely mean Marcus Mariota draws his fourth consecutive start, one constant remains on the defensive side of the ball – at least for the rest of 2025.
Following Washington’s 44-22 loss vs. Miami, head coach Dan Quinn assumed play-calling duties on defense to take over as defensive coordinator despite Joe Whitt Jr. still remaining on staff. Washington is coming off consecutive largely impressive showings on defense with the offense working to find rhythm, but Quinn noted “there’s a possibility” that he retains that title into 2026.
“As we’re going through it, I’m finding a battle rhythm to go so I’m not sure where I’m at on that yet. I haven’t discussed or gone down that road too far yet, but I would say that’s a possibility,” he added.
“It definitely took into the second week. I feel much more settled in week two. The week one version and then adding the trip to Spain, I thought all of that space with the guys, it took me probably [until] gameday [until] I felt comfortable in that. And then this week, we found a great structure. Joe's been incredibly supportive to help and assist and we kind of found our rhythm together quickly. We had plenty of experience doing that before together. And so I certainly appreciated him stepping into that space with me as well. It took probably two weeks to finally capture the flow and the rhythm of the team meetings, defensive meetings, that type of thing, but I feel in a good space today."
Washington is set for its final non-divisional matchup of the regular season on Sunday to face Minnesota with quarterback JJ McCarthy expected to clear concussion protocol and start on Sunday.
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