Week 9 of the 2025 NFL season brought a few more injuries than anyone would’ve liked. One of the biggest came to Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud, who suffered a concussion early in the game against the Denver Broncos and was later ruled out. Then there was another QB who went down this week… Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels.
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Daniels was returning after missing last week’s matchup against the Chiefs with a hamstring issue. You’d think he’d take it easy, right? Think again.
Down 38-7 in the fourth quarter, the sophomore quarterback dislocated his left, non-throwing arm while scrambling toward the sideline and getting brought down by Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas. Daniels tried to brace his fall with that arm, but it bent awkwardly as he hit the turf. Now, pundit Shannon Sharpe is scratching his head, wondering how on earth it even came to that situation.
On an episode of his podcast Nightcap, Sharpe went on to bash Commanders head coach Dan Quinn for keeping Daniels in long into an unwinnable game, which ended up resulting in the injury. That’s the QB’s third injury this season, with the worst one coming on Sunday.
“I got one question that I want to ask Dan Quinn. Why in the hell was Jayden Daniels in the game? You’re down 38-7. This is where you remove your starters, especially [quarterback],” Sharpe said, adding,
“Some of the offensive linemen and some of the [starters] have to play, but you get Jayden Daniels’ a** out of there. He’s been nicked all year… So, you actually think you were going to score 31 points in eight and a half minutes?”
On top of Daniels’ setback, wide receiver Luke McCaffrey was also ruled out in the first quarter due to a shoulder injury. Then, in the second half, Marshon Lattimore was ruled out after a knee issue. In a game where Seattle was playing this intensely, Daniels shouldn’t have stuck around until the fourth quarter. There was simply no need, as Sharpe pointed out.
In the postgame interview, head coach Quinn did not address why he kept his quarterback in that late. According to reports, once the MRI results surface (expected Tuesday), we’ll know the full extent of Daniels’ arm issue.
Best-case scenario, the elbow isn’t broken. Worst-case scenario, as Ian Rapoport noted, Daniels could suffer the same fate as Chargers linebacker Khalil Mack, who sustained a similar injury earlier this season and missed five weeks.
