Jayden Daniels injury update: What happened to Commanders QB? Physician weighs in on ‘season-ending’ trauma

booker t. Washington Commanders' asterisk signal caller Jayden Daniels suffered a shocking trauma to his left wing arm during the fourth quarter of their Week 9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on November 2. Trailing 38-7, Daniels scrambled on a second-and-goal play before getting sacked and then falling. He bent his non-throwing elbow backward in a devastating scene, leaving players from both teams concerned and kneeling.

After trainers immobilized it in an air cast, Daniels walked off the field without help. However, he was reportedly ruled out for the rest of the game.

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Daniels’ injury came just a week after he came back from a hamstring strain that sidelined him for Week 8 against the Chiefs. He has sustained injuries all season, and even missed Weeks 3-4 with a knee issue and Week 2 partially due to an ankle injury. Before his exit, Daniels went 16-of-22 for 153 yards, one interception, and 51 rushing yards.

After the recent injury, Jesse Morse, M.D., posted on X that Daniels seems to have suffered a left elbow/forearm fracture or dislocation. “Elbow bends the wrong way,” he wrote. “You can see them putting on an air cast. This is season-ending barring something miraculous. Shame.”

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Morse, a sports medicine physician in Miami, described the injury further in a video. “One, the elbow is not supposed to move in that capacity. It's kind of similar to a knee, unlike say a shoulder. So therefore it doesn't move in all these crazy patterns,” he said.

Morse added, “And if you were to try to do that, some people get lucky in their double joints and they can do that or do something similar to that, but most people can't. And in order to be able to have the elbow move that far, one of two things has to happen. Either you tear the ligaments that are responsible for keeping the elbow in the socket, the bones where they belong, or you fracture the bone and it basically pops to wherever the energy is going to.”

Morse, however, offered a little hope too. “But with this, you have to understand that if there's a fracture or significant ligament damage, he's done for the year. If he got super lucky and just dislocated his elbow, maybe he misses about a month and comes back. Now, I don't know if the commanders want him to come back and that's a separate discussion, but in terms of the injury timeline, there's a possibility he returns,” he explained.

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said there was no discussion in leaving Daniels in the game. "The hindsight, you don't want to think that way, where injury could take place," Quinn told reporters, according to USA Today. "You're more conservative in that spot, running and handoffs and not have reads to go."

On being asked if Daniels would be handled differently in the future, Quinn said, "It's really important we get that part right. And we will."

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