Jayden Daniels injury update: ESPN insider reveals Washington QB playing status vs. Chicago

Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is expected to play Sunday against the Chicago Bears, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“The Commanders still will need to see how Daniels is feeling Sunday in pregame warmups before making any final determination about whether he can start,” Schefter wrote. “But as one team official told ESPN said about Daniels: ‘He’s one tough-ass dude.'”

Daniels’ rib injury could certainly limit him, but Schefter reported the QB was a limited participant Friday and went through the walkthrough Saturday.

“He’d want to play if he were missing his right leg,” a team official told ESPN, via Schefter.

ESPN’s Courtney Cronin was on scene Sunday morning and gave her insight during SportsCenter.

They took a crawl, walk and run approach with Jayden Daniels this week,” Cronin said. “They wanted to ease him into what he would have to do in the training room. That’s why he was a DNP on both Wednesday and Thursday. And then when they get to that run part on Friday, I know there was some question, is he out at practice? Is he in the bubble? He took a little bit more time inside before actually getting on to the practice field, because he was doing extra strength and conditioning work specifically on his core and his injured rib area.

“That was by design, according to head coach Dan Quinn. He wanted him to be able to make sure he had all of that mobility in place so he could hit the big throwing sessions. And it was more than just QB specific work. They want to see how Daniels is going to be able to operate the entire game plan, which is why, the way that he’s feeling this morning, he is going to give it a go out here a little bit later, ahead of the 4:25, kickoff. Now, the question I’ve been asked a lot, is he going to have to wear anything specific around his ribs? He already wears a protective pad. It is pretty thick. It’s small, but it’s thick and it’s able to protect that midsection. This is more just about the mobility aspect and him being able to hit all of those throws.”

Daniels has been a big reason the Commanders have a chance to win their first division title since 2020. The former LSU Tigers quarterback has completed 75.3 percent of his passes for 1,404 yards six touchdowns and two interceptions in his first six games this year.

Daniels has also been strong in the running game, tallying 322 rushing yards and four touchdowns (not including totals from the Panthers game).