Coach Dan Quinn's Washington Commanders fell to 0-2 with a 37-20 road loss to the Dallas Cowboys that included a crushing elbow injury to star quarterback Jayden Daniels. Marcus Mariota filled in for Daniels and showed his worth with 11-of-16 completions for 111 yards and a touchdown, helping Quinn's team to forget the gruesome Daniels injury for a little while.
The Commanders will now begin preparing for September 27's game against coach Mike Macdonald's Seattle Seahawks, a home matchup that will require strong quarterback play to win.
Coach Quinn's team has three quarterback options heading into the game including the first and most obvious choice.
Option #1: Marcus Mariota
Marcus Mariota is a former Heisman Trophy and well-traveled 32-year-old veteran who still has plenty of fuel left in the gas tank judging by his fill-in performance against the Cowboys. He also ran once for three yards, showing his willingness to scramble and keep plays alive.
Mariota has a similar skillset to Daniels and has enough toughness and experience to hold down the fort until Daniels gets back. While having Daniels would be ideal, Mariota is as good as backup quarterbacks get in the National Football League and is surrounded by enough talent to guide the Commanders back into NFC East title contention if the breaks go Washington's way in the coming weeks.
Option #2: Athan Kaliakmanis
The former Rutgers Scarlet Knights starting QB was listed as the Commanders' emergency quarterback for the Cowboys game. He was selected by the Commanders in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft and has experience starting with both Rutgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Big Ten Conference. Kaliakmanis is known as a game manager type of quarterback who can run for a first down and complete passes down the field when necessary.
He mostly excels as a short-to-intermediate thrower and improved his completion percentage significantly, to 62.2%, in his final college season in Piscataway, New Jersey with the Knights. Quinn and his coaching staff greatly prefer Mariota to Kaliakmanis but he is an option if something happens to Mariota anytime soon.
After Daniels' injury (which led to a NSFW Tom Brady reaction on air), the Commanders will likely give Kaliakmanis more reps to prepare him for possible game action.
Option #3: Sam Hartman
Hartman was not selected in the 2024 NFL Draft and signed with the Commanders as a free agent. He has the support of Quinn and the coaching staff but is unproven with zero regular season game experience to his name.
Hartman, now on the Commanders' practice squad, has a wealth of college football experience with six seasons under his belt including five at Wake Forest and one with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He showed consistency during his college football career with four consecutive 2,000-plus yard passing seasons.
Hartman is a strong short yardage and goal line runner, although he never averaged more than 3.1 yards per carry during his time in college. He has the mental capacity and toughness to fill in for Daniels if necessary, but isn't seen as an ideal option headed into the meat of the Commanders' schedule.
September 27's game against the Seahawks will almost certainly feature Mariota as the Commanders look to get back on a winning track. Quinn and his coaching staff are a resourceful group, giving them a real chance to pull the upset. Expect Mariota to play and play well in what should be an interesting duel against the Seahawks, which could include Macdonald's Super Bowl-winning reclamation project Sam Darnold.