It’s hard for the Washington Commanders not to be distracted by the Jayden Daniels injury. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have a much more promising quarterback situation. Here is the Commanders’ Week 3 injury report versus the Seahawks and what it means for fantasy football.

Entering the game with a record of 0-2 and without their franchise quarterback, the Commanders face early season desperation. So what better place to get things right than to take on the defending Super Bowl champions, who have won 12 straight games? Right?

Oh, those poor Commanders.

Injuries are decimating the Commanders

There were five players who missed practice Friday. The most notable was Daniels, whose elbow injury could potentially send him to IR. Or maybe it ends his season. Or maybe if Kurt Warner were the Commanders' head coach, Daniels would play this week?

Regardless of the medically insensitive comments by Warner, the Commanders will roll with Marcus Mariota at quarterback. This creates a difficult decision for fantasy managers.

The problem isn’t Mariota’s talent. He’s one of the better backup quarterbacks in the NFL. However, the Commanders’ bad offensive line and thin skill player talent level mean the quarterback sometimes has to keep drives alive by himself.

Daniels has shown an incredible knack for pocket presence and scrambling ability in his short NFL career. And while Mariota can scramble and create things with his feet, he’s no Daniels. The Commanders will struggle to keep drives alive against the Seahawks.

That means you have to downgrade every offensive player for the Commanders. It doesn’t mean they are all unusable. But it means it is very unlikely that more than one will have a strong fantasy day. Therefore, receivers Terry McLaurin, Stefon Diggs, and Antonio Williams all take a hit.

As for running back, Jacory Croskey-Merritt was already a questionable choice against the Seahawks. Move him to don’t-start territory.

Mariota is at least tackling the opportunity with zest, according to wusa9.com.

“You don't wanna ever be in this type of circumstance,” Mariota said. “I am excited about the opportunity to play. But at the same time, it sucks the way that it turned out.”

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said Mariota should do fine.

“With Marcus, he's one that's really in control, has good vision of it, what it is, where to go,” Quinn said. “You can hear that type of communication with him. Him running the system gives everybody a calmness about them knowing that he’ll take care of it.”

What about the other Commanders’ injuries?

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It’s a list of important names for the Commanders. Guard Sam Cosmi, safety Nick Cross, linebacker Frankie Luvu, and tight end Chig Okonkwo all wound up with a DNP on Wednesday.

Some of those names might not seem to make a fantasy impact, but they do. For example, if Cosmi can’t go, the Commanders’ offensive line is in even worse shape. That downgrades all of the offensive players another small notch.

If Okonkwo can’t suit up, Mariota loses an important safety-valve target. Okonkwo hasn’t shown much in his short time with the Commanders, but he’s exactly the type of weapon a quarterback like Mariota would lean on more than Daniels.

And the absence of the key defensive players would mean the Seahawks would be able to build a big lead and eat clock. That means fewer possessions for the Commanders’ offense.

And if you are in such a deep league that you have to consider starting the Commanders’ defense, find an alternative. The Commanders are unlikely to force any turnovers. They might get a sack or two, but even that seems unlikely given the way the Seahawks will be operating on offense.

What is the overall fantasy impact?

With the Seahawks possibly having Sam Darnold back under center, it’s hard to imagine fantasy managers finding anything useful from the Commanders’ side. That’s true even if the Commanders believe they’re finally going to force a turnover, according to Commanders.com.

“It's going to get loose soon,” edge rusher Odafe Oweh said. “It's bound to stop. If we keep forcing the issue, keep punching the ball out. It's going to get loose.”

Quinn has expressed disappointment in the team being unable to take the ball away.

“I would have thought, from the takeaway department, that the defense would knock a few out,” Quinn said. “I like the play style and the hitting and going. So those are ones that we'll continue to emphasize hard.”

Maybe there’s hope. But it all seems too risky, offense and defense, from a fantasy standpoint.