Fantasy Football Impact: Jayden Daniels Misses Practice, Trends to be Out for Week 3
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Jayden Daniels has not practiced on Thursday, and this is very important as this is a critical practice for a Sunday game-status. Common understanding is that if a player misses Thursday practice, they become increasingly unlikely to play in the upcoming game. Daniels has not yet practiced within weekly gameplan, and Marcus Mariota now enters the driver seat to start against the Raiders. This has massive fantasy football implications, and so we will provide where to be nervous, and where to look for a replacement.
🚨🚨 NFL RUMORS #Commanders Marcus Mariota TRENDING to start this week due to injury for Jayden Daniels #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/HbJrOzUzom
— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) September 17, 2025
Fantasy Football Impact
At this point, it can be assumed that Daniels is not going to be starting for the Commanders in Week 3. This will elevate Marcus Mariota to the starting position. Good news for the Commanders is that Mariota has been very reliable when called upon. He played significant snaps in two games for the team in 2024, and racked up a beautiful stat-line of 34-44, 364 Yards, 4 Touchdowns and 0 Interceptions. Mariota fits the Commanders game plan and so they may survive just okay without Daniels.
As for the rest of this offense, it should slightly dip the value of Terry McLaurin, although with his ceiling remaining the same. Mariota should pass a bit less and with less risk, but I would not even be surprised if they let him as loose as Daniels. This is one of the best backup situations in the NFL. A stock increase will be in store of Jacory Croskey-Merritt. For the most part, offensive stock does not shift a ton. Mariota is a great free agency pick up should you need to replace Daniels is free agency.
Jayden Daniels Injury Status
Daniels has been expected to miss practice all along. It has been said by Dan Quinn that he would not practice until at least Friday, providing low optimism that he would play in Week 3. Of course, the team does not want to assure his absence too soon, but smart thinking would assume that Daniels will be out.
Kliff Kingsbury said Jayden Daniels is "preparing mentally" today. "Marcus is taking the reps and Jayden is preparing mentally."
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) September 18, 2025
The injury at hand is a knee sprain, assumed to be a PCL sprain, to be exact. Given the teams optimism, it appears it may not be a high grade sprain, but history shows that he should definitely not play this week. Two players to suffer a PCL sprain in recent years have been Zach Wilson and Lamar Jackson. Both players missed multiple games. We know that NFL teams can be unpredictable in their injury reports, so we will take press conferences with a grain of salt.
You should 100% expect Daniels to be out this Sunday, and that word to become official on Friday. Pick up Mariota, if needed. The Raiders defense is not scary to the Commanders, especially at home in the nation's capital.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.