Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has had a frustrating sophomore season, which continued against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night.
Daniels left the game early with a significant injury to his left arm, his third injury of the year. This injury looked pretty gruesome, as Daniels needed help coming off the field. Daniels' official diagnosis was indeed serious. But it wasn't catastrophic. Although the Commanders will be without their lead signal-caller for some period of time moving forward, it's not a guarantee that he will miss the rest of the season.
With that, here's the latest on how long Daniels will be out.
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Jayden Daniels injury update
Jayden Daniels left Sunday night's game against the Seahawks after injuring his left arm in the fourth quarter. Daniels was scrambling on his play, and during a tackle, his arm got caught under him and bent backward.
While Daniels is still undergoing testing to determine the severity of the injury, he did dislocate his left elbow on the play, which required medical staff to put a brace on him as he walked off the field. However, Washington is still not sure exactly how long Daniels will be out.
According to Nicki Jhabvala, the Commanders did not place Daniels on IR after Week 9, which "leaves open the possibility" of a return in the 2025 season, for the time being.
Those possibilities were amplified by Daniels' official diagnosis. He did, in fact, dislocate his left elbow. But he avoided any ligament damage on the play and will not have to undergo surgery to repair the injury, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
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Dislocated elbow recovery time in NFL
A dislocated elbow isn't a frequent injury in the NFL, but when it does happen, the player's absence length is dependent on the severity. At the very least, Daniels will miss a month, with the possibility of more missed time if Daniels' injury needs surgery.
Dislocated elbows that don't require surgery typically require sitting out of games for around a month, but if the injury needs surgery, then the player is more likely to miss between two and three months of action.
The benefit for Daniels is that this injury occurred to his non-throwing arm, so he won't need to ramp up a throwing workload before returning. If he doesn't need surgery, then Daniels may be able to return to the field in the middle of December, but if his injury requires surgery, the recovery time will likely sideline Daniels for the rest of the season.
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Notable NFL players with dislocated elbows
In the past two seasons, two prominent defensive players suffered dislocated elbows, similar to Daniels.
Earlier this year, Los Angeles Chargers pass rusher Khalil Mack dislocated his elbow in a game against the Las Vegas Raiders. The injury occurred on September 15, but Mack avoided surgery and was able to return to action a month later on October 19.
Last season, New York Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence suffered a dislocated elbow on November 28 against the Dallas Cowboys, and he missed the final five games of the season even though he didn't need surgery. Had the injury occurred earlier in the season, Lawrence may have been able to return.
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