The Commanders’ turnaround from a four-win team to the NFC Championship Game last year has made them a potential Super Bowl contender overnight. Coming into 2025, they are one of the most dangerous teams, thanks to improvements on defense and continuing refinement of the weapons around superstar franchise QB Jayden Daniels.
Unfortunately, the goodwill from last season lasted just one week as they ran into a buzzsaw in Week 2 in the form of the Green Bay Packers. Being dominated, their record stood at 1-1, albeit with a winnable game against the Las Vegas Raiders on the horizon in Week 3.
However, in a shocking development, a different second-round pick will be the starting quarterback for Washington in that game. But why is Marcus Mariota getting the starter nod?
How Did Marcus Mariota Replace Jayden Daniels as the Starter?
During their 27-18 Week 2 loss to Green Bay, a stifling Packers defense featuring EDGE Micah Parsons did a number on Daniels. He finished with just 200 passing yards and two touchdowns while completing less than 60% of his passing attempts.
His ability to run the ball, too, didn’t create much of a difference, as he added just 17 yards on the ground on seven carries. A major reason for that drop off turned out to be a knee injury that lingered for Daniels throughout the week.
After sitting out of practice on Wednesday and Thursday, he was a limited participant on Friday. However, the Commanders chose to take a cautious approach with his return, as head coach Dan Quinn explained his reasoning.
As the official website reported, the coach said, “I said at the beginning that we were going to be very diligent on his return to play to make sure we didn’t miss any steps. We’re gonna be smart, not just fast.”
As a result, Mariota is going to step in to fill the starting shoes in his absence. Last year, too, he took on the role for two games, throwing for 364 yards and four touchdowns while going 2-0. Washington certainly would be hoping for similar results this time around as well.
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Taken as the second overall pick in 2015, Mariota was the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner for a legendary campaign with Oregon. However, he couldn’t find the same level of success with the Tennessee Titans, failing to eclipse the 3,500-yard mark in his five years with the team.
Commanders QB Marcus Mariota will start today vs Las Vegas, and on the opposite sideline will be Raiders OC Chip Kelly, his former head coach at Oregon. After Kelly left Oregon to become the Eagles head coach, he tried to trade up to the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft… pic.twitter.com/epP1mE2sZK
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 21, 2025
Eventually, the team gave up on him, and he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders to serve as Derek Carr’s backup quarterback. Released two years later, he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023, serving as Jalen Hurts’s backup quarterback.
His one-year stint with the Commanders began in 2024. However, this offseason, he chose to return to Washington by signing another one-year contract worth $8 million back in March.
Regardless, Mariota’s game Sunday against Las Vegas will be a revenge game of sorts. The Oregon product had a two-year stint with the Raiders from 2020 to 2021. These two historical franchises will kick off at 1 p.m. ET on local FOX stations.
