Commanders' 53-player projection 3.0: More roster smoke coming?

Fallout from Brian Robinson's pending exit, Jayden Daniels' backups, line intrigue and other initial 53-player roster debates.

Commanders-Bengals preseason game at Northwest Stadium

We don’t need to relive a preseason game where Jayden Daniels only played one series in the Washington Commanders’ 31-17 loss to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals. What do we need? Roster Projection 3.0 — with cutdown to 53 just one week away and three days after Saturday’s preseason finale against the Baltimore Ravens.

For review, links to 1.0 and 2.0.

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Quarterbacks (2)

Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota
Others: Josh Johnson, Sam Hartman
Changes: None

One and done for Daniels in his preseason debut. Fortunately, the Bengals defenders standing between the scrambling QB and the end zone didn’t snap him in two. We’ll call the choice to avoid sliding “competitiveness,” which is how Dan Quinn rationalized it postgame. Is it weird that Daniels, unlikely to play Saturday against Baltimore, will enter the season not having thrown a live-rep pass? Sure. Is it concerning? Not really. There weren’t many first-teamers out there with him anyway. Get in, get out, move on.

Sidebar: Mariota hasn’t played this preseason and missed most of camp with a lower-leg strain. Quinn keeps saying it’s just about getting a veteran ready for Year 11. If that’s true, Johnson and Hartman are practice squad candidates, nothing more. Honestly, I don’t see what Johnson could do against Baltimore to make the 53. Hartman’s not close yet. Bottom line: It would be nice to see Mariota back in practice sooner rather than later.