Commanders' 53-player projection, 4.0: The locks, battles, and surprises

Sorting out the Commanders roster ahead of Tuesday's cutdown day, from Jayden Daniels to Jacory Croskey-Merritt to the 53rd Man. And then some.

Commanders-Ravens pregame at Northwest Stadium

LANDOVER, Md. — No preamble here. The Washington Commanders have until Tuesday and 4:00 p.m. ET to trim their training camp roster from 91 to 53. Why wait. My final roster (and practice squad) projections are below. Adding players, whether released by another team, off waivers, or potential trades, comes later.

For review, links to 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

Quarterbacks (2)
Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota
Others: Josh Johnson, Sam Hartman
Changes: None

The less said about Saturday’s quarterback play, the better. What we need is more chatter from head coach Dan Quinn on Mariota’s status heading toward Week 1. The veteran told reporters he’s been battling Achilles tendinitis throughout camp, limiting his reps. If the team is comfortable with the rehab work, rolling with two QBs and stashing another on the practice squad works.

If not, keeping Johnson, 39, until another option surfaces is the prudent play. If this is the end of Johnson’s playing career in Washington, both sides spent months together. It wouldn’t surprise me if Johnson returns to join the coaching staff at some future point.

Sidebar: Teams want a third-string QB who knows the system and gives offensive teammates a chance to function properly. Jeff Driskel did that job last year — he also served as Daniel’s primary backup when Mariota began the season on IR — and looked better last summer than either Johnson or 2025 Hartman. He’s still a free agent. Unless there’s a young QB this staff wants to groom, they should be calling Driskel sooner rather than later.