Washington's latest quarterback setback — Jayden Daniels leaving Sunday's blowout late with a dislocated elbow — felt painfully familiar to long-suffering Commanders fans. It wasn't just about one injury; it was a reminder of how franchise decisions around protecting a young signal-caller can shape careers and seasons.
A decade-plus ago, Robert Griffin III arrived as a savior of sorts: a Heisman winner who won Offensive Rookie of the Year and seemed to have the makings of a long-term star. In that 2012 wild-card game against the Seahawks, Griffin clearly aggravated a knee injury in the first quarter. Coach Mike Shanahan elected to keep him in rather than turn to backup Kirk Cousins. The offense stalled, Griffin's knee hyperextended on a low snap, he had surgery days later, and he never regained the trajectory he had before that injury. Griffin threw 27 touchdowns before that injury and, remarkably, finished his career with 26 after it.
The specifics of Daniels' elbow injury, and its expected severity, differ from Griffin's torn knee ligaments. Daniels' dislocation involved his non-throwing arm; RGIII's injury destroyed a lower body that defined his mobility and value. Yet to many
