Throughout the offseason, one position on the Washington Commanders' roster that hasn't gotten a lot of attention when discussing depth chart battles is the most important one.
There's no need to talk about it.
Reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year quarterback Jayden Daniels is the unambiguous starter and the new face of Washington's football franchise. Marcus Mariota is firmly entrenched as his backup. With any luck, these will be the only two quarterbacks who are called upon to play any significant role during the 2025 season.
And ideally, it'll only be Daniels.
But Washington can be expected to roster a third signal-caller just in case. It'll go down to the wire between former undrafted free agent Sam Hartman and journeyman veteran Josh Johnson. This collision will take center stage for the Commanders' preseason curtain raiser against the New England Patriots.
Sam Hartman and Josh Johnson could settle the Commanders' QB3 spot against the Patriots
As expected, Dan Quinn announced that the Commanders' starters will not play in their preseason opener versus the Patriots. It was also inferred that even the primary backups won't be getting much, if any, involvement.
This is standard preseason practice, both to protect key players from being put at unnecessary injury risk while also giving those buried deeper on the depth chart a public audition. For Hartman and Johnson, it may just determine who earns the role as Washington's QB3.
The two backups have taken wildly different paths. Hartman was a star at Wake Forest and Notre Dame in college. He signed with the Commanders as an undrafted free agent last offseason. Although he did not make the initial 53-man roster, the signal-caller spent most of the year on the practice squad with occasional call-ups and has been brought back for another shot in 2025.
The 39-year-old Johnson's career has contained a lot more mileage. He's played for more different teams than anyone in NFL history.
He even made a previous stop in Washington when he was signed in 2018 following Alex Smith's brutal leg injury. Johnson started three games, earning his first (and to date, only) regular-season victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Johnson knows that if he doesn't make the Commanders' roster, it could spell the end of his career. Hartman, meanwhile, is just trying to get a foot in the door.
These are two very different quarterbacks at two different phases of their NFL careers. But they'll have the same goal in mind when the preseason spotlight glares.
We'll see how it plays out.
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