Marcus Mariota will start for his third different NFL team this weekend after the Washington Commanders were forced to sit injured quarterback Jayden Daniels for their Week 3 matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Last year’s rookie standout suffered a knee injury in the Commanders’ Thursday night tilt at the Green Bay Packers and took no part in practice mid-week. Although Daniels threw every day, his ability to change direction remained limited on Friday, prompting head coach Dan Quinn to take the decision to call on nine-year vet Mariota — a move he confirmed during his regular Friday meeting with the media.

“We’re definitely encouraged about where the progress is being made,” Quinn said. “But 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.”

Mariota, who was a part of the Raiders roster in 2020-21 without getting a start in silver-and-black, will make his return to the main role for the first time since 2022, when he moved to Atlanta in order to be the Falcons’ starting quarterback post-Matt Ryan. Although he came in for Daniels in two games last season, and led the Commanders to victory both times, the then rookie’s health and performance restricted the Hawai’i native to backup duties throughout the year.

“We would certainly expect Marcus to deliver in the fashion that he does,” an unconcerned Quinn noted mid-week. “He has been like a real standard as a Commander, player [and] team-mate in elite ways.”