The Washington Commanders may have another injury concern already this preseason. Friday night in their preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins, backup quarterback Marcus Mariota went down, having injured a leg. It was a 1st & 10 at the Dolphins’ 47-yard line. Mariota took the snap out of the shotgun, turned to his left, and handed the ball to rookie RB Kaytron Allen. Allen attempted to run off left tackle, but only got back to the line of scrimmage.
Commanders QB Marcus Mariota was taken to the locker room with an apparent non-contact injury after a handoff in the first quarter vs. the Dolphins. pic.twitter.com/v3lYiFGk7I — Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) August 15, 2026 Meanwhile, Mariota limped away from the action, toward his right, and then went down on the ‘W’ logo. Mariota appeared to have pointed to or tapped his right knee while on the turf. After a preliminary examination on the field, Mariota walked off to the medical blue tent. Upon exiting the tent, Mariota then walked across the field to the Commanders locker room and did not return to action. If there is any consolation, Mariota appeared to walk to the locker room with less of a limp than when the injury first occurred on the field. Some reporters were stating it was ’a non-contact injury’ for Mariota, but I do not believe this was the case at all. The previous play was a 3rd & 8 from the Commanders’ 31-yard line. Mariota received a deep snap on his 26, dropped back, looked left, firing a pass toward the left sideline that was caught for a 22-yard gain to WR Dyami Brown. Just after Mariota had released the ball, he was hit by a Dolphin pass rusher. He then went down after the following play described above.
Marcus Mariota with the dime under pressure 🎯 With a 75.2 PFN QB Impact Score, Mariota had the 2nd-best score of every backup QB in the NFL pic.twitter.com/7XavyeElCi — Pro Football Network (@PFN365) August 14, 2026 Head coach Dan Quinn, in his postgame press conference, said there was no update on Mariota’s condition. Quinn said he may have more of an update on Sunday. Mariota will turn 33 in October, and the Commanders had hoped to give him some good reps Friday night in the first preseason game. Now, we are wondering how severe this injury is. Mariota completed 1 of 3 passes for 22 yards before exiting Friday’s contest. Mariota was replaced by QB Sam Hartman, who played the remainder of the half and the first possession of the third quarter. Hartman was then replaced by Rutgers rookie QB Athan Kaliakmanis, who played the remainder of the second half. Just last week, the Commanders lost star left tackle Laremy Tunsil with a torn triceps. A Mariota injury would be another devastating blow to the Commanders, considering the questions surrounding Jayden Daniels’ health. This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: What's the latest on Commanders QB Marcus Mariota after Friday's injury?