Eagles’ next three opponents have injured starting quarterbacks

Over their next three games, the Philadelphia Eagles will face teams whose starting quarterbacks are injured. Let's review each of them.

Week 14: Eagles at Chargers: Justin Herbert

This has been covered here at length this week, but in the Chargers' Week 13 win over the Raiders, Herbert exited with an injury to his left (non-throwing) hand, but later returned to the game. It was later determined that Herbert had a fracture in his left hand, and he had surgery on Monday to repair the damage.

Herbert was clearly favoring his hand upon his return to the lineup against the Raiders. He did not take snaps from under center, and he was handing the ba

ll off only with his good hand. He was a limited participant in practice all week, and the Chargers listed him as questionable to play against the Eagles. He is expected to play, but could be affected by the injury, even if on his non-throwing arm.

The Chargers' QB2 is Trey Lance.

Week 15: Raiders at Eagles: Geno Smith

Smith injured his right shoulder in the third quarter of the Raiders' loss to the Broncos on Sunday. He also suffered a cut on his right hand.

Former Eagle Kenny Pickett filled in and played well, completing 8 of 11 passes for 97 yards and a TD against a good Broncos defense.

Raiders head coach Pete Carroll said that Smith avoided a serious injury, and Smith will start against the Eagles Week 15 if he is healthy.

"I'm going to do what I think is the right thing to do, and if Geno can play, that's my thought," Carroll said, via Ryan McFadden of ESPN. " … I'm rooting for Geno to get back out there and see how he does. But we're not going to play him if he's not right, so Kenny will be ready to go."

Smith has had a horrendous season. He leads the NFL with 14 INTs, and his total EPA of -70.73 is ranked 70th in the NFL, only ahead of Titans rookie Cam Ward.

The Raiders should probably just see what Pickett can do in a start. The Eagles should be rooting for Smith to get well soon.

Weeks 16 and 18: Eagles at Commanders, Commanders at Eagles: Jayden Daniels

Daniels was a rookie phenom in 2024, but he has had a very frustrating second season in 2025.

• He was on the Commanders' injury report Week 2 with a right wrist injury.

• He missed a pair of games in Weeks 3 and 4 against the Raiders and Falcons with a knee sprain. He returned to play Week 5 against the Chargers, but remained on the injury report for three weeks.

• In Week 7 against the Cowboys, Daniels injured his hamstring in the third quarter, and did not return. He missed the Commanders' Week 8 game against the Chiefs.

• Against the Seahawks Week 9, Daniels suffered a gruesome elbow injury while the Commanders were down 38-7 with 7:29 left in the game. He missed the next four games.

• On Sunday against the Vikings, Daniels returned to the lineup, and he promptly re-injured his elbow while getting shoved to the ground during a pick-six.

The Commanders are now mathematically eliminated from playoff contention after their shutout loss to the Vikings.

As noted in our "non-Eagles rooting guide," it was idiocy for the Commanders to put Daniels on the field. There are only theoretical benefits to it (he's a competitor and you have to let competitors compete, blah blah), but massive downside. Daniels has gotten hurt repeatedly throughout the season, and hasn't performed well when healthy enough to play.

The Commanders' priority the rest of this season should be to protect Daniels from himself by shutting him down for the season, and hoping he returns to his rookie form in 2026.

From the Eagles' perspective, it probably doesn't matter much whether Daniels plays against them or not, since backup Marcus Mariota has arguably played better than Daniels anyway.

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