It may have been a little too soon to promote Jacoby Brissett to starting position.
Due to a hamstring ailment, the quarterback is doubtful for Washington’s Week 17 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, per the team’s injury report released on Friday.
At the end of the workweek, with unexpected uncertainty under center, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera informed media on Friday that Brissett had reported hamstring soreness on Thursday and would need treatment.
As per Rivera, Brissett will be under observation by Washington for the next 48 hours, so his status will be determined at game time on Sunday.
Brissett was in line to make his first start of the 2023 season in Week 17 as a result of a decision Rivera put off for about as long as possible. Rivera’s chosen top quarterback, Sam Howell, had played well enough through most of the regular season to justify his place in the lineup, but in the last two weeks, Washington’s offense was significantly worse with Howell at the controls than it was with Brissett.
Just last week, Brissett entered a game against the Jets that Washington had very little chance of winning and engineered three straight touchdown drives, waking up an offense that had previously seemed content to warm up the buses. That was enough to convince Rivera it was time for Howell to receive some tutoring from Brissett by watching the veteran run the offense.
