Commanders waive 27-year-old Sam Hartman

Mariota appeared to injure his knee when he turned to hand the ball off to his running back, and immediately started limping. He was seemingly patting his right knee while sitting on the field, talking to trainers after the play. He was able to leave the field under his own power, but we do not expect him to return. He was replaced by QB Sam Hartman.

The Commanders already ruled out Daniels and Mariota at the quarterback spot, leaving Josh Johnson to start for the final game of the regular season. Sam Hartman is inactive, but will be the emergency third quarterback. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil was also ruled out for an eliminated Commanders team looking ahead to next season.

Hartman was released earlier this week, but he cleared waivers and now Washington is stashing him on the practice squad. Hartman originally joined the organization as an undrafted free agent this offseason. He’s been released and re-signed to the practice squad multiple times already.

Hartman was solid in preseason action, but was never likely to make the Washington roster. He was also unlikely to leave the organization even after being waived by the Commanders on final cut day. Washington will try and develop Hartman into a backup quarterback.

A six-year college quarterback, Hartman in April signed as an undrafted free agent and didn’t make much of an impact during summer practices. Hartman was solid in the preseason, completing 13 of his 14 attempts for 86 yards, mostly against second and third team defenders. Hartman could land on a practice squad in the coming days.

After previous reports that Hartman (6'1/211) was signing with the Bears, the six-year prospect is now set to join the Commanders, who gave him a guaranteed base salary of $225K — a notable amount for a UDFA. After spending five seasons at Wake Forest in which he amassed 12,967-110-41, Hartman closed out his career in 2023 at Notre Dame, throwing for 2689-24-8 while leading the team to a 9-3 record. A willing deep ball thrower who is capable of extending plays from the pocket, but turnovers have also been a concern. His 2.5 percent interception rate is among the highest for recent quarterback prospects, and he completed less than 60 percent of his passes for his career. Hartman has the experience and talent to earn a legitimate look from teams, but he’ll need to fight to earn a QB2 role early in his career. He finds himself in a QB2 competition with veteran Marcus Mariota, as Jayden Daniels will likely earn the starting job in camp.

It took two overtimes to finish this one, as Hartman and the Demon Deacons nearly pulled off the upset while hanging 45 points on Clemson. Hartman had three touchdown passes on plays of 25 or more yards on the day, and found wide receiver A.T. Perry for an eight-yard score in the first overtime period. Through three games, Hartman has now thrown for 962 yards, 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. He and the Demon Deacons travel to Florida State for a date with the Seminoles next Saturday.

Clawson also announced that redshirt freshman QB Mitch Griffis will serve as the QB1 in Hartman’s absence. Griffis has attempted 15 passes in his career and is a former three-star quarterback from the 2020 class. Billed as a dual-threat quarterback in his 247Sports recruit profile, Griffis will have his first career start on September 1st against Virginia Military Institute.

The exact details of Hartman’s (6'1/208) absence aren’t known at this time, but he reportedly “sought medical attention for a non-football related condition” after Tuesday’s workout. Hartman was one of the premier quarterbacks in the nation last season, leading a high-flying Wake Forest offense to the ACC championship game against Pitt, throwing for 4228-39-14 on the year. Per OurLads.com, Hartman’s backups are redshirt sophomore Michael Kern and redshirt freshman Mitch Griffis. In three seasons, Kern has completed 21-of-38 passes for 370 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

Hartman (6'1/208) is among the top-10 quarterbacks to watch heading into the 2022 season after he experienced a meteoric rise before ultimately decreasing his draft stock some toward the end of last season. In addition to some impressive tape in which he’s show he is a true dual-threat quarterback, Hartman leads in some notable statistical categories. According to Pro Football Focus, Hartman has the most completions on 20+ yard throws in a season for a Power Five quarterback outside of only Joe Burrow. Hartman had a total of 45 in 2021, while Burrow totaled 47 in 2019. That’s certainly not bad company to be in, and Hartman has the chance to overtake him this fall.