The Commanders drafted Athan Kaliamanis with the expectation that he wouldn’t play a meaningful snap this season. There wasn’t even a guarantee the seventh-round selection would even make the 53-man roster, a position he earned with a solid preseason despite competition from the well-liked Sam Hartman.
The Rutgers product was and should’ve been viewed as a developmental prospect in 2026 and beyond, with his career seemingly mapped out to be a trusted backup throughout his rookie contract.
Yet there
he was despite all that, charged with guiding the Commanders for most of Sunday’s Week 4 contest against the Indianapolis Colts.
That’s what happens when a quarterback situation goes pear-shaped. Jayden Daniels was unavailable with a left elbow dislocation suffered in Week 2. Then veteran backup Marcus Mariota went down with an MCL injury during the game’s second series.
That put the Commanders in a bind, turning to Kaliakmanis in a time of need. He was good at times and showed his lack of experience (and practice reps) at others, producing an uneven performance with highlights and an inability to keep Washington afloat versus the Colts.
We saw moments of brilliance and an inability to sustain drives.
This throw to Treylon Burks was a thing of beauty.
Then we saw some operational issues, which is commonplace when you’ve got a new quarterback.
That led to an offensive slowdown and an inability to score efficiently enough to compete. The Commanders were in Kaliakmanis’ corner, with him getting advice from Daniels and injured receiver Terry McLaurin and more.
He was ultimately able to complete just 15-of-33 passes for 186 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Kaliakmanis was far from perfect, but was serviceable considering the situation.
“I feel like Athan came in and showed a lot of confidence and some fearlessness with that,” Quinn told on-site reporters in a postgame press conference. “He made some of the throws to highlight where he is where he is. As far as the full team, I don’t think we did enough around him in that spot.”
Quinn was right to say that Kaliakmanis showed no fear, attacking a difficult situation with vigor.
The rookie balanced the combination of excitement at his opportunity and disappointment at the outcome in his postgame press conference with on-site reporters.
“I was preparing for this all week,” Kaliakmanis said. “…I have to be honest; I’m just thinking about the loss. It’s not about me. It’s about this team. There were some very blessed moments today for me but, at the end of the day, I’m a winner and today we did not win. It stings. It definitely stings.”
