Commanders’ summer focus shifts to the QB3 job, with Sam Hartman and Athan Kaliakmanis in the mix

The Washington Commanders enter the stretch of offseason work where the depth chart starts to separate. According to reporting from Pro Football Rumors, the team’s quarterback picture has a settled top tier, with Jayden Daniels viewed as the potential franchise quarterback and Marcus Mariota operating as a solid second-string option. That leaves the club’s remaining QB-related competition, at least for the summer, focused on the No. 3 role.

Pro Football Rumors, citing John Keim of ESPN, says Sam Hartman and Athan Kaliakmanis are competing for the QB3 job. In practical terms, the third quarterback matters even when it is not the weekly starter. The Commanders need a stable option for emergency reps, situational packages in practice, and insurance against the kind of attrition that inevitably shows up across a long training camp and regular season. The QB3 spot also becomes a proving ground for who can learn the offense quickly and handle the weekly variations that are tougher to simulate on a static depth chart.

Hartman and Kaliakmanis are being treated as the primary challengers for that job, and the summer’s decision will likely reflect more than arm talent. It will be about timing with receivers, the ability to operate within the team’s protections and cadence structure, and how consistently each quarterback executes the playbook when the session gets more chaotic. For a team built around Daniels at the top, the internal evaluation will probably weigh reliability and readiness heavily, even if the eventual QB3 seldom sees live game action.

The broader Commanders context is that Washington is not starting from scratch at the position. Mariota’s presence as the established second-string quarterback reduces pressure on whoever wins the No. 3 spot, because Washington can afford to develop the QB3 without turning every rep into a must-win audition. That also helps explain why the summer chatter is narrowed to one job rather than a two- or three-way scramble for the second role.

Alongside the quarterback battle, Pro Football Rumors also frames the Commanders’ summer as a broader competition period that includes a kicker battle. Even though kickers are not the headline in the same way as the quarterback spot, the combination of quarterback depth decisions and placekicker evaluation is a reminder that roster finalization is rarely only about the starter. It is about rounding out the team’s reliability for Week 1 and beyond.

For fans, the key question is who can take control of the QB3 conversation during training camp. If Hartman separates early with consistent execution and chemistry in team periods, he could become the default choice. If Kaliakmanis performs more smoothly in the team’s system and handles pressure moments in practice, he could force the Commanders to reconsider what they prioritize for the third spot.

Because the reporting here is based on beat-level expectations and offseason positioning, not an official Washington depth chart, this remains a watch item rather than a finalized lineup. The Commanders’ actual summer evaluation process, including how the quarterbacks respond in increasingly game-like reps, will determine whether this QB3 job becomes a quick resolution or a longer, day-to-day race.