Dan Quinn worked to avoid injuries. The Commanders still have a rash of them.

ASHBURN, Va. — Consider the growing list of injuries already.

Marcus Mariota, Laremy Tunsil, Odafe Oweh, Nick Allegretti, Trey Amos, Rachaad White. All key players who have been hurt in training camp.

Oh, and there’s more if you count the depth pieces. Johnny Newton, Jeremy McNichols, Jerome Ford, John Bates, Tim Settle, Deatrich Wise.

All in, there are 15 Washington Commanders players who are nursing some sort of injury in Ashburn.

It’s not quite San Francisco levels — where the 49ers seemingly have a monopoly on a long injury report — but it’s getting up there.

Head coach Dan Quinn specifically structured training camp to avoid injuries. But even he knows: There isn’t much more to be done.

“It sucks. It is part of it,” Quinn said. “Just the nature of how we play, the stopping and starting, changing speeds. There isn’t any foolproof way to [avoid injuries]. Getting guys ready, the hydrations, I feel like they are hitting all the marks to get the guys prepared. But it is still, obviously, part of it.”

Quinn worked with the medical staff to lay out practice to stop soft tissue injuries in particular. Right now, six players are dealing with hamstring or calf injuries.

“The ramp up [in camp] over the last four or five years, we’ve done better job of as a league,” Quinn said. “Starting with smaller amounts, red zone, not the longer drives. And the return to play portion of that, making sure they are fully ready to come back. This is not the time or space to say, ‘Hey, push them back quickly.’”

Washington is approaching the injury list with caution for now. Quinn said he doesn’t want anyone to come back right away. But with the season opener now under a month away, there is added pressure to get starters reps.

Allegretti, for example, has only completed two full practices. If he is going to be Washington’s starting center, he needs time snapping the ball to quarterback Jayden Daniels.

“Any time you aren’t getting any reps for a whole training camp, that is a big deal,” Quinn said. “Even for a player as experienced as Nick is, you want time on task.”

So now, these injury decisions are becoming more complicated than they were early in camp.

Amos, Washington’s starting corner, is another player who will eventually need to complete a full practice. He lasted less than two days before spraining an ankle.

Quinn might have one silver lining. After last year, when Washington was ravaged by injuries, Quinn said he wanted to prepare better for guys missing time. So in minicamp, he played his second team more than the first.

“I wanted the players who had played the least to play the most [during minicamp],” Quinn said. “I wanted to put them into that test. So when a person is out of practice, it is almost like, ‘OK, this is the next opportunity.’ My mind shifts to, ‘Where is this next player? Have their standards changed, how do they do, any mental errors?’ I just tend to shift to, ‘Where is my roster, who is the next backup?’ It does provide you some outlook into that.”

Starters a go

This weekend in Detroit will likely be the last chance for starters to play in the preseason. And Quinn said he intends to play many of them.

Daniels’ status is a different question. He still could sit, even if most of the starters play. Final decisions on personnel will be made tonight before the team leaves to play the Lions on Saturday.

“A good amount of starters will get some playing time. I’ll finalize that list tonight,” Quinn said. “Once I know the health of everybody else around [Daniels], then I’ll have a better sense [for whether Daniels plays].”

A long-term issue

One player on the injury list who will not come back any time soon is Jer’Zhan Newton. The 2024 second-round pick tore his pectoral muscle and underwent surgery in New York yesterday.

“He’ll miss a significant amount of time. How much that is, I don’t know yet,” Quinn said. “It’s a tough blow for a guy who really put in a good offseason to get there.”

Newton was competing to make the 53-man roster with Ricky Barber and Byron Cowart. It opens up a spot for one of those two to potentially sneak onto the team.