It looks like Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is, in fact, on track to return against the Vikings this weekend.
Washington upgraded Daniels to a full participant in practice after he was limited on Wednesday.
Daniels suffered a dislocated elbow during the Commanders’ Week 9 loss to the Seahawks. Daniels was officially a limited participant on each of Washington’s three injury reports last week.
In his second season after winning AP offensive rookie of the year in 2024, Daniels has missed six games due to injury so far in 2025.
In his six starts, Daniels has completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 1,184 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions this year. He’s also rushed for 262 yards with two TDs.
Also on Washington’s Thursday injury report, linebacker Bobby Wagner (knee) and defensive end Drake Jackson (knee/groin) remained out of practice.
Linebacker Franke Luvu (shoulder) was upgraded from limited to full, while defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (back) was upgraded from DNP to full.
Long snapper Tyler Ott (back) was again a full participant, as was receiver Noah Brown (groin/knee), who is returning from injured reserve.
Commanders Clips
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy has cleared concussion protocol, Kevin Seifert of ESPN reports.
Clearance from an independent neurologist was the final step in McCarthy returning to the starting lineup on Sunday against the Commanders.
McCarthy was a full participant in practice on Wednesday.
He missed Sunday’s game against the Seahawks, a 26-0 loss with rookie Max Brosmer making his first career start. Brosmer threw for 168 yards with four interceptions.
The Vikings are 2-4 in McCarthy’s six starts this season and statistically ranked 28th in the league in total offense and 25th in scoring before Week 13. McCarthy, a first-round pick in 2024, has completed 54.1 percent of his passes for 929 yards with six touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The Commanders have made a pair of roster moves on Thursday.
Washington announced defensive end Drake Jackson has been activated to the 53-man roster off of injured reserve.
Jackson has been recovering from a torn patellar tendon suffered during training camp 2024 when he was with the 49ers. A second-round pick in 2022, Jackson posted 6.0 sacks in 23 games over his first two seasons.
As a corresponding move, the Commanders released veteran safety Darnell Savage, who is subject to waivers. Savage had joined Washington in September and appeared in eight games for the club, recording 15 total tackles with one forced fumble and one pass defensed.
The Vikings are set to have quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the starting lineup this Sunday.
McCarthy was a full participant in practice on Wednesday and head coach Kevin O’Connell said earlier this week that a full practice was McCarthy’s final step toward clearing the concussion protocol. Assuming he is officially cleared, McCarthy will start against the Commanders on Sunday.
The Vikings are close to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, which leaves seeing growth from McCarthy as the biggest thing left for the team to accomplish this season.
Guard Donovan Jackson (ankle) and defensive lineman Levi Drake Rodriguez (neck) were out of practice. Defensive lineman Jonathan Allen (rest), guard Blake Brandel (concussion), running back Ty Chandler (knee), edge rusher Jonathan Greenard (shoulder), defensive lineman Javon Hargrave (rest), safety Theo Jackson (neck), running back Aaron Jones (shoulder), center Ryan Kelly (hip), safety Josh Metellus (shoulder), defensive lineman Jalen Redmond (hip), and safety Harrison Smith (rest) were all limited participants.
The Commanders re-signed wide receiver Robbie Chosen to the practice squad on Tuesday.
The team waived Chosen off the active roster last week, with Terry McLaurin and Treylon Burks ready to suit up in the Week 13 game against the Broncos. He signed with the practice squad on Sept. 30 before being signed to the 53-player roster on Nov. 11.
Chosen has one practice squad elevation remaining this year, a move the team could use this week if Noah Brown (groin/knee) is not ready to return from injured reserve.
Chosen has appeared in three games for the Commanders this season, totaling five catches for 53 yards.
The NFL has announced kickoff times for the Saturday, Dec. 20 doubleheader featuring the Week 16 matchups between the Eagles and Commanders, along with the Bears and Packers.
Philadelphia at Washington will kick off at 5 p.m. ET. Green Bay at Chicago will kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET.
Both matchups will be televised on FOX.
While the Commanders are not in true contention for a postseason spot, the club could potentially play spoiler if the Eagles’ slide continues over the next couple of weeks.
The Packers and Bears will play one another at Lambeau Field this Sunday for their first matchup of the season before squaring off again just under two weeks later. Both contests will have significant consequences for the NFC North and the rest of the conference’s playoff picture.
The NFL will head into the final five weeks of the regular season with the fewest number of teams still in playoff contention since at least the 2002 season.
The Giants, who fell to 2-11 on Monday night, became the first team eliminated from postseason consideration in Week 12 and four teams joined them in Week 13. The 1-11 Titans, 2-10 Raiders, 2-10 Saints, and 3-9 Cardinals are also set to start making their plans for the 2026 season.
Per NBC Sports research, that is the most teams out at this point in the season since the divisional realignment that took place ahead of the 2002 season.
While all of those teams are out of the running, no teams have clinched a playoff spot at this point.
A handful of other teams should be joining that quintet soon. The 3-9 Jets, 3-9 Browns, 3-9 Commanders, 4-8 Falcons, and 4-8 Vikings are going to a lot of things to break in their favor to keep the playoff fires burning much longer.
The Commanders and Vikings play this week and the loser will have no remaining path to the playoffs. The Commanders will also be out if they win and the Eagles win while the Jets, Browns and Falcons are all out with a loss this week.
During Washington’s final drive in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s overtime loss to the Broncos, Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota was penalized for intentional grounding on a first and 15 play from the Washington 46. NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay immediately disputed the call.
“This is absolutely not grounding,” McAulay said. “He throws it over the head of No. 17, who is outside the numbers. By rule, that is not intentional grounding.”
The play happened immediately after a questionable false start, which pushed the Commanders back to their own 36, facing second and 25.
McAulay’s interpretation is the correct one. Although it doesn’t appear in the official rulebook, the NFL’s collection of “Approved Rulings” specifically addresses the situation.
The language appears in A.R. 8.83. The title of the approved ruling is “Not Intentional Grounding— Receiver Outside the Numbers.”
Here’s what it says: “First-and-10 on B40. QBA1 is about to be tackled in the pocket by B1 at the B48 when he throws the ball out of bounds at the B30. The ball sails over the head of eligible receiver A3, who is between the numbers and the sideline. Ruling: Second-and-10 on B40. No intentional grounding. If A3 was inside the numbers, it would be intentional grounding.”
It’s a exception to the grounding rule, no different than the one that allows a quarterback to get outside the pocket and throw past the line of scrimmage, even if the pass isn’t thrown not in the direction of or it doesn’t land in the vicinity of an eligible receiver.
While the Commanders eventually converted, keeping their game-tying field-goal drive alive, they shouldn’t have had to gain the yardage or to burn the time needed to do it. They would have had more time to win the game in regulation, with a touchdown.
The Commanders lost a member of their coaching staff after Sunday night’s loss to the Broncos.
Quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard agreed to become the next head coach of Stanford late last week and remained with the team through Sunday’s game. On Monday, head coach Dan Quinn announced that assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough will take on the job for the rest of the season.
Blough joined the Commanders’ staff this season. It is his first NFL coaching position.
Blough spent five seasons as a quarterback in the NFL. He appeared in seven games and made five starts for the Lions between 2019-2021 and started two games for the Cardinals in 2022. Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury was the head coach in Arizona at the time.
There is still a chance quarterback Jayden Daniels returns in Week 14 when the Commanders play the Vikings. But he has some steps to get through to do so.
During his Monday press conference, head coach Dan Quinn said Daniels has not yet been cleared for contact and the team may take the decision on whether or not he plays all the way to Friday.
“It’s a little different at the position because it’s not the normal contact like a linebacker or running back. It’s more of the functional contact,” Quinn said. “Think of stiff arm on a bag, think of diving on the ground — so there’s more functional movements that he’ll go through. He did some of that today, and he’ll do more during the week. So, the practice portion, for him throwing, ripped a bunch today and threw it hard. It’s the functional movement that he’ll continue to work with. Some of that actually will be in individual and working to the side. We’ll continue to work that part, and that’s the step we need to see from a functional evaluation, functional contact. It’s not traditional in the sense of taking a hit.”
Daniels has been sidelined by his dislocated left elbow since suffering it during the Week 9 loss to the Seahawks. Daniels was officially a limited participant on each of Washington’s three injury reports last week.
Marcus Mariota has started the last three games for the Commanders and would be in line to do the same against Minnesota if Daniels is unavailable. He’s started six games total this season.
Daniels has completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 1,184 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions in his six starts so far in 2025. Mariota has completed 63.2 percent of his throws for 1,359 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions.
