Washington Commanders

The Commanders’ first injury report ahead of Saturday’s game against the Eagles includes left tackle Laremy Tunsil.

Tunsil was listed as out of practice due to an oblique injury. Tunsil has started every game for Washington this season.

Defensive tackle Eddie Goldman (concussion), edge rusher Von Miller (rest), defensive tackle Daron Payne (rest), linebacker Bobby Wagner (knee, rest), and tight end Colson Yankoff (ankle) were also out of practice.

Tackle George Fant (knee), defensive end Drake Jackson (groin, knee), cornerback Jonathan Jones (rib), and running back Chris Rodriguez (groin) were listed as full participants. Quarterback Jayden Daniels (left elbow) was a limited participant, but he has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

The Commanders announced on Monday that quarterback Jayden Daniels will not play again this season due to the dislocated left elbow he suffered in a Week 9 loss to the Seahawks.

Daniels returned to play in Week 14, but aggravated the injury in Washington’s loss to the Vikings. Head coach Dan Quinn said at the time that Daniels could have returned to the game, but he further medical evaluation led to him being ruled out for Week 15 and he has not been cleared for contact. That led to the 4-10 Commanders deciding to let Daniels recover and start getting ready for 2026.

On Tuesday, Daniels said “adrenaline is a hell of a drug” when asked how he went from being available to not being cleared and reflected on a season that also saw him miss time due to hamstring and knee injuries.

“It’s super tough,” Daniels said, via WUSA. “I don’t want to miss games at all. I’ve been frustrated this whole season missing games. I want to be out there to help my teammates as much as possible. It’s just been a frustrating year, a disappointing year, but you learn from it and move forward.”

Daniels was the offensive rookie of the year in 2024 and the Commanders advanced to the NFC Championship Game, so this season was a step in the wrong direction across the board. They’ll hope for a rebound once Daniels is able to get back on the field next year.

Noah Brown’s 2025 season has come to an end.

The Commanders placed Brown on injured reserve on Tuesday after he suffered a rib injury during Sunday’s win over the Giants.

Brown was able to play just four games in 2025. He suffered an ankle injury early in the season that kept him sidelined until the Week 14 loss to the Vikings.

In those four games, he caught five passes for 83 yards.

As a corresponding move, the Commanders have signed receiver Chris Moore to the 53-man roster from the club’s practice squad.

Additionally, Washington designated cornerback Darius Rush practice squad injured, signed receiver River Cracraft to the practice squad, and signed tight end Gee Scott Jr. to the practice squad.

They can’t all be winners, can they?

As the NFL continues to make Christmas a pro football holiday, the trend has potential pitfalls. Including the very real possibility that the games to be played on December 25 will have little if any meaning to either or both of the teams involved.

Recent developments have made this season’s three-pack of games something far less enticing than gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

It will get started in nine days with Cowboys at Commanders. Both teams are more cooked than overdone roast beast.

Then comes Lions-Vikings. Detroit is scrambling to avoid missing the playoffs, which gives the game a little pop. The Vikings — who have won two in a row and are 6-8 — were eliminated on Sunday, when the Bears beat the Browns.

The day ends with the Broncos at the Chiefs. With the Chiefs eliminated. And with Gardner Minshew playing quarterback for the home team. Why would folks in Kansas City want to venture out on Christmas night to watch that one?

For in-home viewers who root for other teams, there’s a certain schadenfreude factor that will prompt those who had developed Chiefs fatigue to tune in and relish what should be a long night for the franchise that had appeared in three straight Super Bowls and five of the last six. Still, it will hardly be must-see streaming for Prime Video.

One factor is the calendar. With Labor Day landing on September 1 this year, the season started as early as it ever does. Which puts Christmas in Week 17. Which makes it harder to effectively predict in May the games that will matter in late December.

For that reason, don’t be surprised if the NFL eventually builds flexibility into the Christmas games, like it does for the late-season Saturday when five games are flagged as candidates for the three standalone spots.

Few teams are eliminated and thus irrelevant by Thanksgiving. More teams are and will be out of it by the time Christmas rolls around. If the NFL wants to maximize the audience for those games, it will have to either hit the bull’s-eye in May, or it needs to have the ability to move the dart.

Jayden Daniels will not play again in 2025.

Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Commanders are shutting down Daniels as he continues to recover from aggravating his dislocated left elbow.

Rapoport notes that Daniels was re-evaluated on Monday and was not medically cleared. With the quarterback expected to be medically ruled out for Saturday’s game against Philadelphia and then a quick turnaround for a Christmas Day game against the Cowboys on a Thursday, the Commanders made the final decision to end Daniels’ second season on Monday.

The 2024 AP offensive rookie of the year, Daniels led the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game in his first season. But things did not go nearly as well for Daniels in Year 2, as knee, hamstring, and elbow injuries have all limited him to just seven games.

While Daniels was able to make seven starts in 2025, he played — at most — three games in a row.

Daniels finished 2025 having completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 1,262 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions. He rushed fur 278 yards with two touchdowns, averaging 4.8 yards per attempt.

Marcus Mariota is now set to start Washington’s last three games against Philadelphia, Dallas, and Philadelphia, respectively. He’s completed 62.0 percent of his passes this season for 1,600 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions while rushing for 298 yards with one TD.

Giants rookie Jaxson Dart is clearly the franchise’s quarterback of the future. His future ability to consistently remain on the field hinges largely on his ability to take big hits.

On Sunday, he was once again checked for a concussion. As noted by Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com, Dart has now been checked for concussions five times in 10 games this season, including the preseason. (Dart also had two very brief appearances early in the regular season, attempting a pass in neither contest.)

Against the Commanders in Week 15, he missed two snaps during the evaluation.

Per Raanan, Dart said after the game that he was “definitely surprised” that he was directed to be checked on Sunday. “Definitely feel there is a sensitivity for some reason,” he said.

There should be. In some situations, it seems as if there isn’t enough.

For Dart, it comes down to protecting himself. Every hit introduces the possibility of an injury, including a concussion. And while some hits are unavoidable, plenty aren’t. He’ll need to learn how to minimize the avoidable contact, if he wants to minimize the amount of time he misses while being checked for a concussion. Or while suffering from one.

In a game that had no meaning in the playoff race but much meaning for the 2026 NFL draft, the Giants did what many of their fans hoped they would do, and lost.

A 29-21 loss to the Commanders dropped the Giants’ record to 2-12 and keeps them in first place for the first overall pick in next year’s draft.

The Commanders, who are also mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, improve to 4-10 on the season.

If the Giants do earn the first overall pick, they’d likely trade down because the one thing the Giants have going for them is a franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart. Although Dart wasn’t great today, completing 20 of 36 passes for 246 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception, he continues to look like a quarterback the Giants can build around.

Still, Dart needs to stop taking so many big hits. He had to go into the medical tent today, and was briefly replaced by Jameis Winston, after a shot he took late in today’s game. Keeping Dart healthy is the highest priority.

For these two teams, winning is a lower priority. The Commanders won, but it doesn’t much matter.

The Bills will be missing a key defensive piece as they try to keep the Patriots from clinching the AFC East in New England on Sunday.

Cornerback Christian Benford is inactive for the game. Benford was added to the injury report on Thursday with a toe issue and he missed practice on Friday before being listed as questionable.

Benford had a big hand in each of the Bills’ last two wins. He returned a fumble for a touchdown and had an interception to help them beat the Steelers in Week 13 and he returned an interception for the go-ahead score against the Bengals in the fourth quarter last Sunday.

Bills at Patriots

Bills: CB Christian Benford, LB Terrel Bernard, WR Gabe Davis, S Darnell Savage, OL Tylan Grable, DT Phidarian Mathis, OL Chase Lundt

Patriots: LB Bradyn Swinson, OL Marcus Bryant, DT Eric Gregory, TE C.J. Dippre, WR Efton Chism, QB Tommy DeVito

Ravens at Bengals

Ravens: WR Rashod Bateman, CB Keyon Martin, OL Joseph Noteboom, DT Aeneas Peebles, QB Cooper Rush

Bengals: WR Tee Higgins, QB Jake Browning, S PJ Jules, DT Jordan Jefferson

Jets at Jaguars

Jets: QB Tyrod Taylor, QB Justin Fields, WR Tyler Johnson, EDGE Braiden McGregor, DL Mazi Smith, TE Mason Taylor, LB Kiki Mauigoa

Jaguars: LB Yasir Abdullah, OL Walker Little, TE Hunter Long, DL Emmanuel Ogbah, DL Austin Johnson

Chargers at Chiefs

Chargers: WR Quentin Johnston, S Elijah Molden, WR Derius Davis, CB Nikko Reed, LB Kyle Kennard, OL Trey Pipkins, WR Dalevon Campbell

Chiefs: CB Trent McDuffie, WR Hollywood Brown, OT Jawaan Taylor, TE Jared Wiley, G Trey Smith, RB Elijah Mitchell, DT Zacch Pickens

Cardinals at Texans

Cardinals: CB Max Melton, WR Marvin Harrison Jr., S Jalen Thompson, S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, OL Evan Brown, OT Paris Johnson, WR Xavier Weaver

Texans: OL Jarrett Kingston, WR Braxton Berrios, RB Nick Chubb, QB Graham Mertz, CB Ameer Speed, LB E.J. Speed, DE Solomon Byrd

Browns at Bears

Browns: CB Denzel Ward, RB Dylan Sampson, G Zak Zinter, G Wyatt Teller, T Jack Conklin, TE David Njoku, DT Adin Huntington

Bears: QB Tyson Bagent, RB Travis Homer, WR Jahdae Walker, LB Ruben Hyppolite, DE Dominique Robinson, DT Jonathan Ford

Commanders at Giants

Commanders: QB Jayden Daniels, DE Drake Jackson, OL George Fant, CB Jonathan Jones, OL Trenton Scott, RB Chris Rodriguez

Giants: EDGE Kayvon Thibodeaux, WR Ryan Miller, P Jamie Gillan, OL James Hudson, WR Gunner Olszewski, DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches, QB Russell Wilson

Raiders at Eagles

Raiders: QB Geno Smith, CB Greedy Vance, RB Zamir White, OL Jordan Meredith, TE Ian Thomas, WR Alex Bachman, DL Leki Fotu

Eagles: LB Josh Uche, QB Sam Howell, CB Mac McWilliams, RB A.J. Dillon, OT Lane Johnson, DT Jalen Carter

In Week 14, all five broadcast windows featured high-stakes games — with three of them happening simultaneously at 1:00 p.m. ET.

In Week 15, that’s not the case.

Still, even with nine teams (nearly a third of the entire league) eliminated from playoff contention, only one game will be truly meaningless: Commanders at Giants. The other 15, starting with Thursday night’s Falcons-Bucs game, have at least one team that has postseason aspirations.

The fact that the Falcons, who are out, upended the Bucs, who are desperately trying to get in, underscores the reality that the teams playing for nothing won’t necessarily be checking one of the few remaining boxes before it’s time to get a much-deserved break from football.

The biggest games mean something for both teams. In Bills-Patriots (1:00 p.m. ET), it’s Buffalo’s last-ditch effort to stay in the division race. And a loss will impact their ability to secure one of the three AFC wild-card berths. The Patriots, in turn, hope to clinch their first AFC East title since 2019 while also continuing to push for the lone AFC first-round bye.

For the 9-4 Chargers and the 6-7 Chiefs, L.A.'s opportunity for its first sweep of the Chiefs since 2013 also includes a chance to ensure that the AFC playoff tree will omit the team that has climbed to the top of it five times in six seasons. A loss by the Chargers will make it harder for them to get a seat at the playoff table.

Packers-Broncos at 4:25 p.m. ET could be a Super Bowl preview. Both teams have been consistently winning of late, and both are trying to hold leads in their respective divisions. The winner will have a much better chance at getting the top seed in their respective conferences.

Lions-Rams (4:25 p.m. ET) has the obvious storyline featuring the quarterbacks who were traded for each other (with the Lions also getting two first-round picks and a third-round pick) nearly five years ago. But the 8-5 Lions are currently on the outside looking in, and the 10-3 Rams have very realistic No. 1 seed aspirations.

In the Sunday night window, it’s a literal elimination game for the 5-8 Vikings — and a de facto go-home proposition for the 6-6-1 Cowboys.

All of the other games have some degree of drama. The 6-7 Ravens, who have lost three in a row, can’t afford to slip two games behind the Steelers with three to play. And the 4-9 Bengals’ thin playoff hopes will evaporate with a loss.

The 8-5 Texans, winners of five in a row, can’t afford a letdown against the 3-10 Cardinals.

The 9-4 Jaguars, who quietly have surged to the top of the AFC South, need to stay focused against the Jets and (checks roster) undrafted rookie quarterback Brady Cook.

The 8-5 Eagles need to prove to the world that they aren’t slipping and sliding out of the NFC East lead against a 3-10 Raiders team with nothing to lose (except their eighth game in a row).

The 8-5 Colts have literally dusted off 44-year-old Philip Rivers in a desperate effort to avoid becoming the sixth team since the merger to start 7-1 or better and miss the playoffs. Good luck with that against the 10-3 Seahawks, who have become dominant in recent weeks.

The 7-6 Panthers, who were upset at home by the 3-10 Saints, have a chance to seize a one-game lead in the NFC South.

The 9-4 49ers, who are emerging from a bye, can’t let themselves get caught flat-footed against the 2-11 Titans, who stunned the Browns with a 31-point outburst in Week 14.

And on Monday night, the 7-6 Steelers won’t have T.J. Watt due to a freak dry-needling incident (words I never would have excepted to type in that order), will be facing a red-hot Dolphins team that has won five in a row — and that has a chance to win another game in the kind of temperatures during which they typically, and literally, freeze.

So, yes, every Week 15 game will be worth watching. Except one. Enjoy it, because that definitely won’t be the case in Weeks 16, 17, and 18.

The Commanders won’t have quarterback Jayden Daniels, who they ruled out earlier this week. Daniels aggravated his left elbow injury in last week’s shutout loss to the Vikings.

Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota might not have running back Chris Rodriguez or wide receiver Deebo Samuel for Sunday’s game against the Giants. Both players are questionable.

Rodriguez (groin) missed Wednesday’s practice before limited work on Thursday and Friday. He has led the team in rushing yards (253) and rushing touchdowns (three) over the past five games.

Jeremy McNichols, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Chase Edmonds are the options behind Rodriguez.

The Commanders added Samuel to the injury report on Friday with an illness that kept him out of practice.

Besides Daniels, the Commanders ruled out cornerback Jonathan Jones (rib) and defensive end Drake Jackson (groin/knee).