Month: August 2026

ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders didn’t spend a lot of money on big stars during the offseason, choosing to strengthen their team with quantity and depth. But maybe that’s all they need to turn their team back into the Super Bowl contender that they were two years ago, because their most important offseason addition was a healthy Jayden Daniels. And so far this summer, it sure does look like Daniels is back. The 25-year-old showed that on Wednesday with a spectacular performance in a joint practice against the Miami Dolphins. Granted, the Dolphins are likely going to be terrible this season, but Daniels still looked a lot like his old self. Almost every pass he threw was on target and perfectly timed, especially when he was looking 20 to 30 yards downfield. And he showed off his mobility too, escaping for a few runs and even turning one broken play into a successful shovel pass. It’s too soon to say if he can recapture the magic of 2024, when Daniels had one of the most remarkable rookie seasons for a quarterback ever and took the Commanders all the way to the NFC Championship Game. But if he’s even close to that player after injuries held him to just seven games last season, it would be foolish to count the Commanders out. “It’s huge,” said linebacker Leo Chenal, who left Kansas City to sign with the Commanders in March. “He’s one of the greatest playmakers in the league. We’ve all seen what he’s capable of. When I wasn’t here, I was like, ‘Dang, this dude’s a playmaker.’ You can just see it. You’ve got to respect that and what he’s able to do with the ball in his hands.” The Commanders need Daniels to be that playmaker too, because they didn’t exactly overload their offense with others who can make plays. They did just sign receiver Stefon Diggs, but he’s 32, and their only other reliable receiver is 31-year-old Terry McLaurin, who’s coming off his own injury-filled season. Gone from last season are tight end Zach Ertz and receiver Deebo Samuel, who were the Commanders’ top two pass catchers. Daniels, though, is the type of quarterback who can elevate those around him when he’s healthy and playing at his best — something he rarely did last season thanks to a sprained knee in Week 2 and a dislocated elbow in Week 9, before his season ended prematurely. He sure looked like the best version of himself against the Dolphins. And those who have seen him at camp insist he’s looked that good all summer long. “I felt like this last year, too,” Daniels said at the podium on Wednesday. “I wasn’t hurt at this time last year. But it’s a new year. I don’t want to compare what I did my first two years.” It’ll be hard for Daniels to do anything that compares to what he did as a rookie when he threw for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and just nine interceptions, while running for 891 yards and six touchdowns. He also provided Washington with more magic moments than they had had in the previous decade, not to mention their first trip to the NFC Championship Game in 33 years. But the Commanders are still counting on at least some of that magic resuming, to make their team better than the sum of its otherwise underwhelming parts — even if Daniels won’t publicly count on that yet. “We’re just putting in the work to get there,” Daniels said. “I wouldn’t say we’re in midseason form. We’re just going day by day.” Diggs showed last season in New England that he could still be a No. 1 receiver in this league, though he’s getting to an age where he needs to prove it every year. He sure looked the part on Wednesday, when he dominated the Dolphins’ defensive backs in one-on-one drills. He beat them with speed, with moves, and caught plenty of balls in traffic, too. Diggs is going to have to prove his durability at age 32, but his skills and reliability seem as good as ever. It also looks like he could be a high-volume receiver for the Commanders. Yes, they still have Terry McLaurin, too. But Diggs could be a Daniels favorite, running a lot of underneath routes that he could potentially turn into big plays. Robinson was probably the best player on the field for the Dolphins on Wednesday. Granted, the bar for that was low, but he was still pretty good. He gave Commanders right tackle Josh Conerly fits and was regularly breaking through to the Commanders’ backfield in team drills. The Dolphins lost their best pass rusher (Bradley Chubb) in free agency, so they really need someone to be a difference-maker on defense. Robinson, their first-round pick in 2024, took a step back last year after a somewhat promising rookie season. He should be a lock for more than the four sacks he had in 2025. For the Dolphins’ sake, there’ll hopefully be a lot more. “It’s awesome. You finally get to hit someone who is not your own team. You bring them in from the South, show them how it’s done a little bit.” — Commanders linebacker Leo Chenal on the joint practice with the Dolphins. Commanders: All Hopes Rest On Jayden Daniels Last season was so bad for Washington that it’s almost easy to forget that the Commanders went to the NFC Championship Game the year before. That’s when Jayden Daniels was an all-time great rookie QB before his injury-riddled second year. On paper, the Commanders look more like last year’s version than the juggernaut from 2024. They have big defensive issues and didn’t do a great job of surrounding Daniels with weapons. But if Daniels is the player he was as a rookie, and he can stay healthy, he can elevate this team like he did then. At least that’s the hope in Washington. If Daniels is as good as everyone thought he was two years ago, the Commanders could make some noise in the NFC. But he really needs to be that good. Otherwise, they’re looking at a disappointing year. Dolphins: No Hope At All Meanwhile, as for the Dolphins, the Jeff Hafley era is not likely to get off to a rousing start. The new coach refuses to admit the Dolphins are rebuilding, even though all the evidence points that way. They have some hope that they catch lightning in a bottle with new quarterback Malik Willis after he impressed in very limited duty last year in Green Bay. But other than running back De’Von Achane, the Dolphins really don’t have any weapons around him at all. And a defense that ranked 22nd last season lost its best pass rusher when Bradley Chubb left. Hafley could be a very good coach, and maybe he’ll squeeze something out of his young defense. But unless Willis, in his fifth NFL season, suddenly blossoms into a star, the Dolphins will almost certainly end up as one of the worst teams in the entire league. The drive south to this area from Jersey is a great way to see the East Coast, one redundant rest stop at a time. But the roughly 90-minute drive from the Commanders’ practice facility in Ashburn, Virginia, to their neighbors, the Baltimore Ravens, can be a slow procession through farm country. Seriously, the drive to my hotel in Frederick, Maryland, looked like I was driving through Iowa. I’m pretty sure I saw every corn stand in the Northeast. My reward for that — other than a night in this Civil War town and a possible secret excursion to nearby Camp David — will be a visit with the new-look Ravens, who are adjusting to life without John Harbaugh for the first time in 18 years. I hear the practices run by Harbaugh’s 42-year-old replacement, Jesse Minter, are about half as long as they used to be. If that’s true, then his players already love him. Minter inherited a loaded team which I think could be a Super Bowl contender. If they end up winning, I can only assume the parade will be in Baltimore and not down Maryland Route 15, unless they want their floats peppered with corn instead of confetti.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

LOS ANGELES – The optimism leading into Blake Snell’s first start back in nearly three months went beyond the usual confidence one might expect when a two-time Cy Young Award winner returns to action. It was as if both Snell and his manager knew he’d come out looking like a completely different version of the pitcher who allowed five runs in three innings in his only previous start of the season. “It’s the best I’ve felt in three years, by far,” Snell claimed 12 days before his return. “He’s on a mission,” Dave Roberts added assuredly. It certainly looked that way Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 49,958 fans at Dodger Stadium, where Snell exhibited no signs of rust in his return from elbow surgery as he lifted a scuffling Dodgers club in need of a pick-me-up. Even after two comeback victories on Monday and Tuesday, the Dodgers have won just 13 of their last 30 games. Their bullpen has been unreliable. Their bats have been inconsistent. Earlier this week, Roberts lamented the way his star-studded offense had gotten “bullied” by fastballs far too often over this stretch of substandard play. And yet, Snell’s 10-strikeout return provided a reminder of why any potential concerns about the Dodgers’ aging roster might not matter if this rotation is upright and whole by October. They have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, last year’s World Series MVP. They have depth arms in Roki Sasaki, Justin Wrobleski and Eric Lauer, who could shift to bullpen roles in October. Shohei Ohtani continues to play catch with the hopes of returning to the mound before season’s end. Tyler Glasnow has started his rehab assignment and could return by month’s end. And, of course, they now have two two-time Cy Young Award winners after their deal for Tarik Skubal at the deadline. Skubal labored through five innings in his home debut Monday but kept the Dodgers close enough to storm back for the win. Snell, meanwhile, overpowered Kansas City’s lineup one day later. “We needed to win tonight, and we needed to win a series, and it started with him,” Roberts said. “So I thought from pitch one, you know, he exuded that, and we fed off of that.” Roberts’ goal was to get Snell through five innings, but Snell was thinking bigger. While texting back and forth with Roberts before the start, he assuredly told his manager he could go six. And then he did. The optimism before Snell’s outing was justified. He struck out the side in the first inning, maintained velocity throughout the night, walked just one and surrendered soft contact when the Royals did manage to put the bat on the ball. With the game still tied after five innings, no one was getting warm. Amid the team’s slump, Roberts demanded more urgency, both from his club and himself. Tuesday night provided the latest example of it. Roberts knew Snell was his best option to return for the sixth, even if pushing him beyond 80 pitches wasn’t part of the plan. The left-hander made quick work of his final frame, needing just 13 pitches that inning and 84 pitches in total to navigate through six. The Dodgers’ offense then responded in the late innings again, making up for more shaky bullpen play. It was another instance of the urgency that had been lacking. “The last two nights,” Roberts said, “is what we’re looking for.” Snell was calmer than he thought he would be in his first start back at Dodger Stadium since May 9, when he labored through three innings on 77 pitches against the Braves. Soon after that start, he underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his sore elbow. The procedure seemed to do more than simply address that compromised body part. Snell believes the bone chips in his elbow were also contributing to pain in his shoulder, which had caused him problems most of last year, and pressing on a nerve. For the last couple of years, the ring finger and pinky finger on his throwing hand had felt numb. “They took [the loose bodies] out, and I could feel my hand completely,” Snell told me. “My shoulder pain went completely away.” Shortly after the procedure, he started to regain his range of motion and the extension in his arm that had been lacking. That led to more swing and miss at the top of the zone with his fastball and the ability to consistently finish his curveball and tunnel it in a way he couldn’t before the surgery. On Tuesday, after laughing off a poor rehab appearance in Salt Lake City — during which the elevation wreaked havoc on his secondary offerings — Snell bounced back by getting 15 swings and misses from Kansas City hitters. The Royals swung eight times at his curveball and whiffed on five of them while watching another five breaking balls go by for strikes. “That’s me having the range to move the ball how I want,” Snell told me. “I just haven’t had it in a couple years. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh the changeup.’ I’m like, ‘If the curveball’s on….” Snell believes that pitch in particular could be much more of a difference-maker this season. “The curveball’s finally coming back to how I remember it being,” he said. “It was always a pitch that was a wipeout. I could throw it, but now I’m finally releasing it where I need to release it, and I’m kind of releasing everything in the same slot out in front.” The performance served as a reminder of his dominance when he’s right. “I think the biggest thing was just being aggressive,” Snell said. “Be in the zone, attack. I know how good my stuff is, so I don’t want to just be nibbling and then complaining like, ‘Oh, that’s a strike.’ I didn’t want to do any of that again like I did versus Atlanta.” “That’s the Snell that we’re used to seeing,” added Max Muncy, who walked the Dodgers off with a win Tuesday night, “and hopefully we have him for the next two, three months, for the long run.” It’s the version Snell is expecting to see from himself, as well, no longer concerned about his health or pitching through pain, the way he did through much of last season while still displaying flashes of brilliance. “I can just pitch and focus on pitching,” Snell said. “That’s pretty cool.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports