The Good and Not So Good From Commanders vs. Dolphins Joint Practice

Jayden Daniels carved up Miami’s defense, Washington’s receivers and pass rush dominated their matchups, and the joint practice exposed some lingering concerns along the interior offensive line.

The Washington Commanders host the Miami Dolphins for a joint training camp practice at the team’s facility in Ashburn, Virginia. | HTTR4LIFE LLC

Wednesday marked the 11th Washington Commanders Training Camp practice and also the team's joint practice session with the Miami Dolphins. Washington's records confirmed this was indeed the first official NFL joint practice held on the Ashburn grounds.

Given the ability to finally test its new offense, new defense, and developing roster against unfamiliar players rather than their own teammates, Wednesday's practice carried way more weight than the previous ten. The first outside test went very well, with multiple areas, including an incredible day by Jayden Daniels, a deep and productive receiver room, and a defense that spent much of the morning in Miami’s backfield. Washington still had difficulty generating an interior running game, while some offensive-line execution issues remained visible.

The Good

long ball to Burks ✊@SeatGeek | #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/Hlb14ySbYg

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) August 12, 2026

Jayden Daniels looked much like the same player who has been checking every box for the last ten practice sessions on Wednesday. Daniels finished 12-for-16 in team periods, with two incompletions coming on defensive pass breakups, another on a batted red-zone pass, and one badly thrown pass. Daniels looked comfortable from under center and particularly in the play-action boot game, throwing accurately while moving outside the pocket rather than needing to settle into traditional dropbacks. Daniels hit Van Jefferson deep, found Terry McLaurin for roughly 30 yards on the sideline, and connected with Chig Okonkwo for another 27-yard gain. The Treylon Burks over-route on second-and-6 was one of the best examples of how the offense is supposed to work: play action created space behind the linebackers, and Daniels layered the ball into Burks. Daniels went 4-for-5 with two underneath completions to Diggs and another precise throw to Okonkwo to move the chains during the two-minute period.

🎥 Jason Marshall Jr. vs. Terry McLaurin in 1v1s in joint practice today. (@CommandersMusee) #PhinsUp pic.twitter.com/nTK5ug1aBg

— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) August 12, 2026

The Washington receiver room showed out against Miami with their best day of camp to date. Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs both dominated receiver/DB one-on-ones, winning all of their matchups. Diggs was clearly the class of the group; his route running consistently created separation that carried over into team periods, and he also caught a touchdown from Daniels near the back of the end zone during red-zone work. Treylon Burks had a productive day, and Van Jefferson showed some strong sideline skills as he continues to show why Dan Quinn is consistently mentioning his name. Antonio Williams continues to make defenders look silly with his twitchy moves; today he caught a red-zone touchdown pass after lining up in the backfield next to Mariota. The rookie just finds a way to produce no matter how they feed him the ball. Diggs and McLaurin give Washington its stars, but Wednesday suggested the supporting receiver group may have more usable options behind them than it appeared to have before camp.

another Tone tuddy 🙂‍↕️@SeatGeek | #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/k5o1ZR5khh

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) August 13, 2026

Washington's defensive front disrupted pretty much everything Miami attempted on the morning. Miami's offensive line probably understands how the Commanders' o-linemen have felt the last ten days after spending the morning getting pushed around. It was hard to keep up with the number of pressures, tackles for loss, and disruptive plays, but there were a lot. Odafe Oweh and K’Lavon Chaisson spent most of the session harassing Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis. Chaisson had multiple would-be sacks and made life hard on Miami's blockers. Daron Payne was another player who was able to get after Willis. Joshua Josephs continued his tour of chaos, getting into Quinn Ewers’ face quickly enough on play action that it would have resulted in another sack in live football. The fact that Josephs was able to get the same result via contact against Miami's players tells us his camp surge is real. Mike Sainristil’s pick-six against Willis was likely the play of the day.

Jake Moody and Drew Stevens both bounced back with bigger eyes on them Wednesday after sharing their worst days of camp Monday. The two both went 6-for-6, with field goals from 33, 38, 43, 48, 52, and 60 yards, with the 60-yarder representing their longest attempts of camp. Stevens is still very much in the driver's seat in terms of overall camp body of work, but Moody's rebound of a day tells me he is not done yet.

Every team needs a guy with Amik Robertson’s confidence. Robertson believe the Commanders dominated the Dolphins in joint practice. pic.twitter.com/jEKsrg2gIQ

— Marshall Kramsky (@marshallkramsky) August 12, 2026

The Not So Good

Washington has time before the season starts, but the interior line issues they are currently tracking have some concerning flaws. Since it's early, I'll try to watch for improvement, but it is definitely currently the team's weakness without Nick Allegretti on the field. For the most part, pass protection was not an issue, but the team was getting little to no push up front, with Jacory Croskey-Merritt continuously stuffed without much space up the gut. It's hard to know what exactly the issue was without being in the huddle; at this point, all we can do is make note of it and see what we see in the preseason. After losing Laremy Tunsil and while continuing to sort out the center position, Washington seeing its interior run game consistently lose against unfamiliar defenders is concerning.

The offense is still working through some technical issues, with the first-team period containing at least one false start call, which they have had continuous issues with in camp. Rookie center Matt Gulbin had multiple bad snaps, not a good sign in a situation where Washington is trying to fix the center problem, or at least provide depth without anyone running away with the job. While neither issue erased the overall good day, these self-inflicted mistakes could come back to haunt this team once the regular season begins.

Daniels looked every bit as comfortable against Miami as he has against his own defense, while Washington’s receivers gave him options at every level. The defensive line also carried their havoc-wreaking ways over into the joint session, making Miami's offensive linemen struggle for everything. Washington closed the session with something concrete to attack now, namely an interior running game and offensive execution that need improvement before Friday’s preseason opener.

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