Commanders' Jayden Daniels shines in joint practice vs. Dolphins in front of a star-studded audience

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Jayden Daniels’ injury-ridden second NFL season ended in December when the Washington Commanders opted to sit their franchise quarterback for the final three games to preserve his health.

Daniels understood the decision but was disappointed and wanted to play.

Eight months later, Daniels got his first chance to face another team when the Miami Dolphins arrived at the Commanders’ headquarters on Wednesday for a joint practice. The quarterback put on a show in front of a crowd that included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and rapper Wale.

“It’s a new year,” Daniels said. “I don’t want to compare what I did my first two years. Now I’m on to a new season, a new year. I’m just trying to be the best version of myself every day.”

The first competition consisted of 1-on-1 drills between wide receivers and defensive backs. Daniels was surgical throughout, completing 11 of 13 passes, including touchdowns to Terry McLaurin, Stefon Diggs, Antonio Williams and Treylon Burks.

During red zone 11-on-11 drills, Daniels found Diggs for a touchdown on a perfect throw to the back corner of the end zone.

Diggs, who signed with the Commanders just last week, was a frequent target of Daniels throughout the day. The duo has already built chemistry — largely thanks to Diggs’ ability to find open space.

“He goes out and makes plays,” Daniels said. “He brings energy. He’s a leader. I’m super happy to have Stefon in that room, not just for the offense but just for the whole team in general.”

Daniels has spent much of his offseason learning a new offense. Coordinator David Blough’s system features more traditional formations with the QB under center, a stark difference from Kliff Kingsbury’s shotgun-heavy scheme that Daniels ran the past two years.

Nearly all of Daniels’ snaps during 11-on-11 work came from under center on Wednesday, and he looked comfortable.

“As reps and time go on, you get more of a grasp and a feel for who can run what route, how Blough is supposed to call it,” Daniels said. “This is what practice is for. Day by day, I try to come in and have control of the offense and get 1% better.”

The Commanders’ offensive line largely held up in pass protection, even following the loss of star left tackle Laremy Tunsil to a left arm injury that will require surgery. Washington’s run game struggled, but the Daniels-led aerial attack made up for it.

Daniels’ best throw of the day came when he faked a handoff, rolled to his right and uncorked a deep ball to Burks for a 70-yard touchdown, beating Miami defenders Zayne Anderson and Michael Taaffe.

The joint practice gave Daniels’ defensive teammates a new appreciation for their quarterback.

“Shoutout ‘5,’ man,” defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw said. “Best in the world.”

Although the Commanders’ offense got the better of the Dolphins' defense for most of the afternoon, the latter got the last laugh. Practice concluded with a two-minute drill, and Taaffe broke up a potential touchdown pass in the back of the end zone as time expired.

For Daniels and the Commanders, that final drill was a reminder there’s still plenty of room for growth.

“I wouldn’t say we’re in midseason form,” Daniels said. You wouldn’t want to be in midseason form right now. ... I still got some ways to go. We have explosive plays, but a lot is not perfect. I’m still working. The whole team’s still working. We’re still building that chemistry and continuity.”

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Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels works out before a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins at NFL football training camp, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels works out before a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins at NFL football training camp, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Commanders wide receiver Stefon Diggs works out before a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins at NFL football training camp, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels works out before a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins at NFL football training camp, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels works out before a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins at NFL football training camp, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

The Oregon man who fatally shot a teenage gunman to end a deadly rampage at an elementary school last week says he was the children's “last line of defense” and that he regrets not arriving soon enough to save them all.

Kaylub Giamanco, whose two daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary, where the Oct. 15 attack occurred, said he feels like he failed the families of those who died.

“I want to apologize for not saving their babies, that’s probably the biggest thing for me right now,” Giamanco told Oregon Public Broadcasting in an interview published Friday. “The gratitude for saving people’s children is awesome. But there were ones that I didn’t save.”

Three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and a teacher were killed at the school in Bend, Oregon, last week when a former student there, 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, blasted his way through locked doors with a shotgun and attacked a special needs classroom. Another student was critically injured and a teacher was injured and hospitalized.

Police say another teacher threw her phone at the attacker and wrestled with him before Giamanco shot and killed him after following the gunman into the building.

Giamanco said he dropped off his daughters at the school that morning before driving to work. A few hours later, the 36-year-old carpenter was passing the school again as he was heading home for lunch.

He said he spotted someone wearing black and carrying a long gun fire shots into a pickup truck and at a person mowing the school's lawn before the shooter climbed a fence and headed toward the school building.

Giamanco said “panic fled into my brain.” He grabbed a .40-caliber handgun from his truck's center console and went after the gunman as he dialed 911. He asked the dispatcher to send help before hanging up his phone.

“I said 'I’m sorry I have to go in. People are going to die,'” Giamanco said in the interview.

As he got closer to the building, Giamanco said, he lay on his stomach and used his elbows to crawl across the ground.

“That’s when I started hearing children pleading for their lives,” he said. “And then I started hearing gunfire and I just started army crawling faster and faster. And I told myself: 'This is probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do.'”

Giamanco said he entered the school through a window that had been shot out. Peeking into a nearby classroom, he saw a teacher grappling with the shooter. He said he faced them both in profile, giving him an open shot.

“I felt like I was the last line of defense between him and the rest of the children,” Giamanco said.

He swung the door open, stepped into the room and fired his gun.

Both the gunman and the teacher dropped to the floor. The teacher bolted from the room as the shooter reached for his shotgun.

“He was scrambling for his weapon,” Giamanco said. “I looked at him and I shot him two more times to make sure that he couldn’t move, because I was afraid of him shooting anybody else.”

Police have said Giamanco was carrying his gun legally in his truck and have credited him and the unarmed teacher who confronted the gunman with saving lives. A day after the shootings, President Donald Trump said that Giamanco was a “great hero” who “took care of business.”

A second teacher in the classroom, Becky Drury, said in a statement Wednesday that she lay on the floor, helplessly playing dead, after being struck at close range by a shotgun blast that nearly severed her left hand.

The teacher who struggled with the shooter hasn't been publicly identified. Giamanco told the public broadcaster that she's “a real true hero” whose actions gave him an opening to kill the attacker.

“I can’t tell you what it feels like to take a life … but I can tell you that I genuinely feel like I was supposed to be there,” Giamanco said. “If I wasn’t there, I just don’t know what would have happened.”

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

Children place flowers at a makeshift memorial outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)

Police tape is placed outside Silver Rail Elementary school, where a shooting took place, on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)