Wide receiver Terry McLaurin recalled sprinting down the field during practice Wednesday, topping out at more than 21 mph as he collected a deep ball from quarterback Jayden Daniels.
For the Washington Commanders’ star duo, it was the sort of practice rep that bordered on monotonous a year ago. In 2025, it counts as a minor milestone.
“It just feels right,” McLaurin said.
Sign up for our newsletter, For Old D.C. It’s a Commanders newsletter for Washington sports fans, including news, analysis and trivia from Scott Allen.https://t.co/DlUDxAhRwl
— Post Sports (@PostSports) October 16, 2025
The Commanders are on track to welcome back several key players in the weeks ahead — most notably Daniels and McLaurin, who were limited participants at Wednesday’s workout. While Daniels is unlikely to be medically cleared for Sunday night’s game against the visiting Denver Broncos, McLaurin said he is optimistic that he will play.
“I feel really good,” McLaurin said. “[I will] just continue to talk with the training staff, see what their plan is for the game. But I plan to play as much as I can — and as much as they’ll allow me to.”
McLaurin and Daniels haven’t played together since the Commanders’ Week 2 loss at Green Bay, and they have only shared sporadic practice reps since then while navigating injuries. Daniels has dealt with a left knee sprain, a right hamstring strain and, most recently, a dislocated left elbow. McLaurin suffered a right quadriceps/hip flexor strain Sept. 21 against the Las Vegas Raiders that he aggravated in his first game back Oct. 27 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
McLaurin said Wednesday he had no regrets about returning the first time. He had hit all the necessary benchmarks and felt strong, but he aggravated the injury while laying out for a catch that put him in “an awkward position.”
“Any time you’re out there, you’re susceptible to injury or reinjury,” he said. “I just thank God that I’m back and feeling even better than last time.”
Wednesday injury report #DENvsWAS | #RaiseHail
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) November 26, 2025
McLaurin traveled with the Commanders (3-8) to Madrid, where he continued his rehab while knowing he would not play. He said he spent the subsequent bye week working out at the team facility. He has not noticed any tightness in the area of the injury and feels he is able to accelerate normally.
Though it’s unclear whether he will be able to play — or how much he will play — Sunday night, McLaurin said he not only feels strong physically but also is not thinking about an injury that has kept him out of seven of Washington’s past eight games.
“I think, as NFL players, we sometimes fear injury,” he said. “But at the end of the day, if you’re going to be out here, injury is 100 percent guaranteed if you’re blessed enough to play this game long enough. I’m just thankful to have the support that I have here. Any time I can play, I’m going to play.”
McLaurin is one of several injured wide receivers who are nearing a return. Noah Brown (groin/knee), who missed the past nine games, also was a limited participant in practice Wednesday. So was Treylon Burks, the midseason signee who flashed against Detroit before fracturing a finger.
Coach Dan Quinn said he was heartened, at long last, to have so many injured players on the way back.
“It started on Monday,” he said. “I felt, coming back, that was probably the first time we had a bigger group together for a practice for the entire season. So that was a big step forward.”
Harris a near-lock to return
On the defensive side of the ball, safety Will Harris was listed as a full participant in practice and appears to be a shoo-in to play Sunday.
“It’s great to get back to football. I missed it — a lot,” said Harris, who has been sidelined since Week 3 with a fractured fibula. “It felt like forever to me.”
After losing Jeremy Chinn in free agency, the Commanders signed Harris in the hope that he could provide the same level of play at strong safety. His absence over the past two months was noticeable.
While special teams ace Jeremy Reaves has had some positive moments filling in, the Commanders have missed Harris’s vision and communication skills. The hope is that he will stabilize a secondary that also lost cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore and Trey Amos to injury.
“He’s got good football awareness because of his background — he’s played corner, he’s played nickel, he played safety,” Quinn said. “Some guys can see this way, and Will can expand the vision to see other things — to give the alerts to other players.”
Miller: ‘Weird’ to face Denver
Von Miller said Sunday night’s game will bring an odd feeling. It will be just the third time he has played against Denver (9-2), which drafted him in 2011 and was his home for the first decade of his NFL career.
“It’s just a weird time,” Miller said. “You put so much into it and you form these bonds — you never think you’re going to leave, and this is the place that you fall in love with. And then you’re not there anymore. So it’s definitely tough. It’s definitely weird.”
Miller said he remains close friends with several Broncos, including offensive lineman Garett Bolles and wide receiver Courtland Sutton. Miller revealed on his podcast that he reached out to the Broncos earlier this year in hopes of a reunion before ultimately signing with Washington.
Miller’s playing time with the Commanders has been limited, but he has five sacks, pushing his career total to 134.5. In the NFL’s official sack stats, which have been kept since 1982, he ranks 13th all-time; he hopes to record three more to move into the top 10. A sack Sunday would be his first against the Broncos.
“It’s tough,” Miller said. “But when the whistle blows, it’s just football.”
Samuel’s role
McLaurin’s and Brown’s prolonged absences forced Deebo Samuel Sr. to spend more time at outside wide receiver, rather than at the Commanders’ preferred place for him in the slot. Samuel has lined up in the slot on 58.4 percent of his snaps, according to TruMedia.
With McLaurin and Brown potentially returning to action this week, that number should go up. It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see Samuel used more frequently in the backfield.
“When you have three [wide receivers] in connection doing it all, that’s a difference as opposed to, ‘Watch for this one player doing this one thing,’” Quinn said. “Having the ability for Deebo now to play all the multiple spots, that’s going to be an advantage. Terry will be able to play both right and left [outside receiver] as well. That’s what we intend to do.”
Samuel has been productive: He leads Washington with 53 catches for 470 yards and five touchdowns.
Broncos’ defense is a tough test
Even with star cornerback Patrick Surtain II missing the past three games with a pectoral strain, the Broncos’ defense remains one of the NFL’s best. Denver is allowing 17.5 points per game, which ranks third, and 4.4 yards per play, which ranks first. The Broncos’ defensive line is particularly strong, accounting for most of their league-high 49 sacks.
The post Terry McLaurin says he’ll play Sunday ‘as much as they’ll allow me to’ appeared first on Washington Post.
