Welcome to Training Camp 2026!

Posted on July 28, 2026 by Steve Thomas

July 28, 2026

by Steve Thomas

We finally made it to training camp, ya’ll. Thank goodness. This has been a remarkably slow offseason in many ways, so it’s good to get back to real football again, at least the very start of it. Here’s the schedule for Washington:

July 24: Rookies reported
July 28: Veterans report
July 28: Conditioning test
July 29: First practice
August 1: Practice open to the public (tickets already sold out)
August 3: Practice open to season ticket holders (tickets already sold out)
August 4: Practice open to season ticket holders (tickets already sold out)
August 5: Practice open to season ticket holders (tickets available)
August 7: Military appreciation day; practice open to the public (tickets already sold out)
August 8: Kids day; practice open to the public (tickets already sold out)
August 10: Practice open to season ticket holders (tickets already sold out)
August 11: Practice open to season ticket holders (tickets available)
August 12: Practice open to season ticket holders (tickets available)
August 14: Preseason game #1, at home vs Miami Dolphins, 7:00 p.m. ET
August 18: Practice open to the public (tickets already sold out)
August 19: Practice open to the public (tickets already sold out)
August 22: Preseason game #2, at Detroit Lions, 12:00 p.m. ET
August 28: Preseason game #3, at Baltimore Ravens, 6:00 p.m. ET

If you go to a practice, be aware that the team has made a point to say that taking photos or videos is not permitted during the “team portions of training camp”, and that “the use of video cameras is not permitted in general”.

Things to watch for

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but rather simply some of the things I think are the most important to pay attention to during training camp, particularly early on.

Implementation of David Blough’s offense

With the team moving on from Kliff Kingsbury’s leadership into David Blough’s offense, we should expect to see play under center, far more play-action, and zone running. That isn’t outside of the realm of a “normal” NFL offense, but the key for Washington is how quickly the team can assimilate this new system and run it in an effective way. Washington’s regular season schedule is absolutely brutal early, so it will be essential that the offense get organized and used to efficient and effective operations as soon as possible. If it appears in training camp as though the defense is consistently getting the better of the offense, that could potentially spell trouble. I’d like to see the offense look like they know what they are doing as quickly as possible.

Jayden Daniels learning to operate under center

Along these same lines, I also want to see Daniels start to get comfortable under center as quickly as possible. In my view, it is essential to Daniels’ career that he start to play under center and become mostly a pocket passing quarterback. His ability to run will always be there, at least for a number of years, but the days of him having 148 carries in a season, as was the case in his rookie 2024 year, need to be over forever. Daniels proved last year that he’s susceptible to injury, which shouldn’t be surprising given his relatively thin, wide receiver-like body type. Daniels’ future is under center, and it starts now. The sooner he can get used to it and to operating primarily in the pocket except on busted plays, the better off both he and the team will be.

Who’s the starting running back?

Jacory Croskey-Merritt is probably in the lead for the starting job, but the drafted Kaytron Allen and signed Rachaad White for a reason. It’ll be interesting to see exactly how the carries are split up given the team’s transition into more of a zone run scheme than last year.

Success of Washington’s new pass rush

We all are aware that Washington spent a pretty large amount of cap space on pass rushers this offseason. I’d like to see these players, along with the new defensive scheme, start to make an impact early. This is particularly true given that Washington’s offensive line is one of their strengths on that side of the ball. Considering the cost, these new pass rushers, along with rookie first round pick Sonny Styles, need to produce significant pressure on the quarterback. I’m going to be looking for how successful this group is right from the start.

Sorting out the secondary

Washington made a number of secondary moves this offseason, albeit no high-profile, big money acquisitions. Now, in addition, Trey Amos just got put on the PUP list, where he’ll remain for an undetermined amount of time. If his stay extends into the regular season, he’ll be required to miss at least 4 games. In the meantime, Washington will need to find another #1 corner, at least during training camp at a minimum. We’ll also need to see how much of an impact new starting safety Nick Cross can make on the secondary. Watch for exactly who become the standout players early on in training camp.

Kicking competition

Guess what? Washington did the right thing and brought in some competition for last year’s kicker – the final one of the three, at least – Jake Moody, in the form of someone named Drew Stevens. The truth is that Washington hasn’t had an established, quality, successful kicker since the team mistakenly let Dustin Hopkins go in 2021, in one of the more stupid personnel moves the team has made in a long time. They’ve had a rotating carousel of mostly no-name kickers ever since then. The team should’ve had competition in camp every since then, but they’ve not really done so. Hopefully one of Moody or Steven can become a long-term answer.