ASHBURN, Va. – Wide receivers Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel returned to practice for the Washington Commanders on Thursday, but coach Dan Quinn confirmed that quarterback Jayden Daniels will miss the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night.

McLaurin sat out the past four games after hurting his quadriceps muscle on a catch in Week 3, while Samuel missed this past Sunday’s 44-22 loss to the Dallas Cowboys with a heel problem.

Until this prolonged absence, McLaurin hadn’t missed a game since late in the 2020 season.

In Samuel’s first year with Washington, he leads the club with 34 catches for 315 yards with three TD catches on one TD run.

With both of them sidelined, and Noah Brown on injured reserve with groin and knee issues, Daniels was without his three top wideouts against Dallas.

With Daniels out, Marcus Mariota will start.

Herbert sets mark

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert set an NFL record for completions through a player’s first six seasons on his second pass Thursday night against the Minnesota Vikings.

Herbert’s first-quarter connection with Keenan Allen for 17 yards gave him 2,129 completions, one more than Hall of Famer Peyton Manning had in his first six years.

Herbert, the sixth pick in the 2020 NFL draft out of Oregon, entered completing 67.5% of his passes through seven games for an NFL-leading 1,913 yards and 13 touchdowns with six interceptions.

Gruden case still

in court

The Nevada Supreme Court returned Jon Gruden’s case to the state’s District Court on Thursday, and the NFL filed two motions seeking the prompt dismissal of the claims.

Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in October 2021 after the publication of emails he sent years earlier that included racist, misogynistic and homophobic language. A month later, he sued the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell, alleging a “malicious and orchestrated campaign” to destroy his career by leaking the emails.

The Nevada Supreme Court had denied the league’s earlier appeal of its ruling on Aug. 11 that Gruden can proceed with his lawsuit and not go through the league for arbitration.

The league’s attorneys said in the motion: “Gruden does not and cannot dispute that he wrote the emails that led to his resignation. He does not and cannot dispute that he freely sent those emails to multiple parties. He does not and cannot claim that the emails were misleadingly edited or altered in any way, let alone by the NFL Parties, or that the views espoused in them were not in fact expressed by him.

“Instead, Gruden has concocted a fictional story that attempts to paint himself as the victim of his own conduct.”