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ESPN
Ranking NFL team talent under 25: Texans, Seahawks lead list
3. Washington Commanders
- 2024 ranking: 18
- Blue-chip players: QB Jayden Daniels, OL Brandon Coleman
- Notable graduated players: FS Quan Martin
This rank is not all Daniels... but it is very heavily Daniels. The 24-year-old quarterback replaced Stroud as the most valuable young player in the NFL after his dominant rookie season. He ranked fourth in the NFL in QBR (70.6), tied for 10th in touchdowns (25) and threw for 3,568 yards.
On offense, Daniels is joined by 24-year-old Coleman, who will move from left tackle to left guard this season, plus 21-year-old rookie tackle Josh Conerly Jr. The Commanders have some young skill players, too, with
wide receiver Luke McCaffrey (24) and tight end Ben Sinnott (23).
The Washington defense features fewer young talent than the offense, but the highlights are cornerback Mike Sainristil, who is 24, and defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton, the 23-year-old who will replace veteran Jonathan Allen.
ESPN
2025 NFL training camp: Latest news, buzz for all 32 teams
Monday, July 28
Washington signed Deebo Samuel Sr. to provide what he had in San Francisco: A versatile offensive chess piece who can break tackles and run after the catch.
The Commanders have moved him around on offense, aligning him in different areas and letting him carry it on occasion. On Monday, Samuel caught a 5-yard touchdown from Jayden Daniels on a perfect pass to the corner of the end zone — he bobbled the ball then held on.
Samuel also has been working at returning kickoffs, paired with Austin Ekeler. Coach Dan Quinn said he loves the energy Samuel brings to practice — Samuel called himself a “high-energy guy.” And he’s rejuvenated after being traded to Washington in the offseason. “I’ve got a lot left in the tank,” he said.
- The defensive line continues to look strong. End Dorance Armstrong is off to a good start in camp — he’s been moved around more than last year and has rushed standing up on occasion.
- The pads came out for the first time. There’s no live tackling, but one good pop occurred when running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt broke through the line and was wrapped up by safety Tyler Owens. Croskey-Merritt will be one to watch in the preseason.
Washington Post (paywall)
After down year, Commanders’ Deebo Samuel still has ‘a lot in the tank’
Traded from the 49ers for a fifth-round pick, the veteran wide receiver is hungry to show he can bounce back and return to his Pro Bowl form.
One of the most versatile and electrifying wideouts of his era, Samuel arrives in Washington coming off the least productive statistical season of his career, needing to reestablish himself in a contract year.
In Terry McLaurin’s absence, Samuel has been quarterback Jayden Daniels’s top target early in training camp. On the Commanders’ very first 11-on-11 play of the summer, Daniels lofted a completion to Samuel in the end zone. On Monday, Samuel burst past cornerback Mike Sainristil and caught Daniels’s laser in the back corner of the end zone. Between plays, Samuel constantly discusses pass routes with Daniels and chats with fellow wide receivers.
Samuel has been quick out of cuts and a flash in open space and has lined up everywhere in coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s offense — and elsewhere. When the Commanders practiced kickoff returns for the first time in full pads Monday, Samuel lined up alongside Austin Ekeler. Coach Dan Quinn plans to wield Samuel as a kick returner. Last year, Samuel returned 17 kicks for an average of 31.4 yards, fourth in the NFL among players with at least 10 returns.
Riggo’s Rag
Shock retirement hits Commanders and raises serious depth questions
This was unexpected.
Head coach Dan Quinn announced before Tuesday’s camp practice that the Commanders had placed Herbig on the reserve/retired list, abruptly ending his comeback story. The former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator acknowledged that the versatile interior presence had been a good teammate during his short time with the franchise, and everyone wishes him well with his future endeavors.
Herbig was an intriguing offseason addition. He missed the entire 2024 campaign with a torn rotator cuff that required significant rehabilitation. This saw the Pittsburgh Steelers go in a different direction, but the Commanders were confident he could be a major upgrade to their offensive line depth if nothing else.
Commanders must pivot after Nate Herbig’s shock retirement during camp
Everything seemingly checked out medically, and the initial reports were positive about Herbig’s early integration. However, the player has now decided that the juice is no longer worth the squeeze.
This represents a slight blow to the Commanders. Herbig was expected to fill the backup role behind starting center Tyler Biadasz if everything went well. He can also provide relief at the guard positions, especially considering Sam Cosmi is currently out as he recovers from a torn ACL. Now, those in power must pivot accordingly.
Washington still has players like Chris Paul, Michael Deiter, and Julian Good-Jones to pick up the slack. But it’s not hard to see where the problems could arise if the Commanders suffer another injury along the interior.
Commanders Wire
Commanders’ rookie cornerback Trey Amos has the right approach
Those who have attended training camp they’ve mentioned Amos’ name. He’s long and athletic. He doesn’t look like a rookie. He plays with the confidence of a veteran.
“I like going against everybody, man,” Amos said last week after a practice. “It’s like being in love with the game,” Amos told reporters. “I just love guarding any receiver, any day. This is a me vs. me. You know, the dog mentality. Just going hard every day, no matter who’s in front of me.”
Amos has a real shot at being one of the Commanders’ starting cornerbacks in Week 1, alongside Marshon Lattimore and Mike Sainristil. His progression throughout the remainder of training camp will be fun to witness.
A to Z Sports
Mike Sainristil shines in natural position, a rookie impresses early: What we learned about the Commanders defense before pads come on
One of the main things I saw on Sunday was how Quinn will deploy different looks on defense and match up better with the offense shown across the field.
There were a couple times where Kliff Kingsbury would send out five WRs and Quinn would have Lattimore, Amos, Sainristil at corner, and also sent Will Harris and even Jeremy Reaves close to the line of scrimmage.
The team loves Quan Martin at safety. He didn’t move from his spot even with all of his previous experience at corner. Percy Butler was the next safety when Harris moved up to corner, so the team definitely has some versatile pieces they can move around
They also showed a unique defensive line with Von Miller and Frankie Luvu out WIDE on the edge, with Daron Payne and Dorance Armstrong in the middle spaced out. With five wide receivers and in an obvious passing situation, it allows the defense to pin their ears back and get to the QB with the best pass rushers they have up front.
Miller looks like he still has a nasty spin move and some juice on the line and now we get to see some real reps with the pads on against Laremy Tunsil and rookie Josh Conerly Jr.
Podcasts & videos
The Pads Go on at Camp | John Keim Report
Episode 1,121 - Terry McLaurin per Adam Schefter "wants considerably more" than $33M AAV. This is Adam Peters taking control of the narrative. Discussion & analysis.
— Al Galdi (@AlGaldi) July 29, 2025
Deebo Samuel opens up about bout w/ pneumonia
Is Jacory Croskey-Merritt the star of camp?https://t.co/bAMpF2p5Wk
Commanders Forging a DANGEROUS Team! Jayden Daniels & Deebo Samuel Connect, Kick Return Duo Revealed
NFC East links
ESPN
NFL players, coaches, GMs under most pressure in 2025 season
Kevin Patullo, OC, Philadelphia Eagles
There’s no middle ground for recent Eagles offensive coordinators: They’re either getting promoted or getting fired quickly. After two seasons with Doug Pederson in 2016 and 2017, Frank Reich earned a head coaching job with the Colts. That opened the door for Mike Groh, who was fired after two seasons despite not being the team’s primary playcaller. Pederson took over as de facto coordinator and was fired from all of his roles after one more season in charge. (Press Taylor, the pass game coordinator that season, also left the organization.)
With Nick Sirianni taking over as coach in 2021, the role has turned over even more quickly. Like Pederson, Sirianni made it to the Super Bowl after two seasons, which earned offensive coordinator Shane Steichen the top job with the Colts. Brian Johnson was promoted and fired after one season in charge of the offense, giving way to Kellen Moore, whose success and Super Bowl win earned him the head coaching job in New Orleans this offseason.
Enter Patullo, who becomes the seventh offensive coordinator the Eagles have employed over their past 10 seasons. He takes over a spectacular offense that returns 10 of 11 starters, with Philadelphia spending more cash on the offensive side of the ball ($215.9 million) than any other team in NFL history. With Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown and arguably the league’s best offensive line, Eagles fans have every right to set their expectations incredibly high again.
What happens if things don’t go as smoothly? What if the massive improvement Hurts made against the blitz under Moore last season doesn’t stick? What if Barkley, who completed just his third healthy season in seven years, misses meaningful time? What if the O-line, anchored by future Hall of Famer Lane Johnson, battles more significant injuries than it did in 2024? Brian Johnson wasn’t able to find solutions in the second half of 2023, and while the defense was more to blame for Philadelphia’s second-half collapse that season, he paid for the disappointing end to the year with his job.
All of these offensive coordinators are difficult to separate from the coaches, given that Pederson and Sirianni were both offensive hires and involved in building the offensive architecture and playcalling at different stretches of their tenure, but it’s a lot easier to fire an offensive coordinator than it is to dump a head coach. Then again, if someone wants to come find their next head coach from one of the league’s most successful organizations, it’s a lot easier to hire the OC than it is to steal away Sirianni, too.
Brian Daboll, coach, New York Giants
Two years ago, a pair of first-time head coaches in the NFC led their teams to unexpected playoff berths, but they’ve gone in different directions since. While Daboll and Kevin O’Connell unsurprisingly took a step back in their second season, O’Connell’s Vikings returned back to the playoffs in his third season with a 14-win campaign, all while cycling through a series of different quarterbacks because of injuries. The Giants decided to entrench around quarterback Daniel Jones, but they went 9-25 over the past two seasons, including a 3-13 mark with Jones before they cut him late last season.
Did that unexpected run to the 2022 divisional round raise expectations too quickly? Daboll didn’t suddenly forget how to scheme open throwing lanes or create conflicts for defenders with the quarterback run game. He was never able to coax the same level of play out of Jones, though, who didn’t always have the sort of help a quarterback would want. The move to sign Drew Lock as a potential replacement delivered predictably unsatisfying results. Did the Giants get fooled by hiring a guy who was adjacent to Josh Allen — he previously was the Bills’ offensive coordinator — then falling further in love with him because Jones posted a career-low outlier of an interception rate (1.1%) in 2022?
The clock is ticking on Daboll’s chances of proving he wasn’t a one-year mirage in New York. The Giants finally overhauled their quarterback room, flirting with Matthew Stafford before signing Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. They used their first-round pick on Jaxson Dart, who represents the long-term prospect they presumably expected to draft in 2023 before Jones’ career season in 2022 sent them in another direction. If Dart shows promise, Daboll will be able to make the case that his continued employment is the best thing for his quarterback’s future. If not? He should be in demand as an offensive coordinator elsewhere, but his time in New York will likely come to an end.
Brian Schottenheimer, coach, Dallas Cowboys
I’ve argued that Chicago’s Ben Johnson is the most-hyped first-time hire with no prior head coaching experience in decades. We might have to go back to Bill Belichick with the Browns in 1991 or Buddy Ryan with the Eagles in 1986 for assistants who inspired comparable levels of certainty that they would become great head coaches, and those guys were both coming off Super Bowl victories.
On the other end of the spectrum is Schottenheimer, who is a decade removed from his last head coaching interview. Schottenheimer, 51, was a hot coaching candidate earlier in his career, when he was a successful assistant with the Chargers and Jets, but those rumors dried up as he bounced around the league. Outside of a brief moment with the Seahawks during the first half of the 2020 season, when a Schottenheimer-led offense was thriving by letting Russell Wilson cook, there haven’t been any hints that he was on radar as an NFL head coach.
Well, things have a funny way of resolving themselves. After spending the past three seasons as an assistant for Mike McCarthy in Dallas, Schottenheimer went through the interview process and won over team owner Jerry Jones, who promoted him. About 15 years after he was regarded as a potential head coaching hire, he’s now in charge of the Cowboys, who will hope to make it back to the postseason after an injury-impacted, wildly disappointing 2024 season.
The move didn’t inspire much excitement, but the reality is that we don’t know much about head coaching hires or their chances of succeeding. Belichick was run out of town in Cleveland and then became the most successful coach in league history in New England. Ryan went 55-55-1 in two stops. For every Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay, there’s an Adam Gase, Matt Nagy or Nathaniel Hackett, all hot offensive-minded assistants who didn’t have much staying power or long-term success as head coaches.
Schottenheimer might turn out to be a great coach. He might also be overmatched by the league’s highest-profile job. Jones has been more patient than his reputation suggests, giving his previous two coaches (McCarthy and Jason Garrett) a combined 14 seasons in charge, but they both had higher profiles than Schottenheimer. Owners are about as faithful as their options and beyond Johnson, this wasn’t a great crop of potential offensive coaches on the market. Would Jones be more aggressive than usual if Schottenheimer doesn’t impress this season and more exciting options are available next spring?
Blogging the Boys
MRI shows Tyler Guyton’s ACL intact, he has bone fracture (out 4-6 weeks) and NOT a torn ACL
NFL Network [initially] reported that Tyler Guyton was “feared” to have suffered a torn ACL during Monday’s practice. Thankfully, this is not the case. ESPN’s Todd Archer noted that Guyton’s MRI results (which the “feared” word noted was the case ahead of) showed things intact in that sense and that the injury here is a bone fracture that will sideline Guyton 4-6 weeks.
Tyler Guyton's ACL is intact after a MRI, according to a source. He has a bone fracture and will not require surgery. Looking at a 4-6 week recovery. Cowboys get better than expected news.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) July 29, 2025
aBit aTwitter
We have placed G Nate Herbig on the Reserve/Retired List
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) July 29, 2025
Veteran G Will Hernandez, who tore his ACL last season, announced on IG yesterday he’s been fully cleared. An intriguing option for teams, as the former #Giants second-rounder was playing the best ball of his career for the #AZCardinals when he got hurt. pic.twitter.com/He53FIZgyF
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 29, 2025
Jordan Magee had a tough break getting hurt out of training camp last season, this year he has a big opportunity on the field and in the classroom pic.twitter.com/uSMjrqnWGt
— Mitchell Tischler (@Mitch_Tischler) July 28, 2025
The D.C. Council’s 2-day hearings on the #Commanders proposed stadium deal starts this morning at 10am. More than 500 residents have signed up to testify!
— Skylar Nelson (@SkyMad03) July 29, 2025
DC residents have spoken: they want the Commanders back at RFK.
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) July 28, 2025
On June 18, many shared their hopes with the Council at the BSA hearing.
Tomorrow, more will testify.
The message is clear—the time to act is now. pic.twitter.com/1Fw635c8vT
Titans have waived/injured WR Treylon Burks. pic.twitter.com/FBDIiNsOWM
— NFL (@NFL) July 28, 2025
End of an era for Tennessee pic.twitter.com/B52VTrhLJZ
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) July 28, 2025
A shooting suspect is dead after an NYPD officer and civilian were shot in Midtown Manhattan on Monday, according to police sources.
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) July 28, 2025
The shooting happened outside 345 Park Ave., which is the building that contains Blackstone and the NFL headquarters. The building is currently… pic.twitter.com/8AtRdZzC2L
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent the attached message to all league employees after one was seriously injured in Monday night’s attack: pic.twitter.com/EgSDK55z8N
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 29, 2025
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