Commanders links
Articles
Sports Illustrated
Brandon Aiyuk to Commanders Makes Sense but Faces June 1 Hurdle
“Aiyuk’s situation is a complicated one. He played just seven games in 2024 and didn’t play a single snap in 2025, amid recovery from a significant knee injury and an increasingly strained relationship with the team. This was all particularly bad timing after GM John Lynch and Co. signed the wide receiver to a four-year, $120 million contract extension just before the 2024 campaign, but it resulted in the team voiding his 2026 guaranteed money,” Matt Okada recently pointed out in an NFL.com
column on cut candidates. “Now, cutting Aiyuk before June 1 would result in a painful $29.5 million in dead money (and no cap savings), but designating him as one of the 49ers’ post-June 1 cuts (or trading him after that date, if they can find a suitor) would end up saving them $6.3 million. However, the messy saga ends, it seems destined to end in the next few months, and Aiyuk will end up on another team before the 2026 season.”
The part that gave me pause in relation to the Commanders bringing him aboard is, “it seems destined to end in the next few months…”
Of course, this isn’t a hard report stating that San Francisco will drag the process into the summer months, but it is a reminder that the organization really controls the future here. With Aiyuk not being viewed as the victim in any of what has happened between himself and the organization that drafted him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, he really doesn’t have the leverage to force the issue either. Doing so via public postings and antics would only vilify him further in a messy split that, at best, views him as an equal problem, while many already see him as the main antagonist.
Clearly, it makes no sense for the 49ers to release Aiyuk and take on a massive dead cap hit in the process. The earliest they could do so, designating him a post-June 1st cut, and save money, is on March 11, the beginning of the new league year. So, until then, there’s no expectation that a move outside a trade could be made, and even a trade can’t be made official until that same date.
If Lynch opts to hold on to Aiyuk in order to preserve one of his two Post June 1 cut designations or to try and force even a late round pick swap for the receiver, that makes it a little sloppier for a team like the Commanders.
Commanders Roundtable
Uncertainty remains over Brian Johnson’s future with Commanders
The former Eagles offensive coordinator drew an interview with the Denver Broncos during the early stages of their search for a new offensive coordinator, but that would not materialize into anything after head coach Sean Payton opted to promoted Davis Webb into the role. While it closed the door on the chance for Johnson to head to the AFC for the first time in his career, that hasn’t materialized into a finalized decision to remain with the Commanders in 2026. And according to ESPN’s John Keim, Johnson has yet to officially inform the Commanders of his final decision for 2026.
“Washington has allowed Johnson to seek other opportunities if that’s what he wants,” Keim said on his latest podcast.
Johnson joined the organization in 2024 as both offensive pass game coordinator and assistant head coach, though was ultimately passed over during the offensive coordinator search as head coach Dan Quinn turned to David Blough in just his third year coaching in the NFL.
“Washington wants to make sure that if Johnson does return, he does so without any negative feelings about not being promoted,” Keim added.
It marks a notable development for a Washington staff littered with inexperience along its coaching staff with several assistants stepping into elevated role for the first time in their careers. And with much of the staff in place, it may mark the final major domino for head coach Dan Quinn and the front office before shifting all attention toward the player acquisition phase of the offseason.
Riggo’s Rag
Chris Paul kept pressure off of Commanders QBs in 2026, but puts pressure on Washington front office in 2026 free agency
Back in 2022, Paul rode the bench the entire season. He got his chance to start in the final week in what seemed to be a meaningless game. In that debut, he was the Commanders’ most aggressive lineman. He was all over the field, often making solid blocks.
But he also showed serious technical flaws. Paul still looked more like a tackle, playing far too upright to manage powerful drive blocks against bigger NFL interior defenders. Fans would have to hope that with some coaching, his natural aggressiveness and obvious power could be harnessed.
But it really never happened until 2025.
Paul still struggles to get out in space on running plays. He is not the quickest of athletes. But his pass blocking, which had been a bigger problem for him early on, witnessed a major upgrade.
That was reflected in his Pro Football Focus grades, which shot up into the top five in the league. Now, those grades have been supported by new data that ranks Paul as the fifth-best left guard in the NFL last season in terms of pressure rate.
His 3.18 percent pressure-allowed rate puts him right on the heels of elite left guards like Joe Thuney and Quenton Nelson. Cosmi ranked fifth among all right guards, giving the Commanders a tandem second only to the Carolina Panthers in pass protection.
This could not have come at a better time for Paul. His rookie contract is up, and he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. Spotrac is currently projecting a fair market value on a two-year, $9.39 million deal. He actually might be hurt a little bit because there could be some quality interior linemen also hitting the market this year.
Podcasts & videos
DEADLINE: Commanders Must NEGOTIATE Marshon Lattimore Injury Settlement By March 15th
NFC East links
Blogging the Boys
Javonte Williams returning to Cowboys on 3-year deal worth $24M
Javonte Williams is officially returning to the team thanks to a new three-year deal worth $24M according to multiple reports.
This is fantastic news in a number of ways for the Cowboys.
First of all, they get to keep a great player in Javonte Williams. He was remarkable in his first season with the team after many thought his career was over following his stint with the Denver Broncos.
Beyond the obvious, the Cowboys also got Williams back for a decent price. The deal is reportedly “worth up to” $8M per year which is incredible relative to the market rate at running back. Chicago Bears running back D’Andre Swift is at that mark for some context.
What’s more, the Cowboys got this done quietly and expeditiously. It is the weekend before the NFL combine and they are already doing work towards next season. That is a breath of fresh air relative to these types of things across recent history.
Williams is coming off of career highs in carries (252), yards (1,201), and touchdowns (11), but he is only set to turn 26 years old this offseason. This is a win in every capacity.
NFL league links
Articles
The Athletic (paywall)
Vikings receiver Rondale Moore found dead at 25
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Rondale Moore was found dead of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound in New Albany, Ind., police said Saturday. He was 25 years old.
New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey said Moore was found dead inside the garage of a property in the city. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday, and the police department is currently investigating the death.
Moore was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals, playing three years there before a series of injuries hampered his career.
As a 21-year-old rookie for the Cardinals in 2021, Moore caught 54 passes, displaying the explosive talent many had expected. Hamstring injuries shortened his 2022 season, limiting him to eight games. He returned and played in 17 games (eight starts) in 2023, catching 40 more passes for 352 yards. A pair of serious knee injuries prevented him from improving upon those statistics over the last two years.
In 2024, he dislocated his right knee in training camp. After an extensive rehab, Moore signed a one-year contract with the Vikings for the 2025 season. Minnesota envisioned him as a kick returner who would add receiver depth, but on his first kick return in the team’s first preseason game, Moore was injured when he was pulled abruptly to the ground.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or is in emotional distress, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or at 988lifeline.org.
Cleveland.com
It’s doubtful that Browns LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will ever return to the field: Mary Kay Cabot
Owusu-Koramoah, who suffered a serious neck injury in a violent collision with Ravens running back Derrick Henry on Oct. 27, 2024, is doubtful at best to ever make it back to the playing field, a league source tells cleveland.com.
The Browns’ second-round pick in 2021 out of Notre Dame, Owusu-Koramoah sat out all of last season while recuperating from the injury, which involved a serious, visible compression of his neck.
He was immobilized on a board, carted off, and taken to University Hospitals for overnight observation. Fortunately for Owusu-Koramoah and the Browns, he had feeling in all of his extremities when he was transported via ambulance to the hospital. But the injury was serious enough to threaten his career.
Discussion topics
Pro Football Talk
Report: Rams will propose change to rule that led to wacky Seahawks’ two-point play
After the Week 16 Thursday night overtime thriller between the Rams and Seahawks, L.A. coach Sean McVay was apoplectic about the manner in which replay review changed an incomplete pass into a successful two-point conversion.
The Rams plan to try to do something about it.
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports that the Rams plan to propose a rule change that would make the outcome of the play in question an unsuccessful two-point try.
No details have been provided as to what the change would be.
The play was fueled by the fluke deflection of a backward pass that caused it to go forward. And because it was a backward pass and not a fumble, it could be recovered beyond the spot of the backward pass by someone other than the person who threw it.
One possibility would entail applying the fumble rules to a backward pass that is touched by a member of the defense or, even more specifically, one that is touched by a member of the defense and ricochets forward.
Apart from the kooky outcome is the fact that it took 100 seconds to initiate a replay review. As PFT recently reported, a call from Prime Video rules analyst Terry McAulay to NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson sparked the process.
Given the outcome of that game and its impact on the NFC West crown and No. 1 seed in the conference, it was the call of the year. Whether it prompts a rule change remains to be seen.
The fact that it happens so infrequently could be the best argument against a change, with teams continuing to coach players to pick up any loose ball they see. Like Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet did in that key moment.
