Continuing our previews of the Dallas Cowboys 2026 opponents, it is time to wrap up the NFC East with the Washington Commanders. Most recently, we looked at the very new-look New York Giants, who the Cowboys will see in week one, and it won’t be long after that until the Cowboys play the Commanders, hosting them in week two.
The Cowboys swept the Commanders for the second time in three seasons last year, pulling away in the second half of a week seven home win, and winning at Washington on Christmas
Day. Both games were marked by the familiar theme of the Commanders having availability issues at quarterback. Jayden Daniels was knocked out of the 44-22 runaway Cowboys win in Arlington, replaced by Marcus Mariota. Daniels only appeared in two more games the rest of the season after this week seven loss, and one of them was not on Christmas against the Cowboys, as that game was started by journeyman Josh Johnson.
Going into year three of Dan Quinn as head coach, the Commanders are facing a bit of an identity crisis, falling from 12-5 and an appearance in the NFC Championship game in Daniels’ rookie season to 5-12 battling through his injuries last season, only one game ahead of the last place Giants. Like the Cowboys, the Commanders have done well to maintain a high amount of continuity on offense, but for the first time in Quinn’s tenure in Washington he will not have Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator, and questions persist about their ability to protect Daniels to make any of this matter anyway.
On defense, the Commanders have made a lot of changes to lean even further into the style that Quinn wants to play, and even done some things that Cowboys fans familiar with this defense would certainly call uncharacteristic, most notably drafting an 0ff-ball linebacker in the top ten with Sonny Styles.
Week two is early enough to expect the Cowboys to see Jayden Daniels, and if this Commanders defense gets up to speed quickly as well, this game could easily prove to be a second straight close NFC East battle that will go a long way in shaping up the final division standings at the end of the year. Let’s take a closer look at everything the Commanders did this offseason so far.
Commanders Key Free Agent Signings/Departures
* SIGNED IN FREE AGENCY
- OT Laremy Tunsil (Re-signed)
- G Chris Paul (Re-signed)
- QB Marcus Mariota (Re-signed)
- WR Treylon Burks (Re-signed)
- DE Odafe Oweh
- CB Ahkello Witherspoon
- DT Tim Settle
- LB Leo Chenal
- CB Rasul Douglas
- DE K’Lavon Chaisson
- SAF Nick Cross
- DE Charles Omenihu
- RB Rachaad White
- WR Van Jefferson
* DEPARTED IN FREE AGENCY
- C Tyler Biadasz
- CB Jonathan Jones
- QB John Johnson
- CB Noah Igbinoghene
Perhaps one of the unexpected things that rubbed off on Dan Quinn during his time with the Cowboys is how to prioritize re-signing internal free agents, as this list shows key re-signings they’ll be relying on in the trenches to protect their most valuable player at QB. On the departure side, it is interesting to see two former Cowboys in Biadasz and Igbinoghene leave the team, as well as Jonathan Jones leaving the Commanders for the rival Eagles.
The area the Commanders did the most work with external free agents is the defensive line. Settle, Chaisson, Omenihu, and Oweh give this team a new pass rush look up front, joining mainstays in Javon Kinlaw, Daron Payne, and former Cowboy Dorance Armstrong who is still with the Commanders. Gone are the days of the Commanders stockpiling Alabama-bred defensive linemen, particularly interior tackles, and having lines that were good at holding the line of scrimmage, but lacked in juice. Quinn is looking to rebuild an aggressive, penetrating defense starting with the front, and has some big new names in the secondary to tie this defense together as well.
Ahkello Witherspoon coming over from the Rams is the headline here along with Rasul Douglas, as well as Nick Cross at safety. The Commanders allowed just two less passing touchdowns than the awful Matt Eberflus led Cowboys defense last season, one less pass play of over 40 yards, and led the league in yards per reception allowed. Even if the Daniels/Kingsbury pairing was able to stay together and generate big plays all season, this defensive weakness made it difficult for the Commanders to grab control of games. The Commanders blew four leads in the fourth quarter of games last season, and seven of their 12 losses were by one score.
Cowboys fans will know well that just how good a Quinn defense can be depends on a lot of factors well beyond the defensive personnel itself, mainly the type of support it gets from the team’s offense. We’ll cover how this offense will be in the hands of a new coordinator in the coaching changes section below, but when it comes to a defense looking to get more pass rush to protect leads, as well as improve on a 4.8 yards per carry allowed (fractionally worse than the Cowboys in ‘25) by forcing teams into more passing situations, relying on a strong run game of your own can be the best elixir. Washington added a capable back in Rachaad White to join Jacory Krosky-Merritt in free agency.
This makes the floor/ceiling of offensive line play, depth out of the backfield, and pass rush three big points of parity between both the Cowboys and Commanders to look at, where both teams will have serious questions to answer in all three phases between now and the start of the season, and finding the right answers could determine which team rises or falls in the standings starting in week two, then not again until week 18 will these teams meet again.
Commanders 2026 Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 7: LB Sonny Styles
- Round 3, Pick 7 (71 Overall): WR Antonio Williams
- Round 5, Pick 7 (147 Overall): EDGE Joshua Josephs
- Round 6, Pick 6 (187 Overall): RB Kaytron Allen
- Round 6, Pick 28 (209 Overall): C Matt Gulbin
- Round 7, Pick 7 (223 Overall): QB Athan Kaliakmanis
The theme of the first round for the NFC East in this year’s draft was cream-of-the-crop Ohio State defensive talent ending up in the division, and the Commanders were second to this party just two picks after the Giants drafted Arvell Reese with Sonny Styles at seven. For a team with a lot of needs that fell from being within a game of the Super Bowl two seasons ago to out of the playoff picture early, the pure value of drafting a linebacker at this spot may not add up, but Styles – like Caleb Downs who went to the Cowboys – is a “do it all” type defender that instantly adds a spark to any defense.
A glaring need for the Commanders for some time has also been more support for WR1 Terry McLaurin, which they hope to have found in Antonio Williams in the third round out of Clemson. Williams will add versatility to a WR room that also brought in Van Jefferson in free agency, and re-signed Treylon Burks. On paper, the Commanders might not have the depth chart to go with the expected offensive trend for 2026 of heavy multiple tight end sets, but they do have plus size at wide receiver, a dual-threat quarterback looking to re-establish himself, and a new coordinator that opposing defenses will have to get a read on before understanding where this Washington offense is going.
Commanders 2026 Coaching Changes
*New to staff this season:
- Tight Ends Ben Steele
- Quarterbacks DJ Williams
- Defensive Coordinator Daronte Jones
- Defensive line/run game coordinator Eric Henderson
We’ve teased the biggest coaching move for the Commanders this offseason, which technically does not make our list of new coaches for this season, but replacing Kliff Kingsbury as OC is David Blough – who served as the assistant QB coach since 2024 with Daniels/Quinn. Blough should be uniquely positioned to call plays to the strength of his starting quarterback, with plenty of freedom to do so from a head coach that will have even more defensive responsibilities, breaking in a new DC in Daronte Jones. Longtime Quinn lieutenant Joe Whitt is now with Mike McCarthy and the Steelers.
How comfortable Daniels looks in this new offense will be very interesting to compare directly within the division known to be up for grabs year in and year out. The Giants will be asking the same question in a new scheme of their dual-threat QB Jaxson Dart, the Eagles have another OC for Jalen Hurts, and the Cowboys will be seriously hoping a second year of Brian Schottenheimer and Klayton Adams working with Dak Prescott will see Dak at minimum continue dominating divisional games, and at best a whole lot more than that.
Also new to the circle of trust around Jayden Daniels is QB coach DJ Williams, who is the son of former Super Bowl winning quarterback Doug Williams for Washington. Williams spent the last two seasons with the Falcons, first as assistant QB coach and then as QB coach.
Daronte Jones comes over as Quinn’s defensive coordinator with a specialty in the secondary, serving as the Vikings DB coach and passing game coordinator from 2023 until last season. This creates an interesting dynamic where Quinn can focus on the front seven and Jones focuses on the backend of this defensive with a lot of new names. Meanwhile, the Cowboys defense now has a coordinator in Christian Parker who’s focus is in the secondary, but also a former Vikings coach in Marcus Dixon – this time to focus on the front as DL coach.
Lastly, we mentioned the Commanders not having as strong of an outlook at tight end as many other teams going into training camp and the preseason right around the corner. One of the challenges for this position group will also be a new coach, as Ben Steele flips from the Cardinals to the Commanders. Steele has been in the NFL since 2014, switching from coaching tight ends to offensive line in 2021 with the Vikings, then the Broncos in 2022, but coached the Cardinals tight ends since 2023 until last season.
Sometimes, the most popular and also complex US-based sport really can be boiled down to the performance a team gets from the quarterback position, and it feels like yet again that is where the Commanders are for 2026. The defense may go through some early growing pains before gelling, or could be a season long Achilles heel at times, the run game will almost certainly need time to develop timing with new names in the backfield, but if this team isn’t consistently getting big plays, less turnovers, and less sacks out of Daniels, none of this will matter anyway.
Will a somewhat unknown offensive mind in David Blough have an offense that matches the likes of Brian Schottenheimer’s in year one, who was also a league-wide unknown when it came to how well he could call his own offense while also being a head coach? Or, will losing Kingsbury mark the pin being pulled on Dan Quinn being the right man for the job in Washington to keep them in contention long-term?
