Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy!
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Commanders Roundtable
Washington Commanders Re-Sign Veteran Cornerback Antonio Hamilton Sr
The team announced on Monday morning that veteran cornerback Antonio Hamilton Sr. is set to re-sign with the Commanders for a second season. Hamilton returns after serving as an underrated piece on the 2025 roster with a chance to elevate the depth
under position coach William Gay ahead of 2026.
Hamilton appeared in all but two games during the 2025 season after he recorded 18 total tackles and a pair of pass deflections. Yet he also served as an integral part of the special teams unit alongside safety Jeremy Reaves where the veteran is able to step back into his role under special teams assistant John Glenn.
Commanders Roundtable
State of Washington Commanders Roster After Free Agency, Draft
Offensive Line
T: 5 (Larmey Tunsil, Josh Conerly Jr., Brandon Coleman, Trent Scott, Foster Sarell)
G: 4 (Chris Paul, Sam Cosmi, Timothy McKay, Andrew Wylie)
OC: 3 (Nick Allegretti, Matt Gulbin, Julian Good-Jones)
Washington will have a lot o familiarity in the trenches once again with the left side of the line officially back and solidified.
Tunsil is as good as they come at left tackle and has been since he was drafted back in 2016, following through on the much-anticipated extension. 2025 first-round pick Conerly started all 17 games in a year where everyone was getting hurt. Coleman is a former third-round pick in 2024, who is the top reserve at both tackle spots. Scott, Sarell, and Aumavar-Laulu could each be fighting for one spot. Barring injury. Commanders should have no worries at the tackle spots.
Cosmi has played both tackle and guard for the Commanders, and the team is hoping the injuries from last year are in the rear-view mirror. Paul was resigned after starting 15 games in 2025. Wylie has been a starter for both the Commanders and Chiefs, while McKay spent last year on the practice squad. Tanoa Togiai arrived as a UDFA as a guard option where the Commanders have depth.
Following the release of former starter Tyler Biadasz, Allegretti moves over from guard to center in hopes of improved play there. Gulbin will likely be the backup with hopes of challenging Allegretti as the former interior lineman also offers college experience at guard.
CB: 5 (Trey Amos, Mike Sainristil, Amik Robertson, Ahkello Witherspoon, Antonio Hamilton Sr.)
There’s true question marks at the position. Amos and Sainristil both return while Robertson gives Washington a possible nickel corner, though head coach Dan Quinn previously noted Robertson is likely to stick outside. Witherspoon was signed from the Rams after only playing in six games last year, adding more veteran experience though coming off an injury-shortened 2025 season. The latest roster move materialized on Monday when the Commanders re-signed Hamilton, restocking the depth after shining late in the 2025 regular season. Does Washington make more moves at the position? It certainly feels possible, though wide receiver has been the lone position the front office has been actively linked to this offseason.
Whether UDFA signing Fred Davis II is able to crack the roster through the summer is worth watching while Chris Hilton Jr. is one who signed as a receiver but also drew evaluation as a defensive back prospect before going undrafted and signing with the Commanders, arriving as an intriguing addition.
Riggo’s Rag
7 Commanders officially out of excuses
Will Harris – Commanders S
The Commanders were expected to make big changes to their safety unit this offseason. Almost every position on the depth chart struggled to make an impression in 2025, but the back-end stability on defense left a lot to be desired.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Commanders made slight tweaks rather than a complete overhaul.
Nick Cross signed in free agency, which could be a steal at the money involved if he has the impact expected. Nobody else of note has joined the ranks as yet, so Washington obviously has confidence in those who largely underperformed during the previous campaign.
Will Harris is among them. He was the man tasked with filling the void left by Jeremy Chinn, but an early injury put pay to his chances of having a successful season. He never looked 100 percent even after returning. Still, the Commanders clearly believe things can improve with a better run of luck on the health front.
Frankie Luvu – Commanders LB
There is no doubt Frankie Luvu became a victim of circumstances with the Commanders last season. When injuries began to decimate his defense, the coaching staff asked the linebacker to occupy a role he wasn’t entirely comfortable with. He gave it everything, but the waning influence spoke volumes.
Luvu played more on the edge than at any stage during his career. This restricted his ability to be instinctive and retain the form that earned him second-team All-Pro honors in 2024. Daronte Jones is changing all that this time around, and Adam Peters has enough strength in the pass-rush after an aggressive offseason.
Jones plans to move Luvu back to his off-ball role. That would greatly benefit the franchise, but the Commanders have contingencies in place in case he cannot turn the tide.
Washington signed Leo Chenal in free agency. They took Sonny Styles at No. 7 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. Luvu will still play an integral role, but for how much longer remains to be seen.
Commanders Wire
One reason Commanders should be optimistic for next season
Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports gave one reason why all 32 teams should be optimistic.
For the Commanders, DeArdo said Washington should be optimistic about its “significant offseason upgrades.”
After a disappointing 2025 season, the Commanders put themselves in position to mirror the success they had in 2024, when they advanced to the NFC title game.
Washington overturned its defense this offseason. Six defensive players acquired during free agency are projected starters. They then hit a home run during the draft when they selected linebacker Sonny Styles, whose brilliant play at Ohio State helped the Buckeyes capture a national title in 2024.
The Commanders also gave Jayden Daniels some new weapons in former Buccaneers running back Rashaad White and rookie wideout Antonio Williams. San Francisco 49ers wideout Brandon Aiyuk could certainly land there, too.
The Commanders had one of the NFL’s worst defenses last season. Now, that entire side of the ball is younger, faster and better. It’s way too soon to tell what that means in terms of wins and losses, but it can’t be any worse. Offensively, it was about giving Jayden Daniels more help. Third-round wide receiver Antonio Williams will be a significant part of the offense as a rookie, as will Chig Okonkwo, who signed a three-year deal in March. The Commanders also brought back wide receiver Dyami Brown, who had a nice connection with Daniels in 2024.
Podcasts & videos
Commanders Minicamp! Daronte Jones Defensive OVERHAUL in FULL SWING!
Second Thoughts: Post Rookie Minicamp | JOHN KEIM REPORT
Monday Fun Day ft @Mitch_Tischler w/ @Gcarmi21
NFC East links
Blogging the Boys
Cowboys find out who they will play on Thanksgiving
Dallas has played Philadelphia twice on Thanksgiving in the past, it hasn’t gone in their favor. The Eagles beat the Cowboys 27-0 in 1989 in the infamous “Bounty Bowl” during Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson’s first season as head coach in Dallas. Their last matchup on Turkey Day came in 2014 when the Eagles won 33-14.
This decade, the Cowboys and Eagles have split their 12 meetings. They’ve split the season series four times over those six years, and each team has swept the other once. With this game landing on Thanksgiving, it’s likely that NFC East and playoff implications will be heavily involved. The Cowboys and Eagles should be the favorites to win the division heading into the 2026 season.
Front Office Sports
Fox Chases NFL Record With 2026 Thanksgiving Day Game
Fox’s pursuit of an NFL viewership record will lean on another heated NFC East division rivalry.
The network said as part of its upfront presentation to advertisers Monday in New York that it will air an Eagles-Cowboys game in the late-afternoon window on Thanksgiving Day. That game, leaning into of the league’s most storied rivalries, will seek to exceed the audience average of 57.2 million for last year’s broadcast in that window between the Chiefs and Cowboys on CBS.
Fox and the NFL will also likely have the benefit of an expanded Nielsen methodology for measuring co-viewing within households. A recent pilot program found that the new process generated a 4.2% audience lift during several top events in February, including Super Bowl LX.
That latest move adds to prior Nielsen introductions of its Big Data + Panel process last September and an enlarged counting of out-of-home audiences that began in early 2025.
Regardless of the final count, though, this late-afternoon Thanksgiving game is traditionally the most-watched broadcast of each NFL regular season. The upcoming game will be the Eagles’ eighth contest on Thanksgiving, and the first in Dallas since 2014.
Big Blue View
2026 NY Giants schedule: 4 storylines for Week 1 against the Cowboys
The NFL made one of the highlights of the season their first announcement, when they confirmed that the New York Giants would host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
Giants vs. Cowboys is always a cash cow for the NFL. Not to mention, this game is simply rife with potential storylines.
Will the doubters be right?
The honeymoon period with John Harbaugh didn’t last long for some.
Voices in both the fandom and the media have expressed consistent skepticism that the Giants can right the ship and be competitive in 2026.
The belief is that the Giants’ competitiveness as underdogs last year is irrelevant in the face of the leads they coughed up, that the team is still at a severe talent deficit compared to their competition, and that they didn’t make the correct moves in adding players this year.
New Cowboys’ safety Caleb Downs is the poster boy for doubts surrounding the Giants as Week 1 draws nearer. There were many who were not only convinced that the Giants would take Downs at fifth overall, they were convinced that the Giants had to do so. There were arguments that he would rebuild their defensive culture, fix their run defense, and rejuvenate a secondary that had regressed badly under Shane Bowen.
Instead, the Giants took Arvell Reese and Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa. Behind the scenes footage revealed that Reese was the Giants’ second-highest rated player, and Mauigoa was in their Top 5 as well. It also revealed that they believed there was a drop-off after the top-5 and we can infer that Downs was in that second tier of players.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, have been lauded for drafting Downs. He will be playing the nickel in their defense and likely spend much of Week 1 near the line of scrimmage. That will make him a constant factor for Dart, Mauigoa, the Giants’ running game, and their underneath passing options.
So will Downs prove the doubters right? Will he make the Giants pay for passing on him to draft a tackle to play guard? Or will Sisi reenact Miami’s win over Ohio State, Dart beat the rookie in coverage, and Skattebo pinball off of him the way he did so many other defenders before his injury?
NFL league links
Articles
The Athletic (paywall)
Adrian Peterson to be inducted into Minnesota Vikings’ Ring of Honor
The Minnesota Vikings will induct legendary running back Adrian Peterson into the team’s Ring of Honor during the 2026 season, the team announced Monday. Peterson, a seven-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro, will join fellow running backs and past honorees Chuck Foreman and Bill Brown.
The Vikings selected Peterson with the seventh pick in the 2007 draft. He played with the team for 10 seasons, accumulated 11,747 rushing yards and 97 touchdowns — the most ever by a Vikings running back. In 2012, Peterson’s 2,097 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns led to him becoming the third Vikings player to be named the NFL’s MVP.
Discussion topics
aBit o’Twitter
Craig Morton, the first quarterback to start Super Bowls for two separate teams, died Saturday at the age of 83
