This article re-visits what I wrote about the players on the Commanders roster just prior to the start of the 2025 regular season.
To read that article in its original form, CLICK HERE.
Washington Commanders Roster
Offense (25)
Quarterback (3)
Jayden Daniels
2024 Comment: I’m thrilled! I think Daniels is the real deal and that no other potential quarterback could have been a better fit for this team at this time. I’m looking forward to many years of leadership and great play from our new starting QB.
2025: There is literally no NFL quarterback that I would
rather have than Jayden Daniels. We’ve all seen his greatest on-field attribute — poise under pressure — and heard about his greatest off-the-field attributes of hard work and relentless preparation. He’s about to show the league that, not only was 2024 not a fluke, but that he’s a better QB in 2025.
Week 12: Well, nothing here has gone to plan. In the few games that Jayden has been healthy, he hasn’t looked as sharp as he did a year ago. The recent film breakdown by Kurt Warner made it painfully clear that, midseason, Jayden was lacking the clear vision, immediate processing and decisiveness that marked his rookie year. The bigger story, however, has been the three injuries that have plagued his second season as a pro. I remain absolutely bullish on Jayden as the franchise quarterback, but there’s no denying that 2025 has felt like a cursed season.
Marcus Mariota
2024 Comment: Dating back to when he was drafted, I’ve never been a Mariota fan. Now he’ll be wearing the burgundy & gold, so I’ll spend the next week in deep meditation to prepare myself to root for him. If things go well, he’ll never take a snap for this franchise, which would make rooting for him much simpler.
2025: Marcus Mariota totally converted me. He’s a fantastic backup quarterback and was directly involved in helping achieve 2 of the Commanders’ 12 regular season wins in 2024. I am officially thrilled to have him back and publicly retract every doubt I ever expressed about him.
Week 12: I realize that the team has not enjoyed the same success with Mariota behind center this season when compared to 2024, but I don’t blame Mariota (much) for that. I still feel good about Washington’s chances every time he steps on the field. He is not Jayden Daniels; if he were, he wouldn’t be a backup on any team. I’m still pleased that MM is a Commander, and, barring a significant shakeup to the coaching staff this offseason, I’d like to see him back in ‘26.
Josh Johnson
I just find it hard to get too worked up about a guy who’s probably never gonna play a snap for the team in the regular season or post season, but I recognize that, with Mariota having struggled with Achilles tendinitis throughout training camp, Johnson could be one snap away from playing against the Giants. I don’t think he’s horrible, but I was more impressed with Jeff Driskel a year ago. If Mariota is healthy, I expect Johnson to be the guy who comes off the 53-man roster to make room for someone else.
Week 12: I’m just relieved that JJ hasn’t had to take more than 4 offensive snaps this year and hasn’t been required to throw a pass. Still, as the 3rd guy on the depth chart, I’m okay with him.
Wide Receiver (5)
Terry McLaurin
2024 Comment: It’s important to understand that my fandom for this team dates back to when Vince Lombardi was the head coach. Terry McLaurin is my all-time favorite player for the Washington franchise. That’s damned impressive when you look at the torrent of great players that I watched from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. I’m thinking of guys like Wilbur Marshall, John Riggins, Art Monk, and Darrell Green. Scary Terry is at the top of my list.
2025: I’m thrilled that the team got an extension done with Terry prior to the start of the season! I wish it had gotten done prior to the start of training camp. While Terry may not be the primary reason for Washington’s success in 2025, his absence probably would have been the key obstacle to the team achieving its full potential this year.
Week 12: Whelp… I’m gonna say that this statement encapsulated much of the first 11 weeks for the Commanders: “his absence probably would have been the key obstacle to the team achieving its full potential this year.” I think a huge issue for the offense has been its inability to threaten opposing defenses deep downfield due to Terry’s injury. The Commanders simply don’t have anyone else on the roster who can adequately replace him, which points to a 2026 offseason roster-building priority.
Noah Brown
2024 Comment: I like this signing and I think that Noah is going to be another guy that will put up 500+ yards and contribute to the team. Jayden Daniels is not going to lack for targets, and I believe he will play ‘point guard’, distributing the pigskin very widely among his playmakers.
2025: Interestingly, I think Brown may be a bit less of a key in 2025 than he was in 2024 because I think Kliff Kingsbury has a wider array of weapons at his disposal. Noah Brown was on pace to reach 700 yards last season if he’d been healthy for the full slate of games. I expect him to play a biggish role in the ‘25 offense, but to see Deebo and the RBs cut into Brown’s total production compared to last season. He should continue to contribute as the best blocking WR on the team, which will keep him on the field as long as he’s healthy.
Week 12: I like Noah Brown but his inability to stay healthy made it surprising to me that Adam Peters made it a higher priority to pay him instead of Olamide Zaccheaus this past offseason. Ultimately, Brown’s injury issues will now reduce him to a vet-min $$ player who will spend whatever time he has left in the NFL as the last guy on the depth chart, and I’ll be surprised if we see him back in Washington in ‘26 or beyond.
Luke McCaffrey
2024 Comment: I have modest expectations for Luke McCaffrey this season. I see 2024 as a developmental year for a guy who has been a receiver for only 2 years. If he gets 150-200 yards this season, I won’t be surprised.
2025: McCaffrey’s 168 yards fell squarely within my expectations for his rookie campaign. I honestly don’t expect a lot more from him this year. I’ll raise my bracket for expected yards to 250-400 yards for the 2025 season. I’m looking for LMC to step up in ‘26.
Week 12: My Bingo card didn’t have Luke among the league’s elite kickoff returners, but he provided great value there once Ekeler was lost for the season. As a receiver, McCaffrey had 203 yards and 3 TDs in 9 games — on track for 383 yards in a 17-game season, which is in my projected range. His touchdown production, however (3 TDs on 15 targets), was also not on my Bingo card. I’m expecting a 2026 breakout season for McCaffrey.
Deebo Samuel
2025: A lot was written about how Deebo’s career fell off a cliff in San Francisco after 2021. I’m not predicting a return to 1,770 yards from scrimmage and 14 total touchdowns, but I’m looking for about 800 receiving yards at around 13 yards-per-reception (so, about 60 receptions) and another 200 yards in the run game for 1,000 yards from scrimmage. Deebo has a 50+% success rate per play for his career as both receiver and rusher; I see him as a huge part of keeping the offense ahead of schedule and moving the chains in 2025. I believe he’s likely to earn an extension that will bring him back in 2026.
Week 12: So far, Deebo is averaging 47 receiving yards per game (799 yards over 17 games) and 4.7 rushing yards per game (88 yards over 17 games). While his rushing yards are behind my projection, his success rates (57.4% receiving; 63.6% rushing) are significantly better than any other season in his career except for, maybe, 2020. It’s impressive that he’s been able to do so much with very few other playmakers to draw attention (Ekeler, Noah Brown and Terry all missing), but their absence has also made him the top target. That helps his raw yardage stats, but his elevated success rate indicates that he’s maximizing the opportunities when he gets the ball in his hands. I feel less certain now about a 2026 extension than I did in the preseason, but that has more to do with lack of team success this year than any concerns about Deebo’s performance. I think he’s been pretty impressive.
Jaylin Lane
2025: I was instantly hyped about Lane when I learned about him post-draft. I thought, initially, that he could line up as an outside speed option opposite McLaurin, and, interestingly, McLaurin and Noah Brown being absent for most of training camp allowed Lane to show off some of that ability. He will be a much more flexible receiving option than most fans anticipated when he was drafted. That said, I have modest expectations for his rookie season. I’m expecting around 15-20 receptions for 150-300 yards, and I expect him to be about league-average as a punt returner.
Week 12: So far, Lane has 16 catches for 225 yards, so he looks like he should end up near the high end of my projection (maybe a bit over). He has been a generally capable punt returner with one TD and a couple of muffs. Overall, I think his season will end up much as I anticipated it would. I’ll be looking for him to progress a bit in 2026, but to remain 4th or 5th on the WR depth chart.
Tight End (4)
Zach Ertz
2024 Comment: I count myself among those who are optimistic about Ertz. I’m choosing to believe that the coaching staff will help him stay healthy. I think he can use his veteran wiles in Kingsbury’s offense. With Jayden Daniels’ running ability, teams will have a hard time playing man coverage; Zach Ertz should eat zone coverage alive and keep the chains moving. I’m drinking the Flavorade here.
2025: I anticipate no real regression in Ertz’s play, though I think Deebo may ‘vulture’ a lot of the checkdown passes that went to Zach in 2024, and I expect Deebo, with his run-after-catch ability to do more with those touches than Ertz did. Ertz had 66 catches for 654 yards and 7 TDs in 2024. I expect that to drop to around 500 yards on 45-50 catches and around 6 TDs because JD5 will go to Ertz in the red zone earlier and more often than he did in 2024.
Week 12: I’d say that Ertz has had the kind of season I expected in terms of his individual production. He’s on track to produce 60 catches for 600 yards — more than I projected, but a bit less than last year’s production. With 4 TDs in the bank and 6 games left to play, his chances of getting the 6 TDs I predicted seem pretty solid. The big achievement so far would be that Ertz has stayed healthy and played 66% of the offensive snaps so far this season (he played 67% in ‘24). It will be interesting to see if the front office wants to bring him back again in ‘26. Given the consistency of his production over 2 seasons, I’m not ruling it out — particularly if Kliff Kingsbury is back for his third year as OC.
John Bates
2024 Comment: This guy has a role in the NFL. You know what it is and he knows what it is. He is a 4th-year draft pick who should be extended along with his draft classmate, Sam Cosmi.
2025: John Bates was one of two players in a contract year in 2024 (Mariota was the other) that I identified as the highest priorities to extend. Bates as a blocker plays a huge role in the success of the Commanders offense. I love this guy and have since the day he was drafted (feel free to go back and look up the articles I wrote about him in his rookie season).
Week 12: I continue to have high appreciation for Bates and his role with the Commanders. I think he’s one of the most consistent players on the team.
Ben Sinnott
2024 Comment: Outside of Jayden Daniels, of Washington’s draft picks on the offensive side of the ball, Sinnott is the one I am most excited to see on the field. He looked like a dump truck running with the ball in preseason. I think he can have an impact as a blocker and receiver from Week 1. I’m stoked to see him in a regular season game!
2025: Well, last year qualified as something of a letdown in terms of seeing Sinnott as a pass catcher. I do think he is developing well as a blocker. He’s gonna have to add a lot of pass-catching and chain moving to his repertoire if he wants to last in Washington beyond the end of his rookie contract. Playing behind Ertz and Bates, I don’t expect to see him get much production in ‘25. Fans may need to be patient and look for that magic 3rd year leap for this tight end.
Week 12: My preseason comment appears to be holding up so far. I will add that, in his NFL career, Sinnott has been targeted 8 times. He has 8 receptions, 2 TDs and 4 first-downs with a 62.5% success rate on those 8 targets. I’m looking for something of a breakout year from him in ‘26.
Colson Yankoff
2024 Comment: I just don’t see it. Basically, it seems to me that the coaches figure that they need 4 tight ends to run as much 12 personnel as they want to, and they didn’t have anyone better than Yankoff. I’m gonna need some time here.
2025: Yankoff may have done enough to have surpassed Sinnott as the 3rd tight end. He looks like a strong special teams contributor and an improving part of the offense. I’m much more ‘sold’ on him this year then I was in 2024.
Week 12: 169 special teams snaps; 67 offensive snaps. 1 target, 1 reception, 4 yards. He is exactly who we thought he was on offense. 9 tackles on special teams is strong production. He should have a role with Washington to the end of his rookie contract, at least.
Running Back (4)
Austin Ekeler
2024 Comment: I thought immediately that Ekeler would be an upgrade to Antonio Gibson. I still think that. Ekeler should thrive in his role in Washington’s offense. I do think he has a lot of priorities beyond just his play on the field as he works to position himself for his post-playing career. I’m fine with that because he seems to be able to manage his responsibilities as a player even as he works hard to set up his future prospects. He hasn’t seen a video interview or podcast this offseason that he wasn’t willing to do.
2025: Ekeler had all the offensive impact that I expected to see last year. He was a bigger contributor on special teams as a kick returner than I ever expected. The two concussions and all the missed games were troubling. Washington has always seemed to do well with guys like Chris Thompson and JD McKissic. I think Ekeler’s marriage with Kliff Kingsbury and his reunion with Anthony Lynn are ideal for him, and I see he and Deebo as largely interchangeable in Kliff’s offense, meaning that, if Ekeler can stay healthy, he could have his best season since 2022. I expect Ekeler to lead Washington’s running backs in scrimmage yards in 2025.
Week 12: The smartest thing I wrote in my preseason paragraph about Ekeler were the words, “If Ekeler can stay healthy”. He played 69 offense snaps and produced 81 yards from scrimmage. My best guess is that Ekeler will retire and start his post-playing career as a broadcaster, businessman, or whatever. I suspect that he’ll be able to make as much money in whatever comes next as he would as a 31-year-old 3rd-down running back trying to come back from a season-ending injury.
Jeremy McNichols
2024 Comment: I’m okay with McNichols as the 3rd back. I started the offseason thinking that he would compete for the role with Chris Rodriguez, and that Michael Wiley would be the #5 guy in the room. In the end, Wiley gave McNichols a run for his money, but ended up on the practice squad (along with CR). I wouldn’t be shocked to see both Wiley and McNichols get snaps on offense this season.
2025: Watching McNichols play last season convinced me that there’s not a lot that separates him from the average starting running back in the NFL. I thought he played very well every time he had an opportunity last season. I’m pleased that he’s back, and his pass pro skills may earn him more playing time than people expect.
Week 12: McNichols has already, in 11 games, surpassed his 2024 yards from scrimmage. Last year, he totaled 288 yards; he has 330 already this season. Given his vet-minimum salary, McNichols is a good value player who is on track to have the best year of his career in 2025. I’d be happy to see him back in ‘26 as the #3 guy in the RB room.
Chris Rodriguez
2025: I spent most of the past two seasons wondering what it was that other Washington fans saw in Rodriguez that I didn’t. He looked to me like a practice squad running back. There have been reports from coaches and training camp observers this year that CRod has shown up fitter and faster. He had a couple of nice runs in the preseason. At this point, I’ve decided to accept the reports of those who’ve seen him up close and to acknowledge that he looked like he belonged on an NFL field in his 3 preseason appearances. I am nowhere close to thinking that Rodriguez is a starting-caliber NFL running back. I honestly have him rated below McNichols inside my own head, but I’m certainly prepared to be proven wrong.
Week 12: Interestingly, while I imagine most Commanders fans would think that CRod has out-produced McNichols this season, he hasn’t necessarily. Rodriguez has 285 scrimmage yards compared to McNichols’ 330 — but 3 TDs for CRod vs 1 for JMac. Rodriguez has the 2nd most rushing attempts and the 2nd most rushing yards (behind Bill Croskey Merritt) and the 2nd-best average (JMac 7.0; CRod 4.8; JCM 4.4). I guess you’d have to say that Rodriguez has been the second-best back so far. Of course, he had very good games against Seattle & Miami in Weeks 9 & 11, while Bill has struggled since Weeks 5 & 6. I continue to be ambivalent about Rodriguez. He’ll be a Restricted Free Agent at the end of the ‘25 season, and I expect the Commanders will probably tender him. He’ll probably make the ‘26 roster unless Washington drafts a rookie that they like better, which wouldn’t shock me in the least.
Bill Croskey-Merritt
2025: The first highlight film I saw of JCM got me excited. The more I watched, the more concerned I became that he isn’t really the decisive one-cut runner we’ve been told he is, but instead is a guy who likes to rely on jump cuts and move sideways in the hole in an effort to be elusive. My concern is that the jump in defensive athleticism from college to the NFL may mean that this doesn’t work so well for Bill. One person here at Hogs Haven suggested that Bill’s style is reminiscent of Jahmyr Gibbs. Now that would be something! I’m excited to see what he can do in the NFL, but I’m a bit nervous about whether he will try to do too much at the line of scrimmage, missing opportunities to simply get north and south in a hurry. I’m also in wait & see mode regarding his pass pro vs top-tier NFL pass rushers.
Week 12: As mentioned in the section on Chris Rodriguez above, Bill hasn’t done a lot since his career-best game in Week 5 vs the Chargers, and hasn’t broken 3.2 yards per carry since the Week 6 loss to Chicago. I think Bill has potential, but I also think he has a lot to learn. He may end up being a bit like Antonio Gibson — a running back who does fairly well on the Washington roster for 4 years on his rookie contract, but one who ultimately ends up as a role player on another team.
Offensive Line (9)
Brandon Coleman
2024 Comment: I’m relying entirely on camp reports from local media here since Coleman wasn’t healthy enough to play in any preseason games. I have high hopes but no expectations for Coleman. I look forward to seeing him play.
2025: I’m a lot more excited about Coleman as a 2nd year player at LG than I was when he was a rookie LT. I think he will excel at the position and his athleticism will suit Kingsbury’s offense.
Week 12: I’m thinking that Coleman will continue to develop, but may end up as a high-end backup guard in the NFL rather than the starter that people hoped for when he was drafted. It’s been a rough 2 seasons so far. He’ll need a really good training camp in 2026 combined with good health to move back up the depth chart. For now, I’m fine with him being the primary backup at LT & LG.
Sam Cosmi – PUP (not on the 53-man roster)
2024 Comment: Beast. I hope he is the next player on the current roster to get an extension, though I know the size of the contract is going to be heart-stopping.
2025: I think I may be the most pessimistic Commanders fan alive when it comes to Cosmi’s return from injury. I’m old enough to remember when a 12-month recovery from an ACL injury was considered ‘speedy’. Cosmi had surgery in late January, so I don’t really expect to see him on an NFL field in calendar year 2025. We already know he won’t be on the field in the month of September. I wish him a speedy and complete recovery, but I’m not counting on him at all this season.
Week 12: Well, literally everyone else was right and I was wrong about the speed of Cosmi’s recovery. It’s a brave new world. It wasn’t really that long ago that an ACL tear had a good chance of ending an NFL career. Adrian Peterson stunned the world with a huge year in 2012 after a late-December ACL tear in 2011, and Peterson talked about his “good genes” contributing to the amazing speed and completeness of his recovery that is now pretty much standard for pro athletes. Medical science, man…
Andrew Wylie
2024 Comment: Okay. I am nothing but a fan with a keyboard. I have no insight into the nuances of playing professional football. I saw Wylie look terrible in multiple games last season. That said, he was playing in Eric Bieniemy’s ill-conceived offense and protecting a QB who held the ball a long time and did not have a great feel for the pocket. I hope Wylie looks a lot better this season with some scheme help and a quick-release, mobile QB. I’ll be holding my breath — at least for the first few offensive series.
2025: Kliff Kingsbury and Jayden Daniels made Wylie look a hell of a lot better than did Eric Bieniemy and Sam Howell. Still, I’m assuming that Wylie gets beat out at right tackle by the team’s 1st-round pick, Josh Conerly. The move back to guard should suit Wylie in a year in which he took a pay cut to stay with the team. Wylie’s final year in Washington could turn out to be his best — or at least, his least-bad.
Week 12: I was surprised when Allegretti got the start to open the season over Wylie. That was corrected in Week 3. My only surprise after that was, as mentioned above, Cosmi’s quick return to the lineup. As an inexpensive backup, Wylie is okay, but I wouldn’t place any particular premium on his return in 2026.
Nick Allegretti
2024 Comment: This feels a lot like the Andrew Wylie story — a Chiefs backup lineman who came through for Kansas City when they needed him and helped win a super bowl, allowing him to be a clear starter on a team with less talent on the OL. I was really underwhelmed by this signing in March, so I’ll be relying on the fact that Adam Peters is a respected NFL personnel evaluator and I am not.
2025: Allegretti appears to be either the fill-in for Cosmi at RG, the primary backup at C/G, or a bit of both. Like Wylie, I like him better as a backup than as a starter. Like Wylie, I won’t be sorry to see him playing for a different team in 2026.
Week 12: I’ll stand on my preseason comment about Allegretti.
Tyler Biadasz
2024 Comment: He’s a clear upgrade from Nick Gates and Tyler Larsen, but I think this Tyler gets bonus credit from fans just because of his badass surname. I think he is a competent center, but I think Chase Roullier was better.
2025: I probably sold Biadasz a little short in my 2024 comments. He appears to have been the team’s most consistent offensive lineman last year, and the fall off in offensive play whenever he wasn’t on the field last year was stark. My biggest concern about the OL this year is what happens if Biadasz has to miss significant snaps in a game like last year; Allegretti didn’t look all that good in preseason.
Week 12: On the season, Biadasz holds an overall PFF grade of 67.4, placing him 14th among 37 qualified centers. I’ve watched a lot of Logan Paulsen film breakdowns this season and he rarely talks about Biadasz. I don’t really have the skill to assess him myself. I get the sense that he’s been a bit more inconsistent in 2025, but the Commanders OL overall seems to be slightly above average, and Biadasz seems to fit that description — slightly above average. I’m happy for someone smarter than me to give a better take on his performance this season. He’s under contract for 2026, so no concerns there for another year.
Trent Scott
2024 Comment: He’s actually been active for 71 NFL games, but has only about 1,800 offensive snaps in his 6 year career, with close to half of them played in 2019. He didn’t look good in preseason. I hope the players ahead of him stay healthy all season.
2025: Scott played better last year than I had expected, and he showed good flexibility by lining up at guard and playing well when needed. I am much higher on him now than I was a year ago, but I think his position as primary swing tackle will likely give way to George Fant as Fant becomes increasingly familiar with the offense.
Week 12: I feel like Trent Scott’s importance in Washington’s offense has actually diminished since last year; he has been active in only 5 games and played only 64 offensive snaps. Rather than being supplanted by Fant as I had expected in preseason, based on at least one comment by Dan Quinn, the Commanders seem to have moved away from the use of a “swing tackle” and towards using Brandon Coleman as the G & OT backup on the left side with Wylie as the G & OT backup on the right side. This seems to have been bad news for Scott since Cosmi’s return, and I’m starting to wonder if Scott may end up being pushed off the roster entirely in 2026.
Chris Paul
2024 Comment: 500 snaps in 2 seasons. I don’t expect a lot from Chris Paul, though I’m more confident in him as a backup guard than I am in Trent Scott as a backup tackle.
2025: Comments from camp observers were almost universally positive about Chris Paul this year. It seems like he’s finally developing into a reliable backup. Washington may need him in 2026 if both Wylie and Allegretti are allowed to walk in free agency, so I’m hoping the positive reports are accurate
Week 12: It seems like the training camp reports were not only accurate, but that Chris Paul has developed into the offensive lineman that fans hoped for (or maybe even more than that) when he was drafted in the 7th round of the 2022 draft. I wanted to remind myself what the expectations were at that time, so I went back to the spotlight article that I published in Paul’s rookie season that included a film study by Joshua Frye. Here are Joshua’s summary comments at the end of his film breakdown:
Overall, I like Chris Paul as a developmental player, though, despite the flexibility he showed at Tulsa, I see him more likely as a guard in the NFL than on the edge at tackle. I see him in a depth role for probably 2 years, maybe only one, depending on how fast and how much he develops. He has good technique and is able to pick to up stunts very well. He could work on getting more of a push in the run game, and sharpening his hand placement and foot quickness, which he has the athleticism to do. I think, Chris Paul, in the long run, will fit into the interior at one of the guard spots.
Those comments from Joshua feel as if they were very much on point. Paul will be a free agent at the end of the ‘25 season; it seems reasonable to expect the Commanders to extend him, which would add to the OL stability heading into 2026.
Laremy Tunsil
2025: I have been stoked since the day the trade was announced. To me, this was the key roster addition of 2025. Elite offensive tackles can typically play well past 35 years of age, and Tunsil is both elite and just 31 years old — a year younger than Trent Williams was when he was traded to the 49ers. I expect the pass protection to look completely different this year, and with Tunsil able to handle one side of the line without every-down help from a tight end, the passing game should become more wide-open. The flow-on effect of moving Coleman to guard should help the running game, even if LT is primarily known as a pass protector. Color me mostly unconcerned about Tunsil’s 19 penalties last season. Six were in a single game, and he’s had only 20 holding penalties in a 9-year career. While he averages 9 false start penalties per season, he has had more than 7 false starts in only 3 of his 9 seasons, and only once since 2019. Per Pro Football Reference, Tunsil had 27 penalties in 4 seasons from 2020 to 2023 (less than 7 per season).
Week 12: Let’s start with those penalties. Through 11 weeks, 65 NFL players have more penalties than Laremy Tunsil, who has 4 accepted penalties for 29 yards. He’s actually had the 3rd most flags thrown on the Commanders roster (behind Conerly and Lattimore), but has gone 5 full games without drawing a yellow flag — his last penalty was in the Week 6 games against the Bears.
Looking at key advanced statistics, Tunsil has allowed just one QB hit and one hurry in a recent game (Week 11), maintaining a low pressure rate. His Pass Block Win Rate of 92% ranks 20th among offensive tackles and he ranks 12th in sacks allowed (just one on the season). PFF really likes him, with an overall blocking grade of 81.6 (ranked 8th) and a pass blocking grade of 88.0 (ranked 4th).
I remain extremely bullish on Tunsil and see him as one of the core players who will earn an extension and play at a high level in Washington for the next 5 to 8 seasons.
Josh Conerly
2025: Initially, I was a little skeptical about Conerly being ready to start at RT to open the season, but his progress this offseason appears, based on reports from camp, to have been pretty impressive. Even if he has some struggles as a rookie, he looks like a very strong draft pick at #29 who should provide stability at the position for years to come. When you look at Tunsil, Coleman, Biadasz, Cosmi and Conerly all under contract for 2026, it’s easy to feel good about the direction the team is headed with respect to the offensive line.
Week 12: I’ll repeat that I am not skilled enough at watching film to evaluate Conerly on my own, but reports across the board seem to consistently say that Josh struggled mightily in his first several games at right tackle, but that his performance has progressed as the season has gone on. The pattern of his PFF blocking scores tend to validate this view:
George Fant
2025: Eight seasons, 65 starts, nearly 4,700 offensive snaps. It’s hard to imagine how the front office could have made a better addition to the offensive line in August. I find it somewhat irritating that we still don’t know the amount of Fant’s contract, making it difficult to assess the value of the signing, but I feel very good about Fant as a guy who can step in and play at a high level — something I will feel increasingly better about with each passing week. A signing like this one can make the difference between making the playoffs and winning playoff games or heading home early in January.
Week 12: First of all, Fant signed on a vet-minimum salary and has a cap hit of just $1.03m for the season. It seems like I vastly over-estimated his contribution to the team. Basically, I saw him stepping up as the primary swing tackle by early October. Instead, he has been inactive for several games and hasn’t taken an offensive snap for the Commanders in 2025. He’s probably more likely to retire at the end of the season than to return to Washington.
Defense(25)
Defensive End (5)
Dorance Armstrong
2024 Comment: I’m less impressed with Armstrong than most seem to be. Hopefully, he’ll benefit from playing with better interior pass rushers than he had in Dallas.
2025: Armstrong was better than I expected him to be in 2024. I expect his level of play to be similar this year to what it was last year.
Week 12: Through the first six weeks of 2025, Armstrong was having a career breakout season. Losing him to injury was one of the most devastating blows the Commanders defense suffered this year. He’s got one more season under contract with Washington (his age-29 season). Let’s hope he finds the same form in 2026 that he was demonstrating in 2025. I’ve gone from a 2024 skeptic to a 2025 fan, and hoping for a magical 2026 from Armstrong.
Javontae Jean-Baptiste
2024 Comment: If he doesn’t outperform KJ Henry, there’ll be complaints from a lot of people for a long time to come. In the end, Quinn and Peters chose their 7th round pick over Rivera’s 5th round pick. I’m not losing any sleep over it.
2025: I think it’s safe to say that JJB outplayed KJ Henry. I wasn’t sure he was going to make the ‘25 roster, but I imagine Peters and Quinn may be looking ahead to 2026 when Martin, Wise and Von Miller are all pending free agents. Jean-Baptiste played 194 defensive snaps in 12 games last year. If he plays 300-500 snaps in 17 games this season, he will probably be filling his expected role. I see him as the #4 guy in a 5-man DE group.
Week 12: JJB only made it through 3 games before suffering a season-ending injury, but at 20 snaps per game, he was on track for a 300-snap season. He seems to be settling in as a solid rotational DE, about what should be expected of a 7th round pick. Hopefully, he’ll make a full recovery and take the next step in 2026.
Von Miller
2025: Miller had an uneven stint in Buffalo, playing 36 games in 3 seasons and producing 8, 0 and 6 sacks respectively. He played between 250 and 280 defensive snaps each of the past two seasons (around 33% of the snaps). If he can play a similar number of snaps for Washington and produce 7 sacks, he will have done his job, I think. That would move him into 15th position on the NFL’s all-time sack leaders list. He’s 12 sacks away from tying Michael Strahan for 10th place on that list, so if he can put together 2 decent seasons, he could retire among the top-10 all time, which may motivate him greatly. A positive for Miller should be that Dan Quinn appears to be one of the better NFL coaches when it comes to managing older players to keep them on the field and productive. If Miller can play more than 13 games for the first time since 2021, that would be good for both player and team.
Week 12: Miller is playing 37% of the defensive snaps (probably a bit more than planned due to injuries to other players at the position). In 11 games, he has produced 5 sacks, which puts him on track to finish with 7 or 8 for the season. I think most fans would have been satisfied with that individual production at the time he was signed in the offseason, but the team’s 3-8 record has made most individual stats seem less meaningful. I could see Miller trying to extend his career as long as he has a realistic chance of moving up the all-time career sack list, but I’m not sure how likely it is that he will extend it in Washington.
Deatrich Wise
2025: Wise’s age 30 season in 2024 was statistically one of the worst of his 8-year career, but he played just 408 defensive snaps (2nd lowest of his career) under a new head coach. Wise was a captain in New England in each of his final 3 seasons there. Per Pro Football Reference, he produced 17 sacks (5.7 avg) in those three seasons. At 6’5” and 271 pounds, Wise is a big DE who should play around 40-45% of the defensive snaps and help the Commanders on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd downs. I’m looking for Wise to have a pretty good season on a new team and under a coach known for getting the most out of older veterans.
Week 12: While healthy in Weeks 1 & 2, Wise actually played about 38% of the defensive snaps — a shade less than I had expected, but in a really small sample size. His loss so early in the season (quad) was one of the first significant injury blows to the Commanders. I question whether he will be re-signed for his age 32 season in 2026 when I expect Adam Peters to prioritize youth to a greater degree in free agency.
Jacob Martin
2025: Honestly, I’m not expecting a lot from Martin. The Commanders are his 7th team. He may be my least favorite addition to the ‘25 roster to make the 53. Martin has played less than 2,200 defensive snaps in a 7-year career with 102 active games. I expect he’ll play about as many special teams snaps as he will defensive snaps in 2025. He may actually be behind Javontae Jean-Baptiste on the depth chart.
Week 12: Martin has already (in 11 games) set career highs in tackles, sacks, and QB hits. He has only played a higher percentage of defensive snaps in 2021, his final year in Houston. He is playing a lot more, of course, because of the injuries at DE this season. In Weeks 1-6 Wise averaged 30.5 snaps per game; in Weeks 7-11, he has averaged over 44 snaps per game. He has responded pretty well. In the game against Kansas City in Week 8, he was one of the few defensive players who appeared to belong on the field with the Chiefs. A relatively spry 30 years old and on a relatively thrifty $2m contract, it’s possible that Wise could reprise his role in the Commanders defense in 2026.
Defensive Tackle (4)
Daron Payne
2024 Comment: When Payne was drafted by the Redskins, I had been hoping for Vita Vea. Time has proven, I think, that Payne is the better player. I wish that Allen and Payne had been together for the kind of success that ‘boomers’ think of when they talk about Mann and Manley (bookend pass rushers from ‘back in the day’). The difference between Payne and Allen at this point is that Payne is 27 years old and may be able to last long enough to enjoy some team success in Washington.
2025: I guess it’s fair to say that I over-sold the Payne-Allen partnership last year. That said, I continue to be higher on Payne than most Commanders fans. I still see him as a disruptive force on the inside. While many will point to the Commanders struggles vs the run last season, I don’t see that as a direct indictment of Daron Payne. I’m looking for a good season from him, though I’m far from convinced that we’ll see the same monster that we saw in 2022. I don’t think Payne will be back in Washington in 2026, but he’ll be playing for a contract, and that should motivate him to play his best ball.
Week 12: He’s been okay. It’s hard to grade any highly-paid player positively given the defensive failures this season. My guess is that, one way or another, Payne’s Week 18 game against the Eagles will be his last in a Washington uniform.
Johnny Newton
2024 Comment: Am I troubled by the two foot surgeries? Not at all. Am I concerned about whether he’s healthy enough to play Week 1 in Tampa Bay? No, I’m not. I like the pick; I like the player; I expect him to have a great career in Washington and to be a key part of the Commanders rebuil…errr…re-calibration.
2025: Newton had some highs & lows as a rookie, but I thought he was fine. For 2025, I’m expecting him to be much better than fine — I’m expecting him to have a good year. He’s been healthy all offseason and he has a year of NFL experience under his belt. He’s quick off the ball and he seems highly motivated. While I’m not predicting a Pro Bowl season or breaking into next year’s Top 100 list, I’m looking for Newton to take the next step in ‘25.
Week 12: Newton’s 2025 season feels a lot like his 2024 season. I’d like to see more from him.
Javon Kinlaw
2025: I think I’ve ridden the roller coaster along with a lot of other Commanders fans when it comes to Kinlaw. I was flabbergasted, and not in a good way, when he was signed almost immediately after free agency opened in March. The five subsequent months have seen me calm down and grow cautiously optimistic about the signing. I am guessing that the Commanders plan to use Kinlaw differently than he’s been used in the past, and I again expect Dan Quinn to have a plan for keeping the player healthy and on the field. I heard one beat reporter suggest recently that Kinlaw might not compile huge stats this season, but that he would be disruptive (like “Wreck it Ralph” from the movie of the same name), destroying offensive blocking schemes and creating opportunities for his teammates. I’m relying on AP and DQ to have gotten this right based on their strong batting average on free agent signings in 2024.
Week 12: I often think that interior defensive linemen are the hardest NFL players to assess if you aren’t on the coaching staff. Basically, my impression is that Kinlaw has been pretty much who they expected him to be, but that — as I said in my Daron Payne comment above — it’s hard to grade any highly-paid player positively given the defensive failures this season. He’s under contract for two more seasons, so we’ll definitely see him back in 2026, probably under a different defensive coordinator and possibly in a different defensive scheme.
Eddie Goldman
2025: I wrote about Goldman back in March or April saying that I didn’t expect Goldman to make the 53-man roster (though I can’t find where I wrote it now). Anyway, lots of people told me that I was wrong, and that Goldman would be on the regular season roster. All of them were right. My opinion hasn’t changed, though. I thought Sheldon Day out-played Goldman, and it’s simply the commitment to ‘getting bigger’ that has Goldman on the roster. My bold prediction is that I don’t think Goldman makes it to the end of the season on the 53-man roster. I just don’t think he’s very good. I hope I’m wrong and that he’s the run-stuffing monster that others seem to believe him to be.
Week 12: I was just WRONG in my assessment of Goldman. He is playing pretty well. He’ll be 32 years old next year, so I don’t know if he’ll be back, but he’s provided good value for his $1.03m cap hit in 2025, playing 39% of the defensive snaps.
Linebacker (6)
Bobby Wagner
2024 Comment: Slam dunk future Hall of Fame inductee. Leading tackler in the NFL in 2023. NFL fans from around the league think that Bobby Wagner is washed because he is 34 years old. Boy, are they in for a shock! I am absolutely freaking thrilled to have Bobby Wagner on this team. Shades of London Flecther…
2025: Bobby Wagner proved his worth last year. While the Commanders need a succession plan to come together (Magee or someone else), look for another strong season from Wagner in ‘25.
Week 12: Wagner’s limitations have been exposed a bit in 2025, but he is still a good tackler in the run game. My guess is that this is his final year as an NFL starter. It will be interesting to see if he wants to take on a backup role somewhere or if he’ll prefer retirement. I’m guessing that, even if he chooses to continue his career, he won’t be back in Washington in ‘26.
Frankie Luvu
2024 Comment: This guy plays like he’s shot out of a cannon. It seems he may have been misused in Carolina’s defense. I’m counting on Luvu to have a Pro Bowl year playing alongside Bobby Wagner in Joe Whitt’s attacking defensive scheme.
2025: Luvu turned out to be the heart and soul of Washington’s defensive effort a season ago. It looks like the Commanders and Luvu were looking for each other. Luvu should shine in Washington’s national and prime time games this season!
Week 12: Frankie has looked more like the high motor but inconsistent tackler that was a Carolina Panther instead of the 2nd-team all pro who played for Washington in 2024. I’m not really sure if Frankie’s regression has been driven by the need for him to change roles in response to the rash of defensive injuries or if something else is at play, but he has definitely taken one or two big steps backwards in 2025. He’s under contract for next season, so 2026 should do a lot to cement his final legacy in Washington, for better or worse.
Jordan Magee
2025: Color me impatient. So far, I’ve heard a lot of talk about Magee, but very little (maybe nothing) to back it up on the grass. I’ll start having intelligent thoughts about Magee after he gets on the field against quality NFL competition. Until then, he’s a promising draft pick with good traits.
Week 12: Okay, we’re seeing Magee for about 2 dozen defensive snaps per game now, and, while he’s been a bit inconsistent, he’s showing enough good for me to feel somewhat encouraged. I’m not sure I’m sold that he can step in as an every down linebacker in 2026. I’m keen to see a lot more from him in the final 6 games — maybe taking some snaps away from Bobby Wagner along the way.
Nick Bellore
2025: Bellore’s role is as a special teams player. The front office thought enough of him to guarantee his $1.75m contract for the ‘25 season. He and Reaves are the leaders of that important ST unit and one of the reasons the Commanders excelled especially on kickoff coverage last year, creating an advantage in starting field position for a high scoring offense. Look for more of the same this year.
Week 12: Bellore is who we knew he was — a special teams ace. That said, he had 21 tackles in 2024; right now, he is on track for about 12 tackles in 2025. Part of that is that is the fact that the Commanders scored (and then kicked off) 92 times in 2024; right now, they are on track to score (and kick off) only 63 times in 2025. That means only 69% as many kickoffs to cover as last season, which means about 30% fewer tackling opportunities on kickoffs. Bellore is 36 years old this season. Colson Yankoff, Percy Butler and Tyler Owens lead the Commanders in special teams tackles according to one source. It’s not hard to imagine the Commanders moving on from Bellore next season when he will be 37 years old and set to earn $2.2m (non-guaranteed).
Kain Medrano
2025: Medrano was my least favorite draft pick. I guess his role will be on special teams this year as the coaches figure out whether he’s a linebacker, a safety or a hybrid. Absent injuries to starters, I don’t think we’ll see a lot of him on defense in 2025.
Week 12: Medrano has zero defensive snaps and just 31 special teams snaps for the season. His statistical impact has been to tally just 1 tackle. I remain skeptical about using a 6th round pick on Medrano, especially given how limited his impact has been in the ‘25 season. Let’s hope he’s got a great future ahead of him as a special teams player (at the very least). So far, I’m not encouraged.
Ale Kaho
2025: You had to be impressed with Kaho’s performance in preseason. Still, it was preseason. Last year, Tyler Owens was a similar story and he played zero defensive snaps, but played 243 special teams snaps. I suspect Kaho’s rookie season will be similar.
Week 12: UDFA Kaho has played more special teams snaps (56) than 6th round pick Medrano (31) and had double the number of tackles (2 vs 1). He seems to be slightly ahead of college teammate as an NFL rookie, but not by much. I’m encouraged to be getting this much out of a rookie undrafted college free agent.
Cornerback (5)
Mike Sainristil
2024 Comment: I’ve never heard a bad word about this player. Apparently he is possessed of a championship mentality and the ball skills to overcome his height and weight limitations. He is often described as a prime mover on Michigan’s national championship team, and some training camp observers have suggested that he may already be the best cornerback on the roster. He is the defensive counterpart to Ben Sinnott in terms of my excitement for this season and expectations for a great career.
2025: Mikey exceeded all expectations in ‘24. Outside of Jayden Daniels, he was the team’s best draft pick from last season. On the basis of his rookie campaign, I’m predicting a future spot in the Ring of Honor. Seven or eight years from now, he’s likely to be as beloved by the fan base as Terry McLaurin is now. With as much national exposure as the Commanders will get on TV this year, Sainristil could be in for a 2025 Pro Bowl roster spot.
Week 12: Nothing has really gone as I expected it to for Mikey this year. A lot of players have single-season outliers in their careers. I’m hoping that, when all is said and done, 2025 turns out to be the outlier for Sainristil in a pro-bowl filled career.
Noah Igbinoghene
2024 Comment: I think he made the roster because the team needs a backup nickel corner in case Sainristil gets nicked up. Igninoghene is a former first-round pick who has never really distinguished himself (in a good way) in the NFL. Here’s hoping that the light finally comes on for him.
2025: Igbinoghene had a good season in 2024, helping bail out the team when it became painfully obvious that Emmanuel Forbes and Ben St-Juste simply couldn’t do the job. His reward? He returns to backup duty. With Igbinoghene and Jonathan Jones — both starters last season — as the team’s backups, it seems like this is the deepest cornerback group we’ve had in Washington in well over a decade.
Week 12: Igbinoghene has played more than 5 defensive snaps in a game only 3 times this season: Weeks 3, 10 and 11. While he looked as horrible as everyone else in the Week 10 drubbing served up by the Lions, Igbinoghene actually seemed to play okay vs the Raiders and Dolphins. For a CB with a cap hit of $1.5m, I find it hard to complain too much about him as a backup DB. I don’t know if he’ll be back in ‘26, but his combination of skills and thrifty contract seem to make him a high-value player in the defensive secondary.
Marshon Lattimore
2025: It was painful to watch Lattimore on the field last season, and I had been among the loudest cheerleaders when the team traded for him. If he’s physically back to full health, then he should be a huge difference-maker for Joe Whitt’s defense by shutting down half the field and creating opportunities for Amos, Sainristil and Will Harris. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the fiery style of play that Lattimore seems to thrive on; I’m much more of a fan of the ice cold killer vibe that Jayden Daniels brings. Even if Lattimore plays great on the field this season, he may never be my favorite player because of his style, but if he can lock down his half of the field, I’ll sing his praises weekly.
Week 12: I loved the trade when it happened. It has clearly not worked out. I dunno if Lattimore has been a ‘bust’, but the trade has to be classed as a failure. I’m now completely done with Lattimore, and it took me much longer than most fans to give up on him. I hope he has a speedy recovery and good fortune in his life, but I’d rather not see him on the field in a Washington uniform again. With no guaranteed salary in 2026, it will cost the Commanders nothing (more) to part way with him.
Jonathan Jones
2025: I think a lot of Commanders fans are sleeping on Jones. He’s played 9 seasons — only 1 with less than 14 games played. He has 132 games with 71 starts (nickel defenders often don’t officially start games because they aren’t on the field for the first defensive snap of the game). He’s played nearly 5,000 defensive snaps in his career, and hasn’t played less than 64% of defensive snaps in the past three years, speaking to his ability to still play at a high level. His 2 Super Bowl rings say a lot about his understanding of winning football games. To have this guy as a backup for the Commanders is a blessing.
Week 12: Go back to sleep. Nothing to see here. Jones missed 4 games with an injury and has played just 165 defensive snaps all season. He’s been credited with 1 sack, 1 pass defended, and 16 tackles. Pro Football Reference says that he has given up 16.6 yards per completion and a 103.8 passer rating when targeted. I was expecting a strong positive surprise from the 8th-year CB in 2025. Instead, he appears to be a strong candidate for retirement.
Trey Amos
2025: I think that both Igbinoghene and Jones are capable of starting in the NFL. The fact that rookie Amos won the starting job in this group speaks volumes. Apparently, he dominated the competition from OTAs to the end of training camp. No doubt, there will be some growing pains, but I’m expecting Trey Amos to have the kind of rookie season in 2025 that rivals the one Sainristil had in ‘24.
Week 12: Amos has had a fantastic rookie season that will be overlooked by most NFL fans because he has been part of a horrible defense. He has been the brightest star among this year’s Commanders rookies, and he looks like a core defensive starter for years to come. Let’s hope he follows his early trajectory going forward.
Safety (5)
Quan Martin
2024 Comment: Martin is looking like a very good draft pick — which isn’t something we get to say a lot about players selected by Ron Rivera. Back in March, I thought Martin was our starting nickel back. In May, I thought he was a backup nickel/safety. He now seems to have locked down the starting safety job opposite Jeremy Chinn. The role was his all along; it just took me a while to catch up.
2025: Quan Martin may be the most underrated young player on the Commanders, and one of the most underrated in the NFL. I was flabbergasted when he revealed that he played much of last season having separated both of his shoulders. If that’s how he plays injured, I can’t wait to see how he performs after surgery and rehab this offseason. Martin is part of the young core that will be making plays and earning pro bowls in the new stadium when it opens for the 2030 season.
Week 12: Mike Sainristil has regressed from ‘24 ro ‘25, but it feels like Quan Martin threw the car in reverse while hurtling down the highway and is in danger of dropping the transmission onto the pavement. Martin played a season low 38 snaps against the Dolphins, in what head coach Dan Quinn initially described as “just a change in personnel”, but Quinn went on to say that there were “some corrections that had to be made.” While DQ didn’t go into specifics, the comments that he did give were loud enough. Martin has struggled with both coverage and tackling this season. Hopefully, it is simply one aspect of the greater malaise that affected the entire defense in 2025 and we’ll see positive ‘regression’ (usually called ‘progress’) in the final 6 games to help set the stage for a ‘comeback’ in ‘26.
Jeremy Reaves
2024 Comment: Who can be a Washington fan and not love Jeremy Reaves?
2025: Who can be a Washington fan and not love Jeremy Reaves?
Week 12: Yes, I love Jeremy Reaves. No, I don’t want to see him starting at free safety.
Percy Butler
2024 Comment: I spent most of the offseason expecting Percy Butler to end up on the practice squad. I still think he’ll be primarily a special teams player, but it’s good to see a Rivera 4th round pick make the team. Again, I’m counting on Joe Whitt and the position coaches to develop the relatively young secondary.
2025: My feelings about Butler haven’t really changed. He’s primarily a special teams player. The depth at safety is something that will likely need to be addressed in 2026.
Week 12: The 25-year-old Butler appears ready to challenge 29-year-old Jeremy Reaves for his special teams leadership role.
Tyler Owens
2024 Comment: There was a lot of buzz around Owens when he signed as an undrafted rookie in May. I largely dismissed it because there are always three or four undrafted rookies with a lot of buzz. Rarely do any of them amount to anything. In the case of Owens, the hype looks to be real. He impressed in camp and preseason, and, in my mind, earned his way to a spot on the depth chart ahead of Butler and Forrest.
2025: Owens played only on special teams in 2024. I imagine that he’ll get some snaps with the defense this season, but, as I mentioned with my comment on Butler, safety depth feels a bit thin.
Week 12: It’s starting to feel as if Yankoff, Butler and Owens will be the leaders on special teams going forward. Owens’ longer-term future with the team may depend a lot on what happens with the defensive coordinator and defensive scheme going forward. It always felt like Owns was on the roster because he was seen as a good fit for the Dan Quinn/Joe Whitt defense.
Will Harris
2025: Rather like Jonathan Jones, I think people have been sleeping on Will Harris, though appreciation for what he brings to the team seems to have been growing during training camp. 29-yr-old Harris is a 6-year vet with 94 games, 53 starts, and over 3,700 defensive snaps in his career. He played 94% of the defensive snaps in New Orleans last season, earning grades of 60+ across the board from PFF. Harris is not the same player as Jeremy Chinn, but the coaching staff seem to believe he will be a better fit for what they want to do. I’m a little bit in ‘wait and see’ mode, but the transition from fan favorite Kam Curl to Chinn was painless, so I’m hoping the same will be true as the Commenders trot out their third new starting safety in as many seasons.
Week 12: I think the Will Harris injury was the first domino in the cascade of issues that led the Commanders to where they are now, defensively and overall. Personally, I think that Harris was an upgrade to Jeremy Chinn as a cover safety, and probably a better overall scheme fit. I have heard that he was also an outstanding communicator. He’s under contract for 2026 (though the Commanders can save $4m in cap space by releasing him), so there’s a good chance he’ll be back next season to demonstrate that he is the key player at safety that Washington needs, however, with the likelihood that he will be healthy enough to return to play in Week 13 or 14, his performance in the balance of the season may go a long way towards deciding his 2026 fate as a Commander.
Special Teams (3)
Kicker
Matt Gay
2025: In 5 seasons from 2019 to 2023, Matt Gay was 25 of 36 attempt from 50 yards or more (69.4%). Last year, he hit 3 of 9 attempts (33.3%). In six seasons, he has a career total of 42/49 from 40-49 yards (85.7%). He’s got 4 career misses in 99 attempts under 40 yards. Matt Gay should be a good kicker for the Commanders. His 92.5% success rate in three seasons with the Rams is impressive; his 82.1% rate over the past two seasons with the Colts much less so. He looked shaky in the preseason, and reports from camp indicated inconsistency. With just under $4m guaranteed for the 2025 season, Matt Gay is probably gonna have to actually lose at least one game for the Commanders before Quinn & Peters would make a change. I really wish I felt better about the kicking situation, but I don’t right now.
Week 12: These were probably the most prophetic words I wrote in the preseason original article: “Matt Gay is probably gonna have to actually lose at least one game for the Commanders before Quinn & Peters would make a change. I really wish I felt better about the kicking situation, but I don’t right now.”
Punter
Tress Way
2024 Comment: The longest-tenured player on the team and one of its most popular. Outside of the charismatic Pat McAfee, I can’t remember a punter with such a strong connection to the fan base. He’s been our MVP for years. It seemed like Tress was struggling a bit last season, but I’m hoping that he returns to his “A” game this season and for many more to come.
2025: Tress became almost irrelevant at times last season. The front office used a new rule in the 2020 CBA to sign Way to a contract that pays him about $2.8m but has a cap charge of only $1.42m. They can use the same contract structure next year and each year into the future that they choose to keep the 35-year-old punter on the roster. I’m still enjoying what he does on the field. I’m also starting to wonder what he will do after his playing career is over — I’m more and more certain that it will involve joining the media and that Tress will become as beloved as a media personality as he has been as the team’s Most Valuable Punter.
Week 12: I’m willing to stand 100% on my preseason comments about Tress.
Long Snapper
Tyler Ott
2024 Comment: I haven’t heard anyone say a word about his long snapping abilities, which is as it should be. Last year’s Cheeseman drama is a thing of the past. Ott is a professional who should get the job done. With any luck, we’ll never think of him again.
2025: I remember one bad snap from Ott in 2024. He’ll need to improve on that in ‘25.
Week 12: Ott seems to have been pretty close to perfect as a long snapper in 2025. As far as I can tell, aside from special teams snap counts, he has not recorded a single statistic in 2025. He’s under contract for 2026, so that saves a valuable draft pick…
