Meet Over-30 Singles Near Ashburn, Virginia!

The Commanders signed running back Craig Reynolds earlier this week. Reynolds backed up Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery for the Lions from 2023-25. Before that, he backed up D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams. He started his career in Washington, before they even became the Football Team, backing up Adrian Peterson and others.

Reynolds turned 30 years old in June, which made him eligible to play for the Commanders, who don’t trust anyone under 30.

The Commanders signed Reynolds to replace Jeremy McNichols, who is sidelined for a few weeks with a quad injury. McNichols is also 30 years old. Replacing one 30-year-old deep-bench running back with another is like replacing a flat tire with another one. But Commanders general manager Adam Peters doesn’t seem to know anyone under 30. It’s like he stopped reading scouting reports, or even listening to the radio, when he left the 49ers three years ago.

I joked in Monday’s Walkthrough, and have been quipping for weeks on social media, about how everyone on the Commanders’ roster is now 32 years old. That’s an exaggeration, but not much of one. Here are all of the players over 30 on the Commanders training camp roster, including some injured guys:

• Marcus Mariota: 32
• Terry McLaurin: Turns 31 in September. 
• Stefon Diggs: 32
• Laremy Tunsil: 32
• Van Jefferson: 30
• River Cracraft: 31
• Jeremy McNichols: 30
• Craig Reynolds: 30
• Andrew Wylie: 32
• Nick Allegretti: 30
• Max Scharping: Turned 30 earlier in training camp.
• Daniel Brunskill: 32
• Trent Scott: 32
• Charles Omenihu: Born on August 20th, 1996. Happy 30th Birthday, Charles!
• Deatrich Wise: 32
• Shy Tuttle: 30
• Byron Cowart: 30
• Rasul Douglas: Turns 31 next week.
• Antonio Hamilton: 33
• Will Harris: 30
• Jeremy Reaves: Turns 30 next week.
• Fabian Moreau: 32
• Tress Way: 36
• Matt Haack: 32
• Tyler Ott: 34

Earlier in camp, the Commanders released tight end Anthony Firkser (31), and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon (31) retired. I may have missed some comings or goings.

The Commanders fielded the oldest team in the NFL last year, with a Snap-Weighted Age of 28.2 years. While jettisoning aging stars like Bobby Wagner, Von Miller and Zach Ertz made them younger, my degree in math tells me that adding lots of 30-something bit players isn’t going to lower that 28.2 figure. Adding Diggs is one thing. Loading the bottoms of depth charts with guys who used to back up Adrian Peterson is another. 

The Commanders drafted just five players this year because they traded picks for Tunsil and Deebo Samuel. There’s not much left from the pre-Peters 2023 draft or earlier. Some veteran scaffolding is understandable when a team is rebuilding. But this is Year Three of the rebuild or Year Two of the rebuild from the rebuild, depending on how you count the 2024 season. The Commanders bench should not be teeming with guys like Shy Tuttle, a defensive tackle who played with Drew Brees in New Orleans yet has notched just 4.5 sacks in seven NFL seasons. 

I only count eight undrafted rookies on the Commanders camp roster, including kicker Drew Stevens, who just won the job from Jake Moody. (Hooray!) The Eagles, who won the Super Bowl two years ago (lots of veteran backups with rings) and selected 18 rookies in the last two drafts, have nine rookie UDFAs. The Patriots, who reached the Super Bowl last year, have 16, including two on IR. Successful franchises churn UDFAs on the bottom of the roster to get younger and cheaper, find hidden gems and foster competition for jobs and roles. The Commanders are adding comfort binkies instead. 

Let’s see what happens during roster cutdowns. The Commanders should get rid of many of the 30-somethings on their bench in favor of younger players cut loose by top contenders with deep benches. If they don’t, it’s a sign that their self-scouting and internal quality control is faulty. Peters and Dan Quinn must prove they can identify and develop players who are better than the geezers hanging around the waiver wire in midsummer. If they don’t, well, Peters and Quinn's 2024 success only earned them so many mulligans. 

A Better Solution Than Running Skull First Toward the Goalline

After Malachi Fields caught a leaping touchdown pass in last week’s preseason opener against the Vikings, John Harbaugh said that the Giants drafted Fields specifically because of his ability to catch end-zone jump balls. Makes sense. Fields is a 6-foot-4 jumping jack. But the way Harbaugh phrased his reasoning was interesting. 

“Most red zone touchdown passes are extended and/or plus scrambles,” Harbaugh said on Saturday. “You’ve got a quarterback who can move around and find a guy. Got a guy [Fields] who can go make a play. That’s how you score a lot of those touchdowns.”

Harbaugh was speaking off the cuff after a game, so we probably shouldn’t take his comments too literally. But let’s take his comments too literally. Are “most red zone touchdown passes” the result of a scrambling quarterback finding a receiver who worked to get open in the end zone?

The answer, unsurprisingly, appears to be no.

According to the Sports Info Solutions database, NFL passers threw 387 touchdowns from inside the 10-yard line in 2025, at a rate of 4.5 touchdowns per 100 dropbacks. 

NFL passers threw 96 touchdowns from outside the pocket inside the 10-yard line in 2025, at a rate of 3.1 touchdowns per 100 dropbacks.

I used the 10-yard line instead of the “red zone” to give Harbaugh some benefit of the doubt; a cursory glance at the red zone numbers made it obvious that his hypothesis would not hold up. Not many quarterbacks are scrambling around and chucking it into the end zone from the 19-yard line. Also, plays from the 10-yard line itself are included in the data, so it’s technically “inside the 11-yard line,” but that looks and sounds weird.

“Outside the pocket” was the best filter at my disposal for finding scrambles or extended plays. I considered eliminating designed rollouts, which are pretty common in goal-to-go situations, but chose not to. When Josh Allen is rolling out near the goal line, with defenders wondering whether he will barrel through them or throw over them, it’s essentially an “extended play.” Better filters might produce a different result, but there’s no way any filtering will result in “most” short touchdowns being the result of scrambles or other extended plays.

Only about one-fourth of short touchdown passes are thrown by quarterbacks on the move, and the touchdown rate is higher when the quarterback stays in the pocket. So I proved a colloquial statement by a coach to be wrong. Excuse me while I do a victory lap around the neighborhood! 

If we flip Harbaugh’s statement on its head, however, we see that about 25% of short touchdown passes are an awful lot of touchdown passes. And the passers in question are often looking for big targets like Fields who can post up or out-jump a defender in tight quarters.

(I keep saying “passers” because the data includes pass attempts by Derrick Henry, Breece Hall and a few others. I can switch things up when talking about specific teams.)

Giants quarterbacks attempted 10 passes from outside the pocket near the goal line in 2025. They completed two of them, but didn’t score a touchdown on either completion, and were sacked once. Jaxson Dart was 2-of-10 for zero touchdowns and three sacks when outside the pocket in the red zone last year. He was 1-of-3 with a sack inside the 10-yard line. 

Harbaugh’s Ravens passers were 3-of-8 passing from outside the pocket near the goal line in 2025, with three touchdowns but four sacks. It’s easy to imagine Harbaugh wishing he had one more jump-ball specialist for Lamar Jackson to look for when scrambling on third-and-goal, then noting that Jaxson Dart could use one after watching film of the 2025 Giants.

Elsewhere in the NFL, eight of the Chargers’ 14 short touchdown passes came when their quarterbacks were outside the pocket. Think: Justin Herbert fleeing from an exploded pocket and firing a laser to Ladd McConkey or Keenan Allen. Bills passers threw five of their 14 short touchdowns from outside the pocket.

The Falcons joined the Giants in having zero outside-the-pocket short touchdowns in 2025, but they only attempted one pass under such circumstances. No team – no collection of humans on this tiny blue marble we call Earth – wants to be like the Falcons.

Harbaugh’s statistical analysis, or at least his colloquial explanation of it, may be wonky. But the underlying logic is sound. He wants Dart to become an Allen who can turn five goal-line scrambles into passing touchdowns. Dart needs help to make that happen. Malik Nabers isn’t built for close-quarters contact. Fields is. Harbaugh is seeking advantages in high-leverage situations. That’s a tactically-sound approach, especially when making a relatively minor investment like a third-round pick.

Now, both Harbaugh and Dart just need to figure out that concussion protocols aren’t a socialist psyop and everything will be just peachy. 

Around the League

Notes, transactions, etc. 

Keon Coleman Sprains Foot/Toe

KEON COLEMAN NEWS WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP

Coleman was seen wearing a walking boot in Tuesday's practice. He was apparently hurt in Saturday's preseason game. Joe Brady initially dismissed the injury as no biggie.

This is how every NFL injury update has gone this summer. The player disappears from practice or the preseason lineup. The coach claims the player is fine, and gets huffy if pressed for details. The next day, the coach admits that the player will miss a few practices with "soreness." Later in the week, some insider mentions that the player is visiting a specialist/faith healer/undertaker. By the end of the week, there's a GoFundMe to buy the player a new ACL, pancreas and toenails.

I'm guessing Coleman has turf toe, which could sideline him into the season, but the Bills don't want to publicly comment on it until Brandon Beane dreams up a way of blaming Sean McDermott.

I was going to retire my KEON COLEMAN NEWS ALERTS bit with this segment, then I read the following headline at NYup.com: "The Buffalo Bills wide receiver who caught a historic touchdown is now in a walking boot." Yes, Coleman's preseason touchdown last week was "historic," since it was the first (unofficial) touchdown at the new Highmark Stadium.

Now that Coleman is a historical character, like Charlemagne or Dr. Jonas Salk, it's my duty to provide regular updates on his health and well being.

Terrion Arnold in Limbo

The Seahawks were ready to sign Terrion Arnold, who is currently out on bail on eight felony charges of being a character in a real-life Elmore Leonard novel. NFL insiders then reported that the signing was “on hold” because Arnold will be placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List the moment he signs. 

Per Ian Rapoport, teams knew Arnold would be placed on the exempt list once signed, which makes you wonder why the Seahawks got all the way to the sales manager’s office with their checkbook out before balking. Seahawks GM John Schneider confused matters on HBO’s Hard Knocks by saying that he would have cut Arnold based on The Athletic’s version of his role in a felony kidnapping, but that it’s different for the “second chance team.” Schneider might have a point if, say, the Arnold incident occurred two years ago and was legally resolved, and/or didn’t involve felony freakin’ kidnapping.

There’s a lot going on here. There’s a likely “soft” agreement between the Seahawks and Arnold: not legally binding, but embarrassing to pull out of. There’s a probable miscommunication between the NFL and teams about Arnold's status: insiders sound like they are backfilling information, and Schneider isn’t a dum-dum who would miss a memo about a player facing an indefinite suspension. There’s a franchise that’s about to change ownership which is almost certainly regretting the presence of HBO cameras this summer.

And then there’s Arnold, who may have been developing into a fine cornerback but (allegedly) is somewhat lacking as a criminal mastermind.

One final thought. The latest Hard Knocks, per Pro Football Talk’s report on the Arnold situation, includes a scene where the Seahawks do “due diligence” on Arnold by contacting Nick Saban, his coach at Alabama. Now there's an expert witness! I did not watch the program, but I’ll bet it went something like this:

SEAHAWKS: Hey Coach, is Terrion the type of guy who would order some teenaged galpals to lure his driver and a barber to a Florida apartment so some other guys could ambush and pistol-whip them because he thought they robbed his apartment?

NICK SABAN: Ummmmmm, probably not? 

SEAHAWKS: Welp, that’s good enough for us!

Maybe the problem here is "Leaders of Men" trusting other "Leaders of Men" to be real judges of character.

The Seahawks eventually signed Trevon Diggs, who is so washed up that he was the team's second choice behind someone who might have recently arranged a kidnapping.

Bears Sign Marcus Davenport

The NFC North needs edge rushers. 

The Lions need an edge rusher to complement Aidan Hutchinson. (The preceding sentence has been my Alt-F3 Autotext for two years.) The Packers need someone to generate pressure until Micah Parsons returns in Week [insert ever-increasing number here]. The Vikings need someone to allow Brian Flores to dream up new blitzes because he wants to, not because he must. The Bears just need someone.

Davenport has been passed around the NFC North for a while. He spent two years bouncing on and off the Lions’ IR, notching 1.5 sacks in ten games. He earned $13 million for two sacks in four games for the Vikings in 2023 before landing on IR with a high ankle sprain.

I wrote a long draft profile for Davenport in 2018. He was a small-school wonder from UTSA and a Senior Bowl standout. Once every quarter century, a toolsy edge rusher from nowhere like Davenport becomes Maxx Crosby. A fun-and-useful Jalyx Hunt-type arrives from the hinterlands every other draft or so. Most small-program edge rush phenoms turn out to just be mirages for draftniks to drool over. But my colleagues and I weren’t the only ones drooling over Davenport: the Saints traded two first-round picks to move up and select him. The Packers used the picks (after some other moves) on Jaire Alexander and Darnell Savage. 

Davenport went down with turf toe late in his so-so 2018 rookie year. He showed flashes in later seasons, but trading up to get him hastened the decline of the Saints, who were aging contenders at the time and had no business trading top draft picks for small-program projects. We’re now approaching a full decade of waiting for Davenport’s breakout. 

Von Miller signed with the Cowboys last week. Miller is from DeSoto, Texas. He clearly wanted to end his career close to home. But c’mon, NFC North: any of you could have used Miller, and tempted him with either the promise of a winning culture or the chance to get shot out of cannons by Flores. Davenport isn’t Temu Miller. He’s barely Temu Za’Darius Smith. 

One last Vikings pass-rushing note: Jamal Adams may be out for the season with a quad injury sustained 45 minutes after joining the team, but Kevin O’Connell says that Adams will still contribute as a leader or role model or whatever. “You guys will see him around, see him out here, see him around the building,” KOC said. “Because he’s a Minnesota Viking now, and we want to make sure that he knows how important he’ll be to our players and team.”

Folks, maybe I have watched a few too many Mafia movies, or spent too much time studying the Terrion Arnold allegations, but I’m now a little scared that KOC plans to order Adams to whack J.J. McCarthy. 

Colts Sign Keenan Allen

Allen may be the perfect replacement for Michael Pittman. 

Pittman, now with the Steelers, went 80-784-7 for the Colts last year. Allen went 81-777-4 for the Chargers. It’s hard to find a veteran receiver who averages just 9.8 yards per reception, but Allen’s 9.6 yards should do the trick. Pittman’s average depth of target was 8.2, Pittman’s 8.4. Allen is older than Pittman, but the Colts are always making half their roster older-but-cheaper while making the other half younger-but-weaker.

The Colts originally planned to replace Pittman by paying Alec Pierce more money and hoping their (very good) two-bombs-per-game deep threat could perform double duty as a high-volume possession receiver. Pierce started camp on the PUP list with an ankle injury. The latest update on Pierce's recovery timeline is the fact that the Colts signed Allen.

While Allen can indeed do anything Pittman could do, he has never really been able to do the things Pierce does. That was Mike Williams’ job back in the day.

Giants Sign Najee Harris

Harris rushed for over 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons for the Steelers. He may be the least impressive four-time 1,000-yard rusher in history. He barely cracked 1,000 yards in the final three seasons, all four of his seasons came in the 17-game era, and Jaylen Warren was usually more efficient on a per-carry basis and more impressive on tape when coming off the bench than Harris. 

Harris tore his Achilles in Week 3 with the Chargers in 2025. Greg Roman, now an advisor for the Giants, coached Harris in Los Angeles. Harris is replacing deep-bench backup Dante Miller, who was injured in last Saturday’s preseason opener. Harris is behind Cam Skattebo, Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary on the depth chart, but Skattebo is a cement head, Tracy missed a block that led to a sack last week, Singletary is just a journeyman, and Harbaugh listens to Roman.

The Giants also signed Jake Haener, the Zoolander-like Saints quarterback quasi-prospect who came after Ian Book but before Spencer Rattler and long before Tyler Shough. If Haener takes the field late in a preseason game, he may get the chance to hand off to Harris and throw to Odell Beckham. What a world we live in!

Falcons Sign Za’Darius Smith

Smith, a Pro Bowl edge rusher for the Packers in the late 2010s, retired last October after playing five uneventful games for the Eagles. He started the 2024 season as a bookend edge rusher to Myles Garrett for the Browns. The Browns traded Smith to the Lions for a seventh-round pick near the 2024 trade deadline, because Alt-F3. Smith caught four quarterbacks that Aidan Hutchinson chased into him. The Lions then left him on the free agent market, which is where the Eagles found him during an injury crunch last September.

Let’s see: traded by a terrible team for a seventh-round pick two years ago, left in the veteran free agent bargain bin last summer, retired last autumn, now expected to replace Jalon Walker (ACL) and James Pearce (eight-game suspension).

Yes, the Falcons are a disaster. But my real question about the 33-year old Smith: How did the Commanders overlook him?