Washington Commanders Offseason Preview

Part 4 of an ongoing series of offseason previews which will run over the next couple of weeks.

2025 Season in a Nutshell

The problem with going “all in” is that it leaves you with nothing if you lose. “All in” is a gambling metaphor, people! It has nothing to do with guaranteed success! There’s a lot of risk involved!

Coaching Situation

Just one season after leading the Commanders to the NFC title game, Dan Quinn yeeted coordinators Joe Whitt and Kliff Kingsbury in a desperate self-preservation gambit.

Kingsbury lookalike David Blough, formerly Matthew Stafford’s golf caddy and the Commanders’ in-house barista, has been promoted from assistant quarterbacks coach to Kingsbury’s replacement so quickly that he may have nitrogen bubbles in his bloodstream.

After failing to woo Brian Flores, Quinn dressed a mannequin to serve as defensive coordinator. Just kidding! Daronte Jones was Flores’ passing-game coordinator. He also worked with Vance Joseph and Lou Anarumo in the past, coaching everywhere from the CFL to Bowie State. Not a bad consolation prize for whiffing on Flores.

Quarterback Situation

“ChatGPT, please write a story about the career of a Washington first-round quarterback who takes the NFL by storm as a rookie but then suffers an injury crisis that jeopardizes his career. Feel free to flagrantly plagiarize any past examples.”

State of the Roster

The Commanders braintrust assembled the NFL’s oldest roster in 2025. When veterans like Austin Ekeler, Zach Ertz, Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel, Bobby Wagner and Von Miller all became injured, washed up, mild-to-moderately disgruntled or all of the above, the front office blamed the coaches.

With Jayden Daniels spending the offseason in a bacta tank, young talent is sparse on the ground in Washington. The Commanders end-of-season roster was loaded with 30-plus journeyman role players like George Fant, Sheldon Day, Deatrich Wise and Antonio Hamilton in roles that should have been filled by youngsters.

Cap and Draft Stuff

The good news is that the Commanders have $65 million in paper cap space. Veterans like Wagner, Miller, Ertz and Ekeler should transition quickly from the free agency pool to the retiree’s sauna, clearing them off the books. Deebo Samuel is also a free agent and has “grab some paychecks from the Tennessee Titans” written all over him.

The bad news is that the Commanders lack second and fourth-round picks due to the Laremy Tunsil trade. So they will pick seventh in April’s draft, then 71st.

Gutting the roster of aging veterans will create a shortage of warm bodies. That $65 million won’t go as far as you might think.

One Thing the Commanders Should Do

Release Marshon Lattimore. He’s eating up $18.5 million in cap space and peaked in 2021.

In Summary

Restoring Daniels to near-mint condition is the Prime Directive for the 2026 Commanders. That will take an organization-wide effort, with everyone from coaches to strength-and-conditioning staff to Daniels himself getting on the same page about everything from weight training to scrambling frequency and staying there.

The Commanders must also be realistic about the state of their roster. The 2024 season was fun and worth the ticket price. But the Commanders are not “contenders” who had an injury-marred season. They need a thorough overhaul.

Unfortunately, the Commanders org chart is full of “geniuses,” and “geniuses” go full Game of Thrones at the first sign of peril. Quinn already threw Kingsbury under the bus. (Whitt was at least underperforming.) Adam Peters will inevitably throw Quinn under the bus. If the Commanders start out slowly and/or Daniels gets hurt again, whatever NBA legend has Josh Harris’ ear will then create a heap of bodies so big that it rips up the bus’ undercarriage.

The Commanders saw a window of opportunity, leapt for it, and bonked their heads into double-paned glass. The Giants are the now the new hotness in the NFC East. The quicker the Commanders adjust, the better for them.