Offense 

The improvements this front office made to the offense this past offseason not only added some stardom to the team but I think added an upside that just didn’t exist for them last year. While the offense wasn’t bad last year and honestly was far and away more productive than I think anyone thought they’d be they were still limited in a number of ways. They lacked consistency from a pass protection perspective (added Laremy Tunsil and Josh Conerly Jr) and were really reliant on Jayden to be perfect in the short passing game because of the lack of consistency in the run game 

(added Deebo Samuel and Jaylin Lane). All of the editions they made on this side of the ball fill some of their most pressing needs from this past year while still being great fits in this spread style offense that Kliff Kingsbury runs. 

The OL is one of the biggest improvements for any team this offseason in my opinion. You add an absolute rock at LT in Laremy Tunsil and a really promising young T in Josh Conerly Jr that will more than likely play opposite side Tunsil rather than Brandom Coleman (67th pick 24’ Draft)who had somewhat of a shaky rookie year. The beauty in the Conerly Jr pick is with Sam Cosmi going down in the playoffs last year (Torn ACL right knee) you had to bring another guy in that can compete at G and while that may not be Conerly Jr your it absolutely can be your 3rd round pick last year in Brandon Coleman. Between Andrew Wylie, Nate Herbig, and Brandon Coleman you should be able to get at least capable G play in place of Cosmi while he recovers and most likely misses this year. You add in the fact that Laremy Tunsil is only on a 2 year extension and that now affords you flexibility to let him walk if you want at the end of the deal and slide Conerly Jr right into LT and you can try Coleman back out at RT this time or there’s a possibility where Coleman is great at G and you play him opposite Cosmi when he comes back and you just put your best 5 guys out there. You can never have too many options along the OL. 

As far as weaponry goes I think they did a great job at adding guys with skill sets they either lost or just flat out didn’t have last year, especially in the WR room. You add Jaylin Lane in the draft who I think can step in and play the role Dyami Brown did for you last year but also gives you more as a threat after the catch which fits absolutely perfect with how Kliff Kingsbury incorporated the screen/overall the short passing game into this offense last year. You add in the fact you brought Deebo Samuel in and everything I just said about the short passing game for Jaylin Lane goes for Deebo too but even more so. While Deebo had a bit of a down year and has been trending this way for the past couple seasons he’s still a really talented player that is still incredibly dangerous with the ball in his hands. You can play him in the backfield, out wide, and also in the slot and while he’s not quite the same route runner he once was you design plays and let Jayden get the ball out into his hands and Deebo can still have huge impacts on games. 

While I love the additions they made in this WR room I wish they had made RB a bit more of a priority. I like Brian Robinson and I think he’s fine as one of your top 2 backs but when you pair him with Austin Ekeler at this point in his career I just don’t know how much they’re going to add to this offense. Not that they’ll be bad by any means but adding a back that could give you a little more pop would have been ideal to me and while I like Jacory Croskey-Merritt I don’t necessarily view him as someone will be a big enough impact to make a huge difference here.

• I would have loved to see them take a DJ Giddens, Bhayshul Tuten, RJ Harvey, or even a Brashard Smith type of player but they had some more pressing needs in the draft so I’m not too upset about the lack of focus on the RB position. 

Defense 

On the defensive side of the ball the first thing that sticks out to me is the talent in this secondary and just how much improved it is from the beginning of last year. Obviously adding Marshon Lattimore at the deadline last year was an important move for them but when you add in the fact they brought in Jonathan Jones (Patriots) in FA and added my favorite CB in the draft, Trey Amos out of Ole Miss, you now not only have a talented top end to this CB room, you have real depth here too. You compare this room to what they went into last year with and it’s not even close as far as talent goes.

• This year’s CB room (Marshon Lattimore, Mike Sainristil, Trey Amos, Johnathan Jones, and Noah Igbinoghene) 
• Last year’s CB room (Michael Davis, Benjamin St-Juste, Mike Sainristil, Emmanuel Forbes Jr, Noah Iginoghene, and James Pierre)

I also really like Quan Martin at S and bringing in Will Harris was nice bridge move for a year. Not the flashiest room out there but they’d eboth solid players and I trust the depth guys behind them as well. 

Now the front seven is very interesting as a whole. I really like the top end talent of the LB room with the seemingly ageless Bobby Wagner paired with Frankie Luvu but if one of them goes down you’re now counting on Nick Bellore, Jordan McGee, and Kain Medrano. While I liked Medrano coming out of UCLA I’m not sure I trust him getting reps early on in his career let alone starting snaps and the other two guys are more special teams rotational players to me and when you pair that with Wagner’s age and Luvu being banged up in the past the depth is a concern for me.

To go along with the worry of the LB room this edge room is still lacking some real punch to me. I like the guys they brought in this offseason (Deatrich Wise, Javon Kinlaw, Jacob Martin, and even Eddie Goldman coming back to his hometown) but I still don’t see THE GUY here if that makes sense. Wise will provide an early down edge presence that will set the tone in the run game and give you some pop occasionally as a power rusher especially as you move him inside on passing downs, Kinlaw when he’s at his best has all of the tools to be nearly anyone one on one but the problem is he doesn’t consistently do so, Martin will give some nice pop off the edge on passing situations but is limited on early down work, and Goldman really is just a early down run defender that has some power to push the pocket but none of those guys truly change how I felt about this room from last year. Ferrell and Armstrong can flash at times but again serve best as rotational guys with Armstrong being a little more consistent so it really is going to come down to Daron Payne and Jer’Zhan Newton really stepping up along the interior. Newton has an upside that I think is really special and is why I was okay with them letting Johnathan Allen walk but that’s still largely an unknown that I don’t know if I fell fully comfortable betting on like they have and the same really applies for Kinlaw as well. I think he’s super talented but they paid him (3yrs 45mil, 30mil guaranteed) like a guy that’s going to have a pretty sizable impact on this pass rush and I just haven’t seen that from him enough to justify that cost.

Overview 

• I think this Commanders team is incredibly dangerous and if they continue to roll like they did last year I’m not sure there’s many teams that will be able to stop them. Offensively they’re better in just about every way and defensively I think they’re stronger than they were last year but there’s still a few worries for me. What are they getting out of this pass rush on a game in game out basis and is it enough? Will Kliff continue to innovate or will we some stagnation like we did in Arizona? And finally can this run game step up and add a consistent threat along side this passing offense so they’re not so reliant on Jayden to be perfect? It’s not clear cut that they’ll be back to where they were last year but I’m not betting against this coaching staff with Dan Quinn at the helm and especially not Jayden Daniels. I think they’ll be a wild card playoff team that when they’re right no one in the league wants any part of but there’s also some holes that will allow coaching staffs to exploit with proper game planning and personnel which prevents them from being a top dog in the league for me and may even land themselves just outside of the playoffs.

August 22, 2025 – Update 

After Jacory/Bill Croskey-Merritt has had the success that he had in the preseason the front office traded away Brian Robinson Jr. While I like Brian Robinson and his skillset I don’t believe they’ll see much of a drop off from the guys they have in there now with Chris Rodriguez Jr filling in the tough yardage and runs between the tackles, Austin Ekeler providing a solid 3rd down option with great hands and being a solid pass protector, and Bill Croksey-Merritt filling in the rest of the carries and touches. While Robinson is very solid back and will certainly be a nice addition to complement Christian McCaffrey in SF I think the Commanders will be just fine with this backfield.