What's Next For The Commanders

The Commanders shocked the world going from 4-13, selling the team, drafting a new quarterback and totally flipping the coaching staff and the front office to going 12-5 and making the NFC Championship in the subsequent season.

Some of their notable offseason moves for that change was the selling of the team to the Josh Harris group, hiring Dan Quinn as head coach, bringing in Kliff Kingsbury as the offensive coordinator and drafting Jayden Daniels and Mike Sainristil.

Jayden Daniels is likely the offensive rookie of the year with his performance through the season. He showed calmness in the heat of the blitz and never let the pressure of the game get to him.

Mike Sainristil was easily the best player on the defensive side of the ball for Washington and is going to be the lead cornerback there for years to come. These two have proven they will be cornerstones for years to come.

With the buy-in on Quinn’s team culture and the effectiveness of Kingsbury’s offense, Washington looks to be light years ahead of schedule on their rebuild.

With a couple extra pieces, the Commanders could be Super Bowl contenders in as soon as two years.

It all starts with another weapon opposite Terry Mclaurin. Mclaurin had his best season of his career and was drawing all the attention being the only threat through the air.

Daniels made the likes of Noah Brown and Dyami Brown look like decent second options, but they won’t last for multiple years. Washington should be looking at a receiver in the first round of the draft.

Their second action should be the defense. The way they kept themselves in games this season is astonishing without a second corner until the trade deadline and one of the worst run defenses in the league.

Johnny Newton was an absolute steal in the second round of the 2024 draft, and filled in nicely with injuries to Daron Payne and Jon Allen. Bobby Wagner was a nice signing, but Washington still fielded the third worst defense against the run.

They were piecing together a starting defense with second stringers all over the place such as Jeremy Chinn at safety, Dorance Armstrong off the edge and Ben St. Juste at corner before he was benched after Marshon Lattimore got healthy following being traded to Washington.

If Washington has a strong draft, they could knock out a large amount of needs on their defense just by having to start guys and those players subsequently getting reps and experience.

Their defensive depth is worrisome even after their starters with liabilities and practice squad caliber guys backing up every position.

Finally, a couple of final touches that they could maybe address in free agency or late in the draft would be upgrades to the offensive line and the running back room.

The offensive line is serviceable, but nothing more than that. It’s not their biggest problem, but they can worry less about that with Daniels’ ability to run and his poise in a collapsing pocket.

Running back is a solid position with Brian Robinson Jr. starting and Austin Ekeler as a 3rd down back, but Ekeler is on the back end of his career and Robinson is not a bell cow type of back.

Robinson has been strong in short yardage situations, but would benefit from being occasionally on the field and being more of the power back as opposed to a three down back.

Despite what seems to be an entire roster flip, Washington is on an upward trajectory in a hurry thanks to their second overall pick in Jayden Daniels who already looks like a six-year veteran.

Washington fans had a lot to cheer for this past season and have even more to look forward to in the future. They might have been outmanned and out classed in the NFC Championship, but they made it further than they should’ve.

Within a couple years, the story will be the Eagles and the Commanders fighting for the NFC East every year and Jayden Daniels most likely in MVP conversations.

Tristan Kunec is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him please email him at tqk5432@psu.edu.