QB · FA · 28 yrs · exp 5 · Purdue
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The author identifies Ben Sinnott and Johnny Newton as potential breakout players for the 2026 Commanders. Sinnott, a tight end, is expected to see increased usage and production in the new David Blough offense, leveraging his abilities after the catch. Newton, a defensive player, is highlighted for his disruptive potential based on his college performance
Most Commanders have something to prove entering 2026, including David Blough, Treylon Burks and Jayden Daniels
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! Sign up for a user account and get: Fewer ads Create community posts Comment on articles, community posts Rec comments, community posts New, improved notifications system! Sports Illustrated Philip Hughes : When Washington drafted you, what was the first thought that went through your mind once the moment settled in? Athan Kaliakmanis: When I got drafted, the first thought that went through my mind was my appreciation for God. It was an appreciation of my journey as a whole, and I was just thankful God was with me on every step of my journey. I was then thankful for my family and just grateful I got to experience that moment with them. It was a collective effort. Philip Hughes : You said after the draft that you wanted to be a Commander. What was it about this team, this staff, or this situation that made Washington feel like the right place for you? Athan Kaliakmanis: Washington felt like the right place for me for a number of reasons. I felt like after my visit, I really wanted to play for the coaching staff in Washington. I loved the area and the experience the entire coaching staff had as a whole. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to learn from a group of very talented NFL quarterbacks. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. To read more of this article, CLICK HERE Bullock’s Film Room (subscription) The good news for Washington is a switch to more zone runs suits Croskey-Merritt perfectly. In fact, one of my concerns with Croskey-Merritt when he was drafted was his fit with Kingsbury’s preference for gap scheme runs. In college, Croskey-Merritt ran almost exclusively zone run schemes, so I wondered how he’d fare in a different system. Overall he did well under Kingsbury, but during the middle of the season, we did see times where he lacked discipline with gap scheme runs. There were times in his rookie year that Croskey-Merritt made back side cuts work and picked up nice gains, but when he started to go hunting for big plays a little too often, he saw his workload reduced quite a bit over the middle part of the season. But when he started to earn more snaps later in the year, he did show more discipline. That discipline will be important for him in his second year because the zone scheme does require discipline, but it also provides some flexibility that suits his running style. In the zone scheme, the offensive line isn’t blocking to open up a specific gap, but rather it’s looking to use horizontal movement of the offensive line to create vertical lanes for the back to cut into. The running back can cut into just about any available lane he wants to, but the key is to make one cut and be decisive with it. Croskey-Merritt showed in college and at times last year how effective he can be in the zone scheme. Commanders Roundtable The 34 year old has been nearly a lifelong Charger after spending all but one of his 12 NFL seasons with the organization, totaled over 11,300 receiving yards and 63 touchdowns during his time in San Diego then Los Angeles . His lone season elsewhere materialized in 2024 where he started in all 15 games he was available for the Chicago Bears , finishing second on the team with 744 receiving yards along with a team-high seven touchdowns. Yet the production dropped in 2025 for the six-time Pro Bowl selection after starting in only three of the 17 games he was available in Los , amassing shy of 800 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 81 catches and 122 targets. Fowler also noted that “nothing is going on” with Allen as of late with the front office doing its due diligence. The question for Allen would be not only how productive he could be, but how he fits into the current wide receiver room. While he showcased himself as an out [... truncated ...]
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! A to Z Sports It’ll take a down year for a late-drafted WR to win this award, but this looks like a down year. Only two quarterbacks were taken in the first two rounds, and one of them ( Ty Simpson ) has no chance of earning a starting job. Should Mendoza not surpass Cousins until midseason or struggle statistically when he starts, the field opens up. The running back class this year was historically weak. RB3 (Kaelon Black) left the board at No. 90 — the latest the third running back has been taken in the common draft era (since 1967). Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are the two first-round running backs, but Price is reportedly facing a timeshare in Seattle , while Love will labor on a bad Cardinals team eyeing the 2027 No. 1 pick. The likelihood a running back wins the award this season is as thin as I can remember. There is hardly any competition in the Commanders’ receivers room behind Terry McLaurin . Williams will catch passes from Jayden Daniels , a remarkably better quarterback than players such as KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston (Browns) or Omar Cooper Jr. (Jets) will work with in 2026. Williams still needs to dodge the late-summer addition of a Brandon Aiyuk or Stefon Diggs , but his path to high-quality targets is shockingly clear for a third-round pick. Williams is also a hand-in-glove fit for David Blough ’s Detroit-inspired offense. Williams is an easy glider who makes fearless catches over the middle of the field. He is evidently cut from the Amon-Ra St. Brown cloth, and St. Brown’s reliability helped him break into the Lions’ starting lineup as a fourth-round rookie. If the Commanders suddenly need to funnel six-plus targets per game his way, he has the deep tool kit and reliable play style to sustain that volume. There are few middle-round rookies for whom I have rosier Year 1 projections than Williams. NFLcom 2025 stats: 17 games | 162 tackles | 8 tfl | 4.5 sacks | 2 INT | 4 FF The timeless linebacker continues to rack up standout seasons at the tail end of his Hall of Fame career. Wagner has never fallen short of triple-digit tackles in a season through 14 years in the league, and he now sits third all time — just 59 behind Ray Lewis’s record — with 2,000, per Pro Football Reference. Never out of place, Wagner was credited by Next Gen Stats with 69 run stops in 2025, second in the NFL. He’s as steady of a QB for the defense as there’s been in his (or any) era. NFL Pro insight for Wagner: Bobby Wagner played at least 98% of his team’s defensive snaps for the ninth time in his career. The Athletic (paywall) I am alarmed about these four situations, listed in order of severity (excluding the Browns, whose quarterback situation is perpetually severe): 3. Did Jayden Daniels get needed support? The honeymoon is over in DC. The miracle NFC championship appearance to begin the Daniels-and-Dan Quinn era was followed by a sophomore slump. Daniels was hurt, and the Commanders went 5-12. The coach’s job is safe for now, but new coordinators on both offense and defense hint at urgency. Daniels still deserves better weapons, and I’m not sure Brandon Aiyuk would be the answer . Pro Football Talk There have been no reports or suggestions that they are. Perhaps more importantly, there have been no reports or suggestions that they aren’t . It’s only tampering to express public interest in a player under contract with another team. It’s not tampering to make it known that a team isn’t interested. If they aren’t, why not make it known? If nothing else, it would save Aiyuk a lot of time and effort. This suggests that they are. And why wouldn’t they be? Quarterback Jayden Daniels, who played in 2019 with Aiyuk at Arizona State (and who recently got an earful from a 49ers fan [... truncated ...]
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! JP Finlay A new offense and new defense means the work doesn’t stop for Washington during the NFL break Rookie WR Antonio Williams knows how to get separation. He has a chance for a real role in this offense, as does Treylon Burks . The former first-rounder just needs to stay healthy, something he’s been unable to do so far in his NFL career. Burks did tell me this year feels like a fresh start. Quinn also went out of his way to salute the strong summers for veterans Dyami Brown and Van Jefferson . Quick note on Henry – he’s wearing the 30 jersey and when he’s on the field looks a bit like Austin Ekeler . He’s my early pick for preseason leader in rush yards (which does not mean a roster spot but is a silly prediction game we play on the Beltway Football podcast). Ben Sinnott and Chig Okonkwo had strong offseasons. David Blough ’s offense is going to offer more verticality for the tight end position and expect both to be able to show their athleticism. Okonkwo will be the lead dog at the position but Sinnott might finally be able to prove why he was a Top 100 pick. Connerly looks bigger and with broader shoulders than his rookie season. Still the single moment that stood out for me came from the conclusion of minicamp practices when the entire team ran a series of short sprints. [Laremy] Tunsil – the five-time Pro Bowler going into his 11th season and with career earnings of well over $100 million – was grinding out the June sprints. Actions not words. I stood on the sideline watching practice with former Redskins RB Ricky Ervins and Commanders team president Mark Clouse . Ervins told a story about the first time he played at RFK and saw the stands bouncing and explained the scene nearly drove him to tears. He asked Clouse if the bounding seats would be re-created at the new stadium, and the team prez explained that it would for a portion of the seats. It was a cool moment of the past meeting the future, something the organization is trying to do and something the fan base desperately wants. The Athletic (paywall) The line will do a lot of zone blocking Quinn said repeatedly during these nonpadded workouts that it’s hard to get real evaluations on offensive linemen in the spring because so much of the job revolves around physicality. What we do know: The offensive line will use a primarily zone-blocking scheme reminiscent of the one Mike Shanahan employed in Washington from 2010 through 2013 — a system he perfected in Denver in the 1990s. Zone blocking in the run game is exactly as it sounds: Offensive linemen block an area rather than a man. It requires linemen to be athletic and on the move, and results in a lot of double-teams on defensive linemen. “Under-center snaps with some wide zone — with some pulling — I’ve done it before,” said Nick Allegretti , who is moving from guard to center. “But it’s gonna be a bigger part of the bulk of that offense. I’m just getting out in space.” Because there was no tackling during these workouts, any long rushing touchdown was kind of fake. But during one workout last week, Allegretti and guard Sam Cosmi celebrated a supposed score by jumping on each other because they had pulled and led a running back into the end zone some 25 yards downfield — just how Blough drew it up. Heavy.com There was a time, just 2 years ago, when running back Rachaad White saw his value skyrocket to the point he was being talked about as a player who might reset the market for his position. Before the 2024 season, after he put up over 1,500 yards of total offense in 2023, White’s value on the open market was thought to be approaching $10 million per season. Before the 2025 season, and even after losing his starting job on the Buccaneers to rookie Bucky Irving , [... truncated ...]
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! NFL.com What a difference a year makes. Last summer, the oddsmakers had Daniels much closer to the top of the board at MVP. The vibes were off the charts coming off Washington’s surprise run to the NFC Championship Game, with Daniels winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. After an injury-plagued 2025 season, everyone’s waiting to see how he will get off the mat. Washington’s running a new offense coordinated by 30-year-old former QB David Blough , who will ask Daniels to take more snaps from under center. I won’t blame the third-year passer if the burden feels heavy. After the Commanders were very aggressive in adding support for him last offseason — trading for Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel — this year’s moves were far less splashy. At the moment, third-round pick Antonio Williams is the most notable addition to the receiving corps, which is badly in need of more juice opposite Terry McLaurin . I worry that the first three games — at Eagles, at Cowboys, vs. Seahawks — could derail Daniels and Co. before we reach October, but he’s surprised us before. When healthy, he has the potential to be one of the most electric playmakers in the game. If the Commanders are playoff contenders come December, it will be because Daniels is playing out of his mind. Paulsen: “It is kinda half-baked, but part of me is like, ‘Why not?’ I think it’s very, very possible…This is an interesting one to me, because it’s so hard to determine. That’s why it’s half-baked. Determining long-term success is really hard, but in that 2024 season, we saw special stuff from him … When he’s on, there’s a magic to him.” Smoot: “Caleb had a down in his first year and bounced back last year. Drake Maye , I don’t think he had a down, but he just started slow. And Bo Nix is the one I’m most confused about, because he balls when he’s healthy. But there’s something going on with Sean Payton that we don’t know.” Moss: “I think when you think about it, his rookie season…he was on the verge of being an MVP. If he didn’t hurt those ribs, who knows? I think it’s very possible, and to me, one of the things that builds or creates those kind of guys, those outstanding achievers that are looked at as the greatest of their position, is going through what he’s went through. He had an up, then he had a down. So, where do you lie, young fella?” Riggo’s Rag Santana Moss was suitably impressed . The former wide receiver highlighted Daniels’ mobility and accuracy as standout traits at OTAs. However, he also thought the dynamic dual-threat had been spending a lot more time in the weight room this offseason. “JD5 (Jayden Daniels) looks like he’s back and ready for action. I see him getting a little girthy on them arms, and I can see him out there rolling outside the pocket, throwing that thing everywhere.” Daniels is never going to be a Cam Newton-type in terms of size and physicality. He doesn’t need to be, but after taking some significant punishment last season, the Heisman Trophy winner has taken the initiative to get stronger in the regular-season pressure cooker. It’s a slight change, but it’ll only help. The Commanders are expecting Daniels to bounce back next season. Every decision this offseason has had the No. 2 pick in 2024 at the forefront. The defensive enhancements will make things easier . There are some decent-looking options in the passing game and a stronger ground attack. He’s got a more dynamic pass-catching tight end in Chig Okonkwo , and offensive coordinator David Blough’s scheme should maximize the exceptional skills Okonkwo brings to the table. Daniels proved in Year 1 of his professional career how influential he can be. Knee, hamstring, and elbow injuries limited his influence in 2025, but that’s only mad [... truncated ...]
The start of OTAs is always exciting as fans get their first full look at the team after free agency and the draft. In terms of real information, there is usually very little to be had, but occasionally useful nuggets may be gleaned from short clips and interviews. One such find came from JP Finlay’s OTA notes from the first open session and was provided by veteran tight end John Bates . I spoke with veteran tight end John Bates after practice and asked him specifically about the TE role in the new offense. Bates explained tight ends will have a bigger role and expect to see multiple sets with multiple tight ends on the field. Maybe even 13 personnel like the Rams ran to great success last season. That’s exciting. For those that don’t know, personnel groupings are represented by two digits. The first digit stands for the number of running backs and the second stands for the tight ends. The remainder out of 5 skill players represents the wide receivers, so 13 personnel is one running back, three tight ends, and one wide receiver. The Commanders were not well known for this deployment last season. According to SumerSports , Kliff Kingsbury used the grouping on 5.5% of Washington’s plays. So why the excitement from the other JP? Sean McVay and the Rams used 13 personnel to great effect last season after Puka Nacua went out with an injury. In fact, the coach liked the results so much he kept using it after Puka returned to the lineup. Is it possible Commanders offensive coordinator David Blough and the Commanders could find the same success copying McVay’s model? As luck would have it, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell examined this exact question in an article a few weeks ago. The writer looked at both the Rams usage and how it might apply to the rest of the league. The examination raised some interesting questions, along with providing some interesting answers. For starters, how effective was Los Angeles with 13 personnel last year? According to Barnwell, very effective. The Rams averaged 0.14 expected points added (EPA) per play last season, their best mark since 2018. Working out of 13 personnel, that jumped to 0.22 EPA per play. To put that in context, the only offenses since 2017 to average that much in terms of EPA per snap over a full season were the 2018 Chiefs and 2020 Packers . The 2007 Patriots, one of the greatest offenses in NFL history, averaged 0.24 EPA per play. The 13 personnel Rams weren’t far behind. Clearly the Rams were successful when running 13 personnel. Seven-year veteran Colby Parkinson had a career year and set the Rams franchise record for most touchdowns by a tight end in a single season with eight. His previous career high for a season was two touchdowns. So why was 13 personnel so effective for Los Angeles? According to Barnwell, 13 personnel groupings require the defense to shift out of their preferred sub-packages, play more base, and limit the number of blitzes and stunts defensive coordinators have ready for an unfamiliar look. For teams that want to run the ball, heavier sets up front obviously help achieve their goal, and we saw Kliff Kingsbury use a sixth offensive linemen to great effect last season. In his article reviewing the top five tight end groups in the league, NFL.com analyst Bucky Brooks agreed. The unique personnel grouping poses several problems for defenses due to the “heavy” look. It can force opponents to keep their base defensive personnel on the field against a diverse collection of blockers and playmakers. Additionally, head coach Sean McVay can deploy a few traditional and overload formations that create extra gaps at the line of scrimmage, opening up the running game when defenders do not properly align or fill their assigned gaps at the point of attack. With personnel and formation diversity creating mismatches against lumbering linebackers or undersized defensive backs who struggle to handle the unit’s size, strength or speed, the Rams were able to dictate the terms of the g [... truncated ...]
The Commanders shuffled their roster a bit heading into the second week of OTAs, adding a veteran tight end to the mix. The position group will be important in David Blough ’s new offense, which will feature multiple tight end sets on a regular basis. Washington added some experience to the group on Tuesday, signing Anthony Firkser to the squad. The Commanders released receiver Ja’Corey Brooks in a corresponding move. Firkser has been in the NFL since 2018, and was a heavily featured player with the Tennessee Titans through 2021. He has bounced around the league since then, with stops in Atlanta , Detroit , the New York Jets and Kansas City , with a return to the Lions in 2025. He’s a versatile player who can block and catch passes in a pinch, and can be a stout special teams player. He joins a position group that includes Chig Okonkwo, John Bates and Ben Sinnott . Those three are expected to make the squad, though a fourth tight end could make an argument for the 53-man roster. Brooks signed with the Commanders as a 2025 undrafted free agent, and spent last year on the practice squad and the practice-squad injured list. He signed a reserve-futures deal with the Commanders this offseason. The Commanders are conducting their second week of OTA practices from Tuesday-Thursday
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! JP Finlay Looking at Ben Johnson’s offenses and trying to extrapolate what it means with David Blough in Washington The “10 targets a game” idea got me interested though. How realistic is that? 17 games x 10 targets per game = 170 targets. Well I think it’s important not to get bogged down by semantics here. Only two receivers literally got to 170+ targets last season (Ja’Marr Chase and Amon Ra St. Brown). In 2024 only Chase got to 170+. For me the idea of 10 targets is much more about identifying McLaurin as the alpha receiver and feeding him the ball regularly, regardless of situation. That seems what Blough intends to do. And there are numbers to support that. Ben Johnson ran the Detroit Lions offense for three seasons from 2022 to 2024. During that time, St. Brown averaged 150 targets per season. McLaurin has never had more than 130 targets in a season, and that came back in 2020. In Detroit , Johnson clearly identified St. Brown as the Lion’s best receiver and made sure he got the football. Expect Blough to do that in Washington with McLaurin. It’s a bit harder to extrapolate much from the Bears offense in 2025, Johnson’s first year as a head coach. It sure appeared that second-year WR Rome Odunze grabbed the alpha role for Johnson’s offense but he only played in 12 games. Still, in just 12 games, Odunze led the team with 90 targets. Enough about Johnson. Now it’s Blough’s time in Washington. It’s not as simple as “make sure to throw to Terry.” If the offense stinks and doesn’t generate first downs, there won’t be enough plays to get Terry targets. A balanced offense will get McLaurin more looks. So the notion of getting McLaurin into that 150 target range also implies a healthy running game and plenty of looks to tight end Chig Okonkwo and other wideouts. Commanders.com Allen, one of the Washington Commanders’ two sixth-round picks, is not guaranteed a roster spot because of where he was drafted and the depth at the running back position. There is a possible role for him as a short-yardage back, but he’ll have to earn that right while competing against players like Jerome Ford , Jeremy McNichols and undrafted free agent Robert Henry Jr. Allen wouldn’t have it any other way, and he’s ready to earn a spot in Washington’s backfield. Allen said he can do everything a running back needs to be at the NFL level, but the Commanders were more focused on one area of his skill set: picking up tough yards that general manager Lance Newmark said aren’t always appreciated but keep drives alive. Allen certainly has the build for it with his nearly 6-foot, 216-pound frame in addition to the right attitude. The only thing the Commanders need to do is “put the rock in my hands,” Allen said. “I’m ready to go.” Allen has a track record of finding ways to get yards in congested running lanes. He faced heavy boxes (at least eight defenders) on 27% of his carries — more than any other running back in the 2026 class — and still managed to average 4.8 yards per carry in those situations. A lot of that comes from his patience in the backfield to let blocks develop and find creases at the line of scrimmage. Only 11% of his career runs failed to gain yardage, which ranked third in his class. But as Newmark alluded, defenders also have a hard time bringing him down. He forced 57 missed tackles, which ranked 13th among running backs last season and tied for sixth in his draft class. Bullock’s Film Room (subscription) [N]ow it’s time to see where I feel the roster is currently at after most of the roster turnover is done. As always, I’ll list out the players on the roster for each position, but I’ll also put what I felt the level of need was for each position entering the offseason and what I feel t [... truncated ...]
It’s difficult to predict how players will perform season-to-season in the NFL. One year, you’re on top of the football world. The next, you’re down in the dumps, an afterthought in fantasy football. Yahoo analyst Matt Harmon takes you through 10 players who underperformed relative to expectations in 2025 and could use a reboot for this upcoming season. Lamar Jackson was a consensus top quarterback in drafts last season but finished outside the top-15 at the position in points per game. Even when he was on the field, he wasn't the same hyper-productive player. He had some of his least effective games in November of last year. Jackson will play this season under a new coaching staff that includes offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. The 29-year-old will be a primary playcaller for the first time in his career but was the offensive coordinator under Ben Johnson last season. We should all expect the structure of Baltimore ’s attack to resemble that of Chicago ’s in 2025. That’s a solid change for Jackson at this stage of his career and fits some of the players in place. I still have questions about some of the non-Zay Flowers pass catchers, Jackson’s own current athleticism level as he enters his 30s next year and the ceiling of the offensive line. That may be enough to keep me from making Jackson a priority target as the QB2 overall in ADP, but I’m still open to a bounce-back season from the Ravens passer. Much like Jackson, most but not all of Jayden Daniels’ slip in 2025 can be chalked up to injuries. Daniels only played in seven games and left two early. He only cleared 20 points in two contests, however, and was not as hyper-efficient as he was as a rookie. The Commanders' offense was severely limited by their wide receiver personnel beyond Terry McLaurin , who was also injured for much of the season. Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season Daniels will get a fresh start with David Blough taking the controls from Kliff Kingsbury and set to install more pro-style concepts in the passing game. Daniels can play from under center and execute a passing game that works the intermediate middle of the field. I expect him to make this transition well and like some of the ancillary pieces like Antonio Williams and Chig Okonkwo, the team added to complement a hopefully healthy McLaurin. Daniels is one of my favorite quarterback targets this season, especially if he goes in the 60s. We’ve all spent many hours discussing, diagnosing and debating what went wrong in the Eagles passing attack last year and seemingly forgot that the running game took a step back. Saquon Barkley was a regression candidate no matter what but he was still drafted as a consensus early Round 1 selection despite that risk. He finished as the RB14 in both points per game and overall. The touchdowns and explosive plays flowed like water in 2024 but dried up this past season. The hope is that a new offensive system under Sean Mannion can fix several woes but the team will go at it without legendary offensive line coach and run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland, for the first time in over a decade. I don’t have a strong feeling on Barkley’s 2026 outlook but he does feel like an underdiscussed character with so much fixation on the on-field dip and off-field drama surrounding the passing game in Philadelphia . The 2025 season was somewhere between bizarre and a nightmare for Bucky Irving. He dealt with injuries and setbacks that kept him off the field for a long stretch but even when he was available, he wasn’t a productive player. Out of 55 running backs who had 100-plus opportunities last season, Irving ranked 52nd in rushing success rate and 55th in EPA per rush. When he returned from injury, he saw his passing-down work cut for Rachaad White and goal-line work cut for Sean Tucker . Frankly, I don’t have a strong take on whether Irving gets the reboot he needs in 2026. I believe he’s a talented back who flashed strong rushing cho [... truncated ...]
The NFL schedule release provides some structure to the Commanders 2026 season. We’ve known most of details about opposition, s trength of schedule and the expected wins that come all the offseason moves. Those are better indicators of how the Commanders will fare in 2026, though the schedule has some say. That begs a simple question: Does Thursday’s Commanders schedule announcement make life easier or harder on Washington? When applying some context, it most definitely has an impact. In which direction? That’ll depend on how the spring and summer goes. Oh, and health. Health is super, duper important. The Commanders hired new coordinators this year with brand new schemes. David Blough will be running an offense featuring now-healthy quarterback Jayden Daniels and Daronte Jones is charged with improving performance with a completely overhauled defensive depth chart. How quickly can those two get their guys going strong? After looking at the 2026 Commanders schedule, it’ll be imperative. Washington starts the season with consecutive road games at Philadelphia and Dallas . Then they get the Super-Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks in a Week 3 home opener. Then they go to London to face the Colts and return for a Week 5 contest against the New York Giants . That starts a brutal stretch where they face the 49ers in Week 6 and then the Eagles and L.A. Rams after a Week 7 bye. No need to figure out how many 2025 playoff teams are featured in that stretch. I’ll do the count for you – five of them in the first eight games. The Commanders also play five of six scheduled NFC East games in the first 10 weeks, so Jones and Blough (plus the assistant coaches) must help accelerate the learning curve and contribute to early wins. There’s another side to this argument. Jones and Blough will have some mystery to them in the early going, as first-time coordinators with influences and understood philsophies but no tape on file as play callers. That might assist in squeaking out some early wins. And, if the team is galvanized through this early trial by fire, there’s room to start stacking wins over the season’s second half. So, back to the original question: Does the schedule make life easier or harder on the 2026 Commanders? It’ll depend on (well, health) and how this upgraded roster and its new coaches will navigate the early going
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! ESPN They could opt for someone not currently on the team — whether that’s waiting on Brandon Aiyuk , who isn’t yet available, or Stefon Diggs , who is free. Or they could opt for internal development, hoping that third-round rookie Antonio Williams emerges early. Multiple league sources, as well as former coaches and executives, acknowledge the Commanders could use someone else alongside McLaurin, their top target since he entered the NFL as a third-round pick in 2019. Washington’s other receivers are too unproven to predict one could emerge as a strong No. 2 option. The Commanders did sign tight end Chig Okonkwo in free agency. And, under new coordinator David Blough , it’s likely they’ll run more two- and three tight end sets. That would cut down on how often they need a third wideout, but regardless a solid second receiver is desired. Meanwhile, Washington has been content to wait. The Commanders have more knowledge about Aiyuk than most teams because Peters was an assistant GM in San Francisco from 2020-2023. They also have quarterback Jayden Daniels , who played with Aiyuk for one year at Arizona State and remains close with him. With McLaurin in place, Diggs wouldn’t need to be the lead receiver in Washington. And, as one person who used to work for Washington said, Diggs gives the coaches a player who can make an immediate impact; he can play in the slot or the flanker position in a two-receiver set. It also would give the rookie Williams a chance to develop. Washington was ecstatic being able to land Williams, with one coach saying he might have been a first-round pick if he’d left school after his 2024 season. Commanders coach Dan Quinn said Williams can play “multiple spots.” Williams is considered more of a slot receiver, though he did play outside on occasion at Clemson. In a 34-3 loss to Georgia in 2024 — an outing that stood out for Washington’s decision makers — Williams caught six passes for 76 yards while playing outside and facing mostly press coverage. JP Finlay As the game continued and went to overtime it got even weirder. Normally in the U.S. the media works from the press box and there’s devoted elevators to get us down to the field level for postgame. Not in Wembley. At the bottom of the lower section of seats, there was a gate down to the track before the field. Next to the gate was a big burly security guard standing there. Before Dustin Hopkins lined up to win the game in overtime with a field goal, I walked down to the gate. I told the security guard I needed to get to the field. He replied – sternly – nobody gets on the field until the game is over. He didn’t seem thrilled with me. I explained that once Hopkins makes this kick, the game will be over. It’s sudden death. The security guard didn’t flinch. Nobody on the field until the game is over. My concern was I was supposed to be on TV within 5 minutes of the game ending, and the layout in Wembley meant we were on the opposite side of the field from the live shot location and it was going to take some time to get over there. I didn’t quite make a scene but I made it clear I wasn’t happy. I kind of squatted in the row near the gate and announced my intention to run to the live shot as soon as the kick went in. Only it didn’t. Hop missed a chippy. And the game continued. Commanders Most of Stevens’ day at Washington Commanders’ rookie minicamp was spent away from the rest of the players on the field. He worked with the long snapper and holder who were invited for a tryout hitting field goals at different distances. He had not kicked in the four days leading up to practice, but that did not stop him from hitting a 53-yarder in windy conditions. “I could have gone further back,” Stevens said. “I’m ju [... truncated ...]
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