Is it too early to declare winners and losers from free agency? Absolutely! But we’ve been doing it since before it started, during the first hour, and every hour since then. Fans know(or think they know) what their team needs, and the Washington Commanders had a lot of needs going into the new league year. They followed up an appearance in the NFC Championship Game with a disappointing 5-12 season and a pair of new coordinators. Dan Quinn is still the head coach and enters his third season with general manager Adam Peters in charge of the recalibration.
There were a lot of things that went wrong last season, from the injuries, to older signings not working out, to the coaching conflicts that led to major changes after it mercifully ended. Adam Peters’ recalibration strategy put him in the spotlight, and this offseason was labeled make or break by many fans. Would Peters open up managing partner(owner) Josh Harris’s wallet, and spend big, or would he “cheap out” again in free agency?
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Those questions started to get answered on Day 1 of the legal tampering window with the Commanders signing Chargers DE Odafe Oweh to a 4-year, $100 million contract, while being outbid on some of their top targets like DE Jaelan Phillips and WR Alec Pierce. Peters has shown over his three years in Washington that he has a price point for players, and he will walk away from deals if they go above that. The first day of free agency is always loaded with overpays, and some of the “smart” teams wait until desperate teams reset the market to find the real bargains. But there is room for both strategies when your available salary cap is top 5 in the league, and you have major needs across the roster.
Day 2 of legal tampering slowed down considerably across the league, with teams continuing to re-sign their own players before they became free agents. The Commanders added LB Leo Chenal on Tuesday, and ramped up the signings yesterday before the new league year started at 4 p.m. ET. Adam Peters agreed to terms with OLB K’Lavon Chaisson, TE Chig Okonkwo, and S Nick Cross before the deadline, and added DE Charles Omenihu last night.
Fixing the defense!
NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger said the Commanders could have added 5 starters on defense over the last three days, and fixing a broken defense was a clear priority. New defensive coordinator Daronte Jones was a big winner in free agency. Seven of the eight free agents added from other teams play defense, and Jones is getting the opportunity to run his own scheme, with his own players for the first time. Dan Quinn took over the defense from Joe Whitt Jr last season, but said Jones will be running his own show in Washington.
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Defensive end was devasted with injuries last season, leading to significant playing time for backups like Jacob Martin, and older veterans like Von Miller. Washington went heavy at the position, and were reportedly also inquiring about Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson before he went to the Ravens. Getting pressure on the QB will be improved, and the second level of the defense got help at LB, CB, and S, with more to come.
Offensive help coming soon?
On offense, the Commanders promoted assistant QB coach David Blough to offensive coordinator. He replaced Kliff Kingsbury, who’s coaching style reportedly fell out of favor with management, leading to a mutual separation. Getting Jayden Daniels to play under center more, and limiting his injury risk was a major priority after injuries led to him being shut down at the end of the season. The offense hasn’t received the same amount of attention as the defense, but it was the stronger unit going into the offseason.
Starting center Tyler Biadasz was released, and quickly found a new home for similar pay with the Chargers. Many people assumed that Adam Peters had a plan to address the position that included a pending free agent, but fans watched as all the top options, and then the next level of options were snapped up by other teams. Nick Allegretti took over for Biadasz after leg injuries ended his season, and he is now the projected starter, with a new contract, which has not sat well with fans. Peters still has the draft to upgrade the position, but the team only has six picks, and most of them are on Day 3.
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One of the biggest moves Adam Peters made during the legal tampering window was securing a new contract for left tackle Laremy Tunsil, adding two more years, while giving their franchise LT another massive payday. Chris Paul took over the left guard position from Brandon Coleman in Week 3, and kept it for the rest of the season. He’s a free agent, and has been getting interest from other teams. He remains unsigned, and left guard is now another open position on the offensive line.
Wide Receiver/Running Back Depth
Washington still has a lot of question marks on offense, with the wide receiver and running back positions still not addressed. The Commanders ended their contract standoff with Terry McLaurin last year, but it caused a lot of drama during training camp and preseason. Injuries affected most of the wide receivers last season, leading to more playing time than anyone wanted to see for players like Chris Moore and Robbie Chosen. Washington swung and missed on Alec Pierce and Romeo Doubs, but they’ll need to continue looking for talent to pair with McLaurin. Brandon Aiyuk is expected to be released by the 49ers soon, and everyone already has him penciled in to join his best friend Jayden Daniels on the Commanders on a 1-year, “prove it” deal.
A lot of running backs found new teams since Monday, but Washington wasn’t one of those teams. Bill Croskey-Merritt is now the only RB signed for this season, and Adam Peters will need to add 3-4 players to the offseason roster. He didn’t tender restricted free agent Chris Rodriguez Jr, and he was quickly signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars after the new league year started. Austin Ekeler suffered a torn Achilles early last season and isn’t expected to return. Jeremy McNichols has been Washington’s workhorse backup for a few seasons, but he also wasn’t re-signed. With Washington leaning heavily into the defense in free agency, their No. 7 overall pick could go to offense with Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State WR Carnell Tate as the likely top options.
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Winners and Losers
Daronte Jones and the Washington Commanders defense were the clear winners in the first wave of free agency, and he is getting the desperately needed influx of talent needed to implement his new system. The defense has been the issue on this team since Adam Peters and Dan Quinn took over, but rookie phenom Jayden Daniels helped mask that during the first year with his historic run.
David Blough and the Washington Commanders offense didn’t get the same level of help through free agency, but there will be more players added over the next two months. Losing out on their top wide receiver options wasn’t ideal, and now they are moving on to backup plans. Signing TE Chig Okonkwo was great, but a lot more work needs to be done to build around Jayden Daniels.
Washington Commanders odds via FanDuel
Winning the Super Bowl odds: +4,500
Winning the NFC Odds: +2,500
Winning the NFC East Odds: +410
Jayden Daniels MVP Odds: +2,000
Regular Season Win Total: Over 7.5 -130, Under 7.5 +110
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