“My fellow Americans. Our long national nightmare is over”-President Gerald R. Ford, 1974.
It’s tradition to start this annual story with that quote. Summer vacation for the Washington Commanders is almost over. Rookies will report to training camp in Ashburn, VA. OnJuly 18th, veterans will follow on July 22nd.
As the preseason gets started, here are the three biggest questions Washington needs to answer.
Will Terry McLaurin’s contract situation get resolved?
It should come as no surprise that this is the number one question, and it could probably qualify for second and third as well.
McLaurin’s extension should be a no-brainer. He’s coming off the best year of his career with 1,323 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns. That TD number, by the way, is more than double any other year in his career. His PFF.com grade is the highest since his rookie year, and his number of catches his the highest since 2020.
Putting aside the merit of a new deal, there should be no argument about his importance to the Commanders’ offense.
McLaurin will benefit from having Deebo Samuel on the other side of the field; he’s never had a partner with Samuel’s deep threat capabilities. He’s also a crucial part of the culture that head coach Dan Quinn has established.
McLaurin always shows up ready to work, never complains, and leads by example. At some point, the two sides will agree; a season-long holdout would mean he doesn’t accrue a year of service time (hello, free agency). The front office needs to get the deal done.
Did the Commanders improve the defense enough?
Instead of making a run at Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson or using its first-round pick on defense, Washington chose to concentrate on giving Jayden Daniels the tools he needs to move to the next level.
GM Adam Peters did take Ole Miss cornerback Trey Amos in the second round, and he’s expected to be a starter opposite Marshon Lattimore,but Washington is running it back up front.
After losing Dorrance Armstrong to Dallas, the Commanders opted to sign veteran backup Deatrich Wise Jr. Jeremy Chinn, another free agent loss, will be replaced by Will Harris (a lateral move at best), and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. is counting on second-year player Jordan Magee to make a jump after being injured most of last season.
Is Jayden Daniels the next Patrick Mahomes?
Some Commanders fans are still skeptical that 2024 was a mirage, recalling Robert Griffin III’s disastrous second-year campaign.
In reality, the only concern should be superstitious.
RG III’s rookie PFF overall number was 81.4, andDaniels‘ was 90.6, one of the highest ever for a rookie.
Numbers and analytics aside, JD5 is completely healthy and not coming off a major knee injury like Griffin was; he also has full command (pardon the pun) of OC Kliff Kingsbury’s offense. Griffin ran a well-designed system, albeit one that was particularly well-suited to him by Kyle Shanahan.
The Commanders enter the season as one of the favorites to make a return trip to the NFC Championship game, and since no team has won the NFC East two years in a row since Philadelphia in 2004, history says Washington will make a run at its first division title since 2020.
Bob Matthews is a 33 year veteran broadcast journalist, spending the last 29 years of his career in Virginia. Bob has covered both news and sports stories and for the last three seasons, the Washington Commanders. He looks forward to continuing to provide coverage to Sportsjourney.com both on the website and through his podcast, The Bob Matthews Show.
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