2025 Washington Commanders- All Things Offense

In the first post-season presser, Adam Peters was asked about what was limiting Jayden and he immediately went to that they needed to upgrade the talent around him and that this was the biggest thing they could do to protect him. I know that conventional wisdom is that it's the defense that is holding this team back and which should get as much of our attention this offseason as possible. But we desparately need a top tier bookend opposite Terry, a dangerous pass catching TE, and a homerun threat every down RB (I know some believe Bill can be that guy but I am not one of them - at least not yet).

Unfortunately, I don't see any way we can fill all of those needs and fix this defense in 1 season. I think Peters moves after the 2024 season set us back and that it may well take 2-3 more offseasons to get the defense where it needs to be AND build a dangerous offensive roster.

Boone said:

In the first post-season presser, Adam Peters was asked about what was limiting Jayden and he immediately went to that they needed to upgrade the talent around him and that this was the biggest thing they could do to protect him. I know that conventional wisdom is that it's the defense that is holding this team back and which should get as much of our attention this offseason as possible. But we desparately need a top tier bookend opposite Terry, a dangerous pass catching TE, and a homerun threat every down RB (I know some believe Bill can be that guy but I am not one of them - at least not yet).

Unfortunately, I don't see any way we can fill all of those needs and fix this defense in 1 season. I think Peters moves after the 2024 season set us back and that it may well take 2-3 more offseasons to get the defense where it needs to be AND build a dangerous offensive roster.

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We definitely need to bolster JDs weaponry. We need a solid RB that is a good receiver and in pass pro. We also need 2 more WR's that are reliable, able to separate, spread the field and run routes and a real pass catching TE with at least limited blocking ability. We really missed on the WR room last season and Ekler going down early was a killer

At the same time, the defense can not be ignored...they need an infusion of talented younger players

Boone said:

In the first post-season presser, Adam Peters was asked about what was limiting Jayden and he immediately went to that they needed to upgrade the talent around him and that this was the biggest thing they could do to protect him. I know that conventional wisdom is that it's the defense that is holding this team back and which should get as much of our attention this offseason as possible. But we desparately need a top tier bookend opposite Terry, a dangerous pass catching TE, and a homerun threat every down RB (I know some believe Bill can be that guy but I am not one of them - at least not yet).

Unfortunately, I don't see any way we can fill all of those needs and fix this defense in 1 season. I think Peters moves after the 2024 season set us back and that it may well take 2-3 more offseasons to get the defense where it needs to be AND build a dangerous offensive roster.

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I’ve been posting similar thoughts, so I’m with you here. And that’s not including figuring out LG or slot receiver. To your point about the defense, I think it needs a quality DE and corner at the bare minimum. And as for both O and D, there’s also the matter of needing quality depth at some key spots - qb, wr, corner, DE, Wr, ILB (with Medrano/Kaho unproven) and maybe DT. That’s not including upgrading S either.

Feels like they’re quite possibly going to have to sacrifice quality for quantity to some extent. And all of that on top of fielding new coordinators.

Now, I suppose the flip side is that any quality additions likely improve the team. I also believe there’s potential for a specific, high end addition acting like a force multiplier. Think Breece Hall, one of the top FA corners, perhaps Downs or Love in the draft, etc. I think there’s also a reasonable argument that coaching, scheme fit, and Daniels’ talent can be difference makers in terms of lifting some of the talent toward their potential. Expanding on that point - regarding coaching, Jones’ focus on versatility, Blough running a more “recognizable” offense, and both likely running proven schemes might just open up the talent pool a bit, allowing even solid additions to make a greater impact than we might otherwise expect.

As I’ve said before though, feels like a tough task for Peters. And new schemes usually come with learning curves, something I’m not sure Quinn (and by extension the coordinators) can survive. I do, however, think there’s a reasonable (if somewhat optimistic) chance the offseason can provide enough to put the offense into top 10 (if Daniels remains healthy) and move the defense closer to average, which might be just enough in terms of job security (and therefore continuity).

Here’s hoping…

I actually think we CAN fix the holes on offense fairly quickly. Here's why:

The two hardest things to fix are fixed: QB and OL. Yeah, they need to re-sign Chris Paul. I assume they will. They have to fart around with backup OL and backup QB. But for the most part, the hardest things to find have been found: QB and LT. They also have a really good center and RG, and a very promising RT.

We also have 2 above replacement level RBs already on the roster.

I really think the offense would have been find last year if not for:
1. Terry missing 2/3 of the year with injury (for whatever reason)
2. Deebo being hurt and missing games, including one where both he and Terry missed. I think that was the first Dallas game. But I'm not sure.
3. Losing Ertz mid-season
4. Losing Ekler early
5. Losing Noah Brown early
6. Last but certainly not least, Daniels missing 10 total games.
** They also lost McCaffery, but I'm not sure what impact that had.

They were literally playing with practice squad players as starters due to injury. Chris Brown was a starting WR, who we released in the cut down to 53, then had to re-sign. I think there were 2 PS players we elevated the max number of times from the PS to Main Roster and then ran out of opportunities to do so. If the majority of the players who were supposed to play (not all, but majority), played, they would have been fine or even good.

The biggest personnel mistake was signing Noah Brown and then expecting him to stay healthy. That moved cost us any shot at either Diyami Brown or OZ re-signing with us. Hindsight, they should have moved on from Noah and re- OZ. But only one of the three of those players was going to sign with us. We chose poorly.

I think they can re-stock the weapons quickly. The key is finding a starting TE to replace Ertz because there isn't a possible option on the roster.

You can find good WRs in FA. They can definitely find WRs better than Chris Brown, Chosen, and the cadre of players who played last year.

I would love for them to upgrade at RB.

None of these things are super hard. As I said, they have QB1, WR1 and LT1 locked up. That's the hard stuff. We should expect them to be abele to fix the rest, and the offense to get back to being a top 10 unit absent a ton of injuries again.

DO NOT RE-SIGN NOAH BROWN.

If Chris Brown was around the team clearly needed to do Moore due diligence. One phone call to Rihanna would have been enough. 😉

Chris said:

If Chris Brown was around the team clearly needed to do Moore due diligence. One phone call to Rihanna would have been enough. 😉

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Chris Moore.

Oops

I would image that given the injury problems Noah Brown has had in 2 years in DC that he won't be a candidate to return.

The team was counting on him to be a third receiver and I think even when healthy that is a bit large of a role for a guy who figured in as the #4 or #5 in Houston and Dallas.

Chris Moore and Tay Martin to me were simply not NFL caliber performers and showed how little serviceable depth this team had at WR entering the 2025 NFL season.

Bulldog said:

I would image that given the injury problems Noah Brown has had in 2 years in DC that he won't be a candidate to return.

The team was counting on him to be a third receiver and I think even when healthy that is a bit large of a role for a guy who figured in as the #4 or #5 in Houston and Dallas.

Chris Moore and Tay Martin to me were simply not NFL caliber performers and showed how little serviceable depth this team had at WR entering the 2025 NFL season.

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I’ve said this before, but by choosing Noah Brown they eliminated the possibility of signing DBrown or OZ, because each would then be competing for a roster spot.

Brown got hurt, and the depth wasn’t there.

Moore was cut in the cutdown to 53 and brought. Martin was on the PS.

They lost everybody but the decision to retain Noah really hurt bringing in other options.

Boone said:

Unfortunately, I don't see any way we can fill all of those needs and fix this defense in 1 season. I think Peters moves after the 2024 season set us back and that it may well take 2-3 more offseasons to get the defense where it needs to be AND build a dangerous offensive roster.

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I think it kept us more or less in the same place as 2023. The team has made very few long term commitments, so they could bounce back in 2026 with the right group and good coaching.

leonard_washington said:

I think it kept us more or less in the same place as 2023. The team has made very few long term commitments, so they could bounce back in 2026 with the right group and good coaching.

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That’s pretty terrible to be entering year 3 of your franchise QB’s extremely valuable rookie contract with a roster that is in a similar place, talent-wise, as 2-3 years earlier.

They can do a lot of work this offseason to help that situation but they’ve wasted time and resources, and missed opportunities. It’s hard to build a really good roster, sure, but that’s their job. And they haven’t even built a regular-good roster yet, never mind “really good”.

Boone said:

Unfortunately, I don't see any way we can fill all of those needs and fix this defense in 1 season. I think Peters moves after the 2024 season set us back and that it may well take 2-3 more offseasons to get the defense where it needs to be AND build a dangerous offensive roster.

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They probably could primarily via FA if they are permitted to greatly increase cash budget. They could aggressively restructure guys like Cosmi to increase cap room even more and then use option bonuses and such with new FAs to control cap hits in the short term. They would need to find a way to make these contracts easy to get out of after year 2

I also believe that they can rebuild the O pretty quickly if they plan well and make smart decisions.. its seems like many of the previous moves were wishful thinking vs intelligent planning.
1. Oline upgrades are good. so Oline should be better this year and deep.
2. RBs - depending on Ekeler to carry the load was a huge risk and a mistake.. considering the main reason he gut cut by SD was his health issues.. and he has proven he can not carry the load. Another vet rb that can both pass protect and carry the load on the cheap would be good. Or swing for an elite back
3. WRs - agree we need 2 solid options. We dont have anyone on the roster besides Terry worth a start. need a #2 and #3wr bad. Burks hasnt proven enough yet. Possibly draft one and one FA. This is doable.
4. TE - I feel like KK didnt want to develop Sinnot (maybe wishful thinking on my part) but there are plenty solid FA options available.. one position we need to overpay to land our guy.
So a solid vet RB, 2wrs, and a TE - very doable with our cap.

SkinsLife said:

4. TE - I feel like KK didnt want to develop Sinnot (maybe wishful thinking on my part) but there are plenty solid FA options available.. one position we need to overpay to land our guy.
So a solid vet RB, 2wrs, and a TE - very doable with our cap.

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Makes you wonder if Kliff had zero interest in drafting Sinnott because he fell with DQ ad APs vision or if Sinnott could not do what Kliff wanted him to do

There was definitely a miscommunication somewhere there. Is Sinnott a total bust? Maybe. Was he used wrongly or was Kliff disinterested in using him at all? Maybe. I will be interested to see what they do with TE this offseason; it will tell us everything about Sinnott.

Seems like we were saying the same thing last off-season. Things could change, but for now they do need to move forward assuming that Sinnott is a total bust

HTTR said:

Seems like we were saying the same thing last off-season. Things could change, but for now they do need to move forward assuming that Sinnott is a total bust

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They have a lot more information on Sinnott than we do. I think the safe route has to be “they need to move forward with an understanding of what Sinnott IS, and not push in the chips on a projection of what they want him to be”. That’s slightly different imo. Idk what they think he currently is, but I guarantee that they do. Whatever the answer is.

I don’t think Sinnot is a bust exactly, but he was probably over drafted... or hasn’t lived up to his billing (vs being a complete fail). It’ll be interesting to see if he has a touch more value for us with more under center play (I doubt it) with some more HB/FB looks. I do think there’s a needle for him to thread - dropping a bit of weight to look a bit more agile and working hard this offseason on his route running. Adding to that, plenty of TEs take time to develop, and he had a pretty good example in Ertz.
Realistically though, he probably is what he is… which, to be fair, is a solid backup for Bates who can also contribute as a blocker in tandem with Bates in heavier sets while making the occasional (rare?) catch.

I think it might be more realistic to hope that Yankoff shows enough growth to serve as a capable backup F TE while we get a decent or better starter in FA.

I'm not ce

Commander Wraith said:

I don’t think Sinnot is a bust exactly, but he was probably over drafted... or hasn’t lived up to his billing (vs being a complete fail). It’ll be interesting to see if he has a touch more value for us with more under center play (I doubt it) with some more HB/FB looks. I do think there’s a needle for him to thread - dropping a bit of weight to look a bit more agile and working hard this offseason on his route running. Adding to that, plenty of TEs take time to develop, and he had a pretty good example in Ertz.
Realistically though, he probably is what he is… which, to be fair, is a solid backup for Bates who can also contribute as a blocker in tandem with Bates in heavier sets while making the occasional (rare?) catch.

I think it might be more realistic to hope that Yankoff shows enough growth to serve as a capable backup F TE while we get a decent or better starter in FA.

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I am not certain dropping weight is going to assist Ben. He was known burst, tested well for a guy his size in the accelerating and supposedly not bad with routes. He is listed 5 pounds lighter than he was when drafted. It seems the issue is the way he needs to fight to get open and may not be that great fighting for a contested catch through using his body, hands, and length to his advantage...I think. lol

Conn said:

They have a lot more information on Sinnott than we do. I think the safe route has to be “they need to move forward with an understanding of what Sinnott IS, and not push in the chips on a projection of what they want him to be”. That’s slightly different imo. Idk what they think he currently is, but I guarantee that they do. Whatever the answer is.

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Well, they continue to talk him up, which is what you would expect. But actions speak louder, and they had every opportunity to give him the chances you would’ve thought he deserved and didn’t. Sure there’s still hope, but they can’t count on it at all. They need to sign a tight end in free agency.

HTTR said:

Well, they continue to talk him up, which is what you would expect. But actions speak louder, and they had every opportunity to give him the chances you would’ve thought he deserved and didn’t. Sure there’s still hope, but they can’t count on it at all. They need to sign a tight end in free agency.

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Didn’t Blough say he has a long way to go? Didn’t seem very positive to me lol