Commanders' insider won’t back down as ruthless take ages like fine wine

The Washington Commanders have not been firing on all cylinders this season. Some fans would call that a massive understatement, but one team insider saw the signs way before everyone else.

And Nicki Jhabvala from The Athletic doubled down on this stance before Washington's daunting Monday Night Football showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs.

It was hard not to get swept up in the hype and optimism before the season. The Commanders reached the NFC Championship game in Year 1 under head coach Dan Quinn. General manager Adam Peters was ultra-aggressive in the offseason, pulling off two bombshell trades and finding productive veterans capable of helping the team to win right now. Just seven games into the campaign, that hasn't been the case.

Commanders insider always believed something was off with Washington entering 2025

Injuries haven't helped, but something seems off. Jhabvala received vitriol from fans for pointing out precisely this during the summer. And now, the respected insider wondered whether quarterback Jayden Daniels masked some failings that have always lain beneath the surface.

It was around this time a year ago when the Commanders, then 7-2, acquired veteran cornerback Marshon Lattimore just before the NFL’s trade deadline. Their rebuild seemed ahead of schedule, and the team shifted to win-now mode. But as the Nov. 4 deadline approaches this year, and the Commanders struggle to replicate last year’s success, it’s worth considering: Maybe this is where the Commanders always were. Maybe the success of 2024 — and of Jayden Daniels — masked much of what was still missing for Washington.Nicki Jhabvala

That's what elite signal-callers do all around the league. Daniels' meteoric rise propelled the Commanders from obscurity and back into the national spotlight. He's not at the same level this season and has also missed three games. That's left other areas exposed, so the regression speaks for itself.

The Commanders are 3-4 with some challenging tests upcoming. There is a very real danger that Washington's season will spiral into irrelevancy. That isn't what fans had in mind, but it could be the reality check this team needs on the way to long-term prosperity.

Patience is not a virtue in the NFL. It's an instant gratification world where hair-trigger reactions and pressure-cooker environments reign supreme. The Commanders were way ahead of schedule in 2024. But in all honesty, it was always going to be difficult to reach similar heights this time around.

Jhabvala envisaged something like this unfolding. She thought the vibes were off, and last season's exceptional exploits had a tinge of fool's gold attached. So far, she's been right on the money, and it's up to everyone within the franchise to alter this concerning perception.