Washington Commanders: Biggest Offseason Questions

Does Daniels have enough offensive weapons around him?

Washington features a dangerous game-breaking receiver in Terry McLaurin, but the passing game still needs help. McLaurin, who missed seven games due ti injury last season, caught 38 passes for 582 yards and three touchdowns. Last year’s leading receiver was Deebo Samuel (72-727-5), but he remains a free agent at this time. The Commanders have high hopes for rookie receiver Antonio Williams, a third-round pick from Clemson, so they’ll be looking to see how he fits in during minicamp.

Samuel led the team with five TD receptions last year, and veteran tight end Zach Ertz was second with four. Ertz is unlikely to return as he works his way back from a late-season ACL tear, which is why Washington signed veteran TE Chig Okonkwo. Samuel and Ertz accounted for 47% of the team’s TD receptions, so that’s a hole the Commanders need to account for.

“We get to kind of build it up from the studs around what [QB] Jayden [Daniels] and [WR] Terry [McLaurin] and [LT] Lar emy [Tunsil] and all these guys do really well to put 'em in the best position to be successful,” said Blough.

How much can the defense improve?

While there are plenty of questions on offense, it’s the Washington defense that needs the most work. The Commanders allowed 26.5 points per game last season, 27th in the league. They ranked 30th in rushing yards allowed and 28th in passing yards allowed.

Enter new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones, who for the last three years was a key assistant with the Minnesota Vikings under Brian Flores, one of the most highly regarded defensive coordinators in the NFL. Jones has said he definitely wants to mirror the aggressive style he learned under Flores.

“By nature, we want to become more aggressive in some way, shape, or form,” said Jones. “Is that pressures, or is that just being more of attacking? Is that being more technique and fundamentals, attacking blocks, defeating blocks, tackling, and just doing the routine things routinely? That could also be seen as being aggressive as well, when you're just playing technique. And so, it's based off what we have player wise.”

Washington signed a few key free agents that will be worked into Jones’ defense — notably defensive ends Odafe Oweh and K’Lavon Chaisson, the latter of whom had a career year with the Patriots in 2025, and linebacker Leo Chenal. But the biggest newcomer should be linebacker Sonny Styles, who was the seventh overall pick in the draft out of Ohio State.

“During the course of the spring in training camp, we'll work him and some other guys at both of the spots,” said Commanders head coach Dan Quinn. “There's a lot that he can do. And like all the players, we're going to try to do the best we can to put him in the spots, to really allow them to do their thing, you know, at full speed and at a high level. A lot of times that takes all the way in through camp as well. So, there's no limits on what I think he can become, but I'm going to let the whole process really play all the way through because there's a lot to go over.”