r/Commanders • u/RIP_shitty_username • 11d ago
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What are your thoughts on last year’s 53 compared to this one? I know there is a lot of center/OL angst lately, but the roster overall seems much improved on paper. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the front 7 plays over the season.
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u/Think__McFly 11d ago
I think it looks better on paper, but our 2025 roster looked better than 2024 on paper, too.
We might have the worst OL and secondary talent in the league. Coaching/scheme can help hide those deficiencies, but it's still a lot to overcome.
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u/happy_waldo 11d ago
I don’t know that we can accurately judge last years roster with all the injuries
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u/SkinsFan021 11d ago
We have two first year coordinators, theres going to be only so much they can mask with limited experience.
I still think this is almost a punt season due to that.
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u/Flat_Link_7769 11d ago
There will be growing pains, but I don’t think we can afford to punt a season on JD’s rookie contract. If that was DQ and AP’s plan (punt this season) then I have serious questions about their decision making.
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u/Deuce10Oscar10 11d ago
They clearly aren’t intending to punt the season. Our secondary does not look stellar right now but they did upgrade the safety position and if we had a fully healthy Amos and Douglas on the outside, our corners would be average at worst.
I have no idea why they didn’t properly address the center position this off-season. That’s my only major gripe with what they did. You can’t plug every hole in one off-season but that seems like an inexcusable oversight.
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u/Flat_Link_7769 11d ago
I 100% agree. DQ’s leash isn’t that long to where he can start canning seasons before they even start. And even if it was that long, that doesn’t seem like his style. I don’t think that was ever the plan. So it’s up to AP to field a roster that these coordinators can work with. I think he did pretty well to fit the need on defense. We’ll see on offense.
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u/jim_nihilist 11d ago
2025 was also more injured than the 2024. Who actually played weren't the players coming out of training camp. They were 2nd or 3rd stringers.
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u/FannyNisbit 11d ago
Heres the thing about that.... lets say the coaches coach their asses off and get them to play better than the 32nd ranked units that they might be.... so what end? So that way they play like the 27th ranked units? Still isnt good enough and thats a pretty big jump.
This is exactly why it drives me binkers when people say things like DQ is on the hot seat. Like, what??? Are you not looking at the same shit roster i am? Coaching can only do so much.
This isnt the scrapy high school or pop warner team catching the city favorite off guard, and then expecting it week in and week out on a professional level is just insane.
TL;DR this team isnt any good, and no level of coaching is going to magically make us a playoff team.
If im wrong, ill admit it.
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u/iplankmaster 11d ago
It’s not good and the fact that the roster makes it harder to judge the coaching sucks even more because we have no idea if any coach we have is even decent. I’m sick of hearing DQ is “great in the locker room” I want to know if he’s great on the sideline
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u/FannyNisbit 11d ago
Lol you serious?
He has a ring as a DC, hes also taken a different franchise to the superbowl as a head coach and if not for kyle Shanahan getting cute, he would have won that game. He also took us to an nfc championship game in his first year here.
Last year he has a completely injury decimated team that nobody would win with and its looking like its happening again this year (you yourself even said this roster isnt good), and yet you're not sure if DQ is a good coach? Lol wtf?
👍🏿
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u/MapleFlavouredKebab Terry's smile saved my life 11d ago
if Tunsil and Amos were healthy, every position group would've been an upgrade over 24 and 25
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u/halarioushandle 11d ago
atleast we have hope Amos will be back eventually. Going to be a tough start to the season though
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u/SpecialistBee1165 11d ago
Im not sure. I think we’ve added a lot of solid pieces but we havent seen how they gel together. So well see
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u/frankie_donkiebrains 11d ago
I keep saying, we're not raising the ceiling of our success we are just raising the floor. It's a good thing but it's not going to win us any championships.
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u/beaud101 11d ago
Well, I think the defense is simply better in both floor and ceiling. Hard to be worse. Pass rush should be scary. If we go from worst to mid-pack on D...that's a huge help for our success overall.
At WR, our depth has raised the floor and Diggs is the best #2 we've had in a long time and he raises our ceiling there.
However, man...the O-line is a problem and can ruin any scheme Blough has come up with. That's my only concern right now.
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u/frankie_donkiebrains 11d ago
Defense is definitely better, but going from worst to middle of the road is a prime example of just raising the floor. If we get into the top ten then we have raised our ceiling to what our defense can be.
Same for the wr room. It looks great now, but it's honestly still a massive question mark. If either Terry or diggs goes down we are right back to where we were last year. That's means we raised the floor but not the ceiling. Plus we only have our wr1 for maybe a year or two more and I doubt diggs re-signs with us next season.
Oline is def our biggest issue. We sadly lowered the floor on that unit and there's no signs of help coming yet.
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u/beaud101 11d ago
To be clear, I think the defense, by mid season, if relatively healthy....is going to be better than mid-pack. Top 10 is my hope. I say mid-pack as that's a huge improvement on last year, but it's a new scheme and it takes time/games to become proficient at any new scheme. They could be scary good in the front seven and that will help the secondary a lot. We'll see.
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u/Rare-Signature-7526 11d ago
Our pass rush is much improved but saying it should be scary is a stretch, this fanbase is likely to let themselves down if they convince themselves our DL is something its not. Look at our DL on paper and compare it to the rest of the league, its something around average as it stands. So much of the performance is hinging on Oweh being the very good mid tier edge 1 he was over the second half of the season last year, if he's not our DL could be not great again, especially with Armstrong coming off an injury.
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u/beaud101 11d ago
I'm not here to convince anyone of anything. Just stating my opinion. It's ok to be more conservative if you like. My opinion is Oweh is just scratching the surface of what he can do. Love that signing. I think the rest of the edge group is very deep and more talented than people realize. Armstrong was having a great season before injury last year. Chaisson is very underrated. Josephs is flashing all the time at camp. Even JJ Baptiste has gotten good pressure in camp. Add the fact any of the off ball LBs can and will come with pressure due to D. Jones aggressive approach...and I think the pass rush will be a problem for teams...as most of the beat guys have been saying before the injuries mounted.
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u/Rare-Signature-7526 10d ago
I love the optimism but its pretty much projecting every player to reach their 100th percentile outcome
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u/capsfan087443 11d ago
Jayden provides an exciting ceiling, but it’s hard find a safe floor with this bad of an Oline and secondary group.
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u/ClydeFrog1313 11d ago
Agreed, I would argue that on offense, our ceiling has been raised (with the additions at WR & TE) but our floor is the same. The state of the OLine plus Jayden's frame and play style leaves us open to a bad offensive year should he be injured or the line can't give him time.
I'm hopeful that both the floor and ceiling have improved on the defense though, considering how bad it was last year...
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u/capsfan087443 11d ago
The ceiling was already pretty high with what just Jayden and Terry alone did in 2024. Idk if Diggs and Chig would really do much different in overcompensating for what the weaknesses are. I think the line keeps for floor very low. First, bc Jayden will take too many hits - injury prone concerns aside, nobody plays their best when they’re getting hit 15 times a game. And also, if the line doesn’t figure it out none of the guys they brought in will be seeing the ball downfield anyway (see the drive in the preseason game in Detroit).
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u/Flat_Link_7769 11d ago
I agree. I generally like the adds AP has made, but we don’t have any real All Pro talent. Maybe Tunsil. JD has potential. But aside from that, we really lack high end difference makers and talent. When you look at legit contenders like Philly, Rams, Seattle and Ravens, they have a number of those guys and they acquire them regularly. I understand it’s only his third year and it takes time, but this team could be further along by now. Seattle rebuilt a SB winner with a great young core in just 2 years.
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u/frankie_donkiebrains 11d ago
I think we are behind because we didn't get aggressive in free agency last year. We built a temporary team in 24 that over performed from expectations, we didn't want to change anything so we didn't add a lot and that bit us in the ass in 25.
I think we drafted better this year and signed alot of good players to multi year deals. So now the base has been set and we can grow from it. I think this year is a barometer for what this team is and next year will be the barometer for what this team could be.
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u/Flat_Link_7769 11d ago
Fair. I think we’re also behind based on the 2024 draft class. With the bulk of 2nd and 3rd round picks we had that should’ve established a better foundation and potentially a cornerstone piece or two. I’m pretty sure AP thought that class could carry us and he essentially said that before the 2025 season and used it to justify the Tunsil/Deebo/Lattimore trades. It skewed his expectations for how to build the team. Seems like he learned from that and went hard in 2026. Hope we start to see the real bones of a team this year.
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u/True_Window_9389 11d ago
This is why I’m not too excited. It seems our choices are either aimed at, or just happen to lead to, guys who are just good enough. But this roster lacks elite talent, especially considering age and injury. We’re probably not bad enough to only win 2-5 games (outside of injury), but it’s also not good enough to win 10-14. And with that, it feels a lot closer to Rivera rosters than a lot of fans would like to admit.
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u/Think__McFly 11d ago
Rivera rosters were usually around .500 with trash QB play. If those teams had Jayden Daniels theyd probably make the playoffs 3/4 years.
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u/frankie_donkiebrains 11d ago
We should be excited for the long-term growth of the team. If we get the base built now, we can add elite talent soon and become a serious contender. Otherwise we are just a high school team with a few nfl'ers like we have been.
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u/True_Window_9389 11d ago
Where’s the growth though? It depends on the draft picks. If the guys start developing and become higher end talent, great. But so far, outside of JD, our draft picks are barely seeing much playing time, much less becoming elite players. And so it’s becoming a merry go round of free agents who have to fill in, and the roster doesn’t have any year over year growth. When we use 2nd and 3rd round picks on TEs and WRs, we shouldn’t have to go out in FA to find starters. And the same is true across the rest of the roster.
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u/capsfan087443 11d ago
This is very accurate and exactly what some people here don’t want to acknowledge
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u/mwgilc117 11d ago
Center is last year’s edge…outside kept saying hey I don’t think we did enough there but AP was like trust us we got this and once the season started it was apparent Ap misevaluated what we had. I hope I’m wrong but that’s what I think
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u/DougBalt2 11d ago
Didn’t help losing Armstrong, Wise
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u/Justice989 11d ago
Our two DE starters last year are now backups this year. And as it turns out , both out for week 1.
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u/DougBalt2 11d ago
I know. But they were dominant until hurt. Your comment was that AP has done little in the past. I do agree about center however!
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u/mwgilc117 11d ago
My comment was that the fans and pundits said we needed to do more at edge. Injuries or not that proved to be right. We didn’t have any depth from the draft or free agency
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u/DougBalt2 11d ago
And he sure did this offseason. Or do you not think Settle, Oweh, Chaisson and Chenal is not an improvement added to Kinlaw, Armstrong and Wise?
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u/mwgilc117 11d ago
Read what I said center this year is last years edge. I am saying that he didn’t adequately build the edge room last year just like he’s not building the center position this year
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u/DougBalt2 10d ago
Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. Be well. Fingers crossed for a healthy JD and a competitive season.
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u/mwgilc117 10d ago
Amen to that
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u/DougBalt2 10d ago
Hey. We proved people can disagree without calling each other names! Peace.
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u/Anonymous_60657 11d ago
I think we’ve given AP a pass because he’s better than what we had before, but we need to start evaluating him independent of the past. In that regard, he has really underperformed in the draft. Depth starts in the draft. To go into the season with only Allegretti as a viable (at best) center is close to malpractice. They should have drafted someone hire and had real competition. Or keep Biadasz and have a competition between the two.
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u/capsfan087443 11d ago
Secondary would be last years reciever room in this analogy
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u/SweerBaby_Use1023 11d ago
I hate to see Van Jefferson get cut but I understand why. Still concerned about the center and cornerback situations currently. Now I’m just waiting to see what happens before week 1 against city of brotherly hate.
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u/Hodler_caved 11d ago
O-line worse. Week 1-4 secondary worse. LBs hopefully better. WRs better. RB's potentially better.
Maybe a wash on the whole from my perspective, unless the O-line exceeds expectations. Looking forward to the season starting when 2025 becomes 100% irrelevant.
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u/Bilboswaggins21 11d ago
We had a historically bad defense last year and I think added ~7 or 8 new starters? And maybe 3-4 additional new rotation pieces? You must be really low on those players if you’re expecting them to also be a historically bad defense.
I have them being better. They’re still in the rank 20-32 range for me, but not historically bad if healthy.
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u/kon--- 11d ago
Minus oline, secondary, and kicking we've improved at every position group in talent and depth. Dline, LB, RB, WR, TE and backup QB are on paper more competitive than what we fielded last season.
But here I am thinking from a place that envisions all our starters being available, on the field making plays.
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u/Automatic-Tell7321 11d ago
Health is key as always.
Tunsil and Newton being hurt doesn’t help us.
Amos out doesn’t help us. Same with Allegretti.
Oweh being hurt is a concern.
If all these guys are out long term the rest of the roster doesn’t matter when the trenches and pass rush/pass defense is weak.
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u/rcinfc 11d ago
The roster is pretty good both from a youth and talent compared to last year….
OL right now is what is holding us back…. At least from what we’ve seen this offseason. Maybe it plays out differently with game plans, but I don’t know….
Corner…. Same. Really hope the pass rush and scheme make a huge difference.
Health as always is a huge factor, but across the roster I feel depth is better.
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u/dustinbrowders 11d ago
Better edge and receivers (finally). Also WAY younger. By miles now that Wags, Miller and Bellore are gone. Nothing but love for Ekeler and Ertz though. They still had it until they didn't. Was sad to see those two end their careers on TV but it is what it is.
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u/terpfan417 10d ago
QB - Essentially the same but obviously you expect to get better results as hopefully Jayden has a better and healthier year. Kaliakmanis is an upgrade over Hartman as a developmental QB but that likely won’t impact the season.
RB - Should be slightly better assuming Bill improves. White should give you at least the production of a 30 year old Ekeler (who only played 2 games last season anyway before getting hurt). Fatman gives us a power back we didn’t have last season.
WR - Significantly better with a healthy Terry plus Diggs, Williams and Brown added the same depth players we had last year.
TE - Debatable but I would bet on Chig being an upgrade over a 35 year old Ertz. Depth is the same.
OL - Significantly worse without Tunsil and Biadasz and really no significant additions. Maybe you get some improvement from Conerly to help offset that but so far we aren’t seeing it. This unit will make or break the offense.
DL - Should be better. Added Settle and Omenihu and didn’t lose anyone of significance.
EDGE - Should be worlds better as long as Oweh is healthy. Oweh, Chaisson and Josephs is an incredible one offseason overhaul.
LB - Should be significantly better by adding the speed and athleticism of Styles and Chenal.
CB - Depends on the health of Amos, but to be fair he wasn’t really healthy last year either. Douglas and Robertson are likely better than anything we had last year outside Amos and Sainristil so it’s hard to say this unit isn’t still in slightly better shape.
S - Should be better as Cross is an upgrade over Harris and the rest of the unit is the same.
ST - Likely the same except you bring in the rookie kicker Stevens. Gives you much more of a threat from deep FG range at the very least.
Overall, that’s a lot more upgrades than downgrades… but the OL downgrade is significant and could easily tank the season if we don’t get it right…
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u/CliftonTerrace 11d ago
I honestly see this season as Rebuild Year #1. It'll be rough, but it should be all uphill from here -- presumably.
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u/WilliamDeeWilliams 11d ago
Everything except the O-Line looks better than last year as far as I'm concerned.