After a Cinderella run to the conference championship game in Jayden Daniels’ 2024 rookie season, the Commanders fell back to earth in 2025 as their more difficult schedule, tough injury luck, and a variety of other factors all converged and left the Commanders with the largest drop in wins among all NFC teams (from 12 to five). The pendulum always swings, especially when you get to the extremes. After suffering that reality last season, this is a Washington team, and specifically offense, that should be primed for a big bounce back.
Daniels dealt with several injuries last season, but the good news is none of them should be cause for long-term alarm. He is one of the most dynamic players in the NFL and should have a more dynamic and less predictable offense to work with in his third NFL season. Daniels loves targeting the tight end position and frequently peppered dependable veteran Zach Ertz with targets. Ertz was a solid safety blanket, but was far from a dynamic player after the catch and what he could open up for the offense was limited. In his place, the Commanders now have the explosive Chig Okonkwo and the young and dynamic Ben Sinnott. The new offensive scheme is primed to feature and move around Terry McLaurin in a similar way to how other primary receivers are used, rather than in a perimeter only type of role that he held in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense. The improvements in how Washington uses their top receiving option and tight ends should really open things up and make this team much more difficult to defend when combined with the dynamic ability Daniels presents.
The cherry on top for this Commanders team is their defense was putrid in 2025 and while it can’t really get much worse, there are very few paths to this being an upper tier defensive team. They are aggressive on that side of the ball, but simply lack high end talent. This means that the Commanders are frequently going to be involved in high scoring games. The NFC East is loaded—Dallas and Philadelphia are very good offenses, while the Giants are ascending—and the Commanders schedule elsewhere sets up for a lot of high scoring affairs against the NFC West and AFC South.
The bear case raises real concerns about fragility, schedule difficulty, and roster depth — but the actionable draft takeaways are where the real value lives. The rest of this breakdown covers specific draft round targets, stacking strategies, and sleeper candidates across this offense that could outperform expectations. Create a free account to unlock the full analysis.
