The months of May, June, and July are strictly reserved for optimism and dreaming big. Every team is undefeated, every team just retooled its roster, and every team has every reason to believe the best. With that being said, we have to explore every possibility -- good and bad -- and that includes poking some holes for even the best teams in the league last year.
The Washington Commanders went from worst place in the NFC East to battling it out with the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC title in the NFC Championship Game. The ascent of the Commanders was rather astounding given they had a new GM (Adam Peters), head coach (Dan Quinn), and rookie quarterback (Jayden Daniels).
But the combination worked out extremely well, and these guys were playing some great football down the stretch. With that being said, there are some reasons to be slightly hesitant to think the Commanders are just going to come out and be dominant again in 2025. They might have caught lightning in a bottle in 2024 and could take a step back before they take another two steps forward down the road.
But why?
Commanders may take a step back in 2025 for two key reasons
This observation by Warren Sharp is really interesting. You can obviously only play who is in front of you in the NFL, and the Commanders shouldn't apologize for beating teams who were using bad quarterbacks. With that in mind, however, it doesn't often get brought up and they might not have the same scheduling luck in 2025.
Even though that's something out of their control, it's worth considering, but the biggest gripe I have with the Commanders lately is something I've discovered while assessing each team's rosters this offseason.
The Commmanders have significantly downgraded in the trenches defensively and in the pass rush department, specifically.
They lost their leader in sacks last year, which was a random burst of pass rush productivity from Dante Fowler Jr. anyway. Fowler led the team with 10.5 sacks but was tied for third on the team with just 12 QB hits. Washington's leaders in QB hits were off-ball linebacker Frankie Luvu and edge rusher Dorance Armstrong at 14 apiece.
What did the Commanders do to upgrade their defensive front and edge spot in 2025? They lost Jonathan Allen, they lost Dante Fowler Jr., and they brought in guys like Deatrich Wise and Javon Kinlaw. They simply haven't done enough to upgrade in the trenches and especially not off the edge to be a viable contender in the NFC East.
They're going to be asking too much of Jayden Daniels. If you don't have a consistent pass rush, you can't create extra possessions for your offense and the margin for error is simply not there. That could end up being a fatal flaw for this Commanders team in 2025.