Commanders Maneuver Prior to Preseason Finale
The Washington Commanders will end their preseason looking for a win against the New England Patriots this Sunday night on national television. More important, the focus for Dan Quinn and his coaching staff will be on personnel and positions.
The Commanders will likely look for at least a wide receiver and a new field goal kicker now and particularly after Tuesday, August 27th. By Tuesday at 4 p.m., Eastern, all NFL teams will need to reduce their roster sizes to 53. Prior to last year, teams gradually cut their rosters during preseason but as of last year, there is only one large cut from 90 to 53 players. It means there’ll be plenty of players on the waiver wire by next Tuesday evening and as the second to worst team in the league in 2023, the Commanders will have the second choice on all waived players.
As of this writing, the Commanders are looking for a player who will take some coverage away from their top wide receiver Terry McLauren. Jahan Dotson was traded on Thursday to the Philadelphia Eagles with a fifth-round draft pick in 2025 in exchange for a third and two seven-round 2025 draft picks. That third-round pick could come into play, particularly if San Francisco wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk has one foot out the door and the other in Washington.
As the former General Manager in San Francisco, and current GM with the Commanders, Adam Peters and Aiyuk know each other well. Aiyuk also has a connection with Washington’s starting quarterback Jayden Daniels as the two stars both played at Arizona State University before Aiyuk was drafted to the NFL in 2020 and Daniels transferred to LSU in 2022. With Aiyuk a hold out during training camp due to a contract dispute with his current team and the Commanders still well under the salary cap, the move to get Aiyuk would make sense.
In addition to Dotson, the Commanders traded a conditional 7th round pick to the Cleveland Browns kicker Cade York. Who? That’s what I said. There’ll be plenty of kickers to compete with York prior to the regular season and one of those kickers might be Joey Slye, the former Commanders kicker lost during free agency.
Slye hit the longest field goal of his career last season with a 61-yard kick against the Eagles. Playing for the Commanders from 2021-2023, his field goal percentage dropped to 79.2% last year prior to 83.3% in 2022 and 100% after six games in 2020. His extra point percentage last season, however, was a respectable 91.4% with only 3 kicks missed.
Whether Aiyuk and Slye are added to the team before the regular season, post pre-season is another chance for Peters and Quinn to take advantage of their monetary position and their ranking from last year. After three exhibition games and months of player evaluations, the Commanders will have one more opportunity after Tuesday to find better talent to meet their needs, possibly at wide receiver and placekicker and including offensive tackle and depth for the offensive and defensive lines.