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Washington Commanders News & Rumors

Commanders To Waive CB Danny Johnson

December 13th, 2023 at 4:22pm CST by Sam Robinson

Danny Johnson has spent his entire career in Washington, being with the team through its two recent name changes. The sixth-year cornerback will now be available for other teams.

The Commanders informed the veteran defender he will be waived, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. This comes nine months after the team re-signed Johnson to a two-year, $5MM deal. This cut will cost Washington more than $1MM in dead money.

Washington will fill Johnson’s roster spot with another cornerback. The team claimed Kyu Blu Kelly off waivers from the Packers, Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post tweets. A fifth-round Ravens pick this year, Kelly is already on team No. 4. The Ravens, Seahawks and Packers have waived the Stanford product.

Since Johnson re-signed with the team this offseason, significant changes have occurred. Ron Rivera fired DC Jack Del Rio and defensive backs coach Brent Vieselmeyer after a Thanksgiving Day loss. Johnson has been with the team long enough he predates Rivera and Del Rio, however. Among Washington defenders, only Jonathan Allen has been with the team longer. Washington initially picked up Johnson as a UDFA in 2018.

Johnson, 28, has started eight games over the course of his career; four came last season. The 5-foot-9 defender has operated exclusively as a backup this year, though he has played 24% of Washington’s defensive snaps. Johnson’s snap count has tailed off in recent weeks; Johnson has only played more than 11 defensive snaps once since Week 8.

Kelly is six years younger and remains attached to his rookie contract. Three teams have now claimed him. The Seahawks did so in August, and the Packers followed suit in November. Kyu Blu Kelly, the son of ex-Buccaneers Super Bowl-winning cornerback Brian Kelly, has played just one defensive snap over six games this season.

Updated 2024 NFL Draft Order

December 13th, 2023 at 2:29pm CST by Sam Robinson

Two different teams have held the No. 1 overall pick in consecutive years since 2017. Amid a radical rebuild effort, the Browns carried the top pick into the 2017 and ’18 drafts. The Jaguars did the same in 2021 and ’22. It is possible the Bears will follow that up in back-to-back years. The big difference here would be the Bears traded the 2023 top choice and may unload the 2024 top pick for another windfall, depending on their evaluation of Justin Fields.

The Bears and Panthers’ March trade, giving Carolina access to Bryce Young, has become a seminal moment for both teams. As it stands now, Chicago holds two top-five picks. The Panthers are 1-12, giving the Bears a two-game lead on the Patriots and Cardinals for the top slot with four games left. Chicago finishing with the first overall selection, providing access to the quarterback of its choice, would create a big-picture decision for a Bears team that already passed on the 2023 quarterback class to stick with Fields — a QB the Ryan Poles regime did not draft. North Carolina’s Drake Maye has declared for the draft, while USC’s Caleb Williams is widely expected to follow suit.

A new Cardinals regime is also evaluating its QB, though Kyler Murray‘s $46.1MM-per-year contract (which runs through 2028) will be much harder to escape compared to Fields’. This creates an interesting scenario that will have teams who do not land two-two draft slots monitoring how Chicago and Arizona proceed. The Patriots are widely expected to pursue a quarterback in the draft, and they are likely to do so without Bill Belichick.

With gridlock forming in the AFC and NFC wild-card races, considerable movement will take place over the next month. The winner of the NFC South will likely lose several spots in the ’24 draft, as the Buccaneers did this year by winning the ’22 division title at 8-9. Here is how the draft order looks going into Week 15:

  1. Chicago Bears (via Panthers)
  2. New England Patriots: 3-10
  3. Arizona Cardinals: 3-10
  4. Washington Commanders: 4-9
  5. Chicago Bears: 5-8
  6. Las Vegas Raiders: 5-8
  7. New York Jets: 5-8
  8. New York Giants: 5-8
  9. Tennessee Titans: 5-8
  10. Los Angeles Chargers: 5-8
  11. Atlanta Falcons: 6-7
  12. New Orleans Saints: 6-7
  13. Seattle Seahawks: 6-7
  14. Los Angeles Rams: 6-7
  15. Denver Broncos: 7-6
  16. Arizona Cardinals (via Texans)
  17. Buffalo Bills: 7-6
  18. Cincinnati Bengals: 7-6
  19. Green Bay Packers: 6-7
  20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 6-7
  21. Indianapolis Colts: 7-6
  22. Minnesota Vikings: 7-6
  23. Pittsburgh Steelers: 7-6
  24. Houston Texans (via Browns)
  25. Kansas City Chiefs: 8-5
  26. Jacksonville Jaguars: 8-5
  27. Detroit Lions: 9-4
  28. Philadelphia Eagles: 10-3
  29. Miami Dolphins: 9-4
  30. Dallas Cowboys: 10-3
  31. San Francisco 49ers: 10-3
  32. Baltimore Ravens: 10-3

Commanders’ HC Position Seen As Attractive?

December 12th, 2023 at 10:24am CST by Adam La Rose

The Commanders have already made one coaching change this season with defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio being fired. More changes are expected, though, which would make the team one to watch in the upcoming hiring cycle.

Head coach Ron Rivera is in his fourth season in Washington, and the 2023 campaign will be the third which ends in a losing record. The Commanders have made just one playoff appearance in his tenure (due to a division-winning 7-9 record in 2020), leading many to view this season as his last. Signs continue to point that way, and a firing after the end of the season would leave the team in need of a new coach for the first time since Josh Harris became owner.

“From an outside perspective, Washington is the best job now that Dan Snyder doesn’t own it,” one coaching agent said about a potential Commanders vacancy (h/t Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post).

The emergence of Sam Howell as a genuine starting quarterback this season is among the top reasons coaching candidates could be attracted to a posting in the nation’s capital. The 2022 fifth-rounder has served as the team’s starter throughout the 2023 campaign, offering reasons to believe he can retain the job for years to come. While his 14 interceptions and 58 sacks taken lead the league, Howell has reached 300 passing yards five times this season while adding 243 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.

In addition to a potential quarterback of the future, the Commanders are set to have five picks within the top 100 of April’s draft. That is due to the decision to trade both Montez Sweat and Chase Young at the deadline, moves which eliminated the requirement of signing either edge rusher to a new deal in the offseason. Washington is currently projected to have the second-most cap 2024 cap space in the league, so a busy offseason could be in store for the front office.

On that note, it very much remains to be seen if general manager Martin Mayhew will be retained after the campaign. It would come as little surprise if Harris were to clean house on the sidelines and in the front office in his first full offseason in charge, and the Commanders’ 19-27-1 record during Mayhew’s time in Washington could justify a shake-up in its own right. Replacing him could be a priority for Harris and the new ownership group before hiring a Rivera successor.

The Raiders and Panthers have already moved on from the coaches they had at the start of the season, and they will be involved in searches for outside hires in the near future. Other teams will no doubt join them once the campaign is over, so the Commanders will have competition with respect to bringing in an in-demand coaching candidate. If the franchise is seen as one worth committing to, however, they could gain an edge on others in their search for a new bench boss.

Commanders LB Jamin Davis Set For Season-Ending Surgery

December 11th, 2023 at 2:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

A regular starter since the midpoint of his rookie season, Jamin Davis will not play his third NFL campaign to the end. The Commanders linebacker will undergo surgery that will shut him down early, according to the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala.

Davis sustained a shoulder injury in Washington’s Week 13 loss to Miami. The former No. 19 overall pick had missed just one game this season and had only been sidelined for two during his first two seasons. With the Commanders all but certain to change coaching staffs in 2024, Davis will be tasked with learning a new scheme once he recovers.

After struggling during his rookie season, Davis has fared better over the past two. He played a key role in Jack Del Rio‘s defense ranking in the top 10 last year. Pro Football Focus slotted Davis just outside the top 40 in 2022 and has him in that range once again this year. Davis posted a 104-tackle, three-sack season last year and was on track to replicate that; the off-ball linebacker will wrap this season with 89 stops and three sacks. Davis added two forced fumbles this season.

One season remains on Davis’ fully guaranteed rookie contract, but it will likely be a new regime’s responsibility to pick up his fifth-year option by May. Based on how teams proceeded with off-ball ‘backers from the 2020 first round, it should be considered unlikely Davis’ is exercised. Davis will meet the playing-time qualifications to land on the third tier within the option hierarchy. That is slated to produce a number near $13MM, according to OverTheCap. The Cardinals, Chargers, Seahawks and Ravens (Isaiah Simmons, Kenneth Murray, Jordyn Brooks, Patrick Queen) each declined ILB fifth-year options in 2023.

This will point to Davis entering a contract year in 2024. Washington let Cole Holcomb walk this year and replaced him with ex-Seahawk Cody Barton. David Mayo, former fifth-rounder Khaleke Hudson and ex-Cowboy Jabril Cox are in place as depth pieces behind the Barton-Davis duo. Mayo is likely to take over as Davis’ first-string replacement, per Jhabvala.

Ron Rivera, Jack Del Rio Wanted Commanders To Retain Montez Sweat

December 6th, 2023 at 10:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the Commanders completed what looked on the surface to be a reluctant sell-off at the trade deadline, Ron Rivera said all parties were onboard with the trades of Montez Sweat and Chase Young. A virtual meeting with new owner Josh Harris appears to have provided the final push for the Commanders to trade their defensive ends, though other factors were part of the equation.

It looks like the Washington coaching staff was readier to trade Young than Sweat. Rivera, DC Jack Del Rio and others wanted to make it past the deadline with Sweat still on the roster, according to ESPN.com’s John Keim and Jeremy Fowler. But two second-round offers came in for the contract-year edge rusher — from the Bears and Falcons — leading the team to complete the first of its two deadline-day deals.

Following the Commanders’ Week 8 loss to the Eagles, calls came in on the DEs and other players, per Fowler and Keim. While the Commanders had done legwork on trades involving Sweat and Young for more than a week going into the deadline, it was not known until hours before the Oct. 31 trade endpoint how Harris felt.

The Dan Snyder successor expressed an openness to trade the defensive ends and acquire draft capital, and while Fowler and Keim do not describe the meeting as Harris mandating both be traded, the owner leaning in that direction looks to have provided the biggest difference in Washington making the surprising call to trade both Sweat and Young. Both players were gone hours after the meeting.

Young’s propensity to freelance within Del Rio’s scheme looks to have made the Commanders more amenable to trading the former No. 2 overall pick, and the team dropped its asking price to move on. It took only a third-round compensatory pick for the 49ers to acquire the 2020 Defensive Rookie of the Year. Sweat had been more consistent, but with the Commanders expecting both players to cost near-top-market money, they decided to cut bait. As should be expected, the extensions given to Jonathan Allen (in 2021) and Daron Payne (in March) played a role, along with the defensive line’s early-season struggles, in the Commanders determining they would not be in position to extend Sweat or Young.

Rivera wanting to keep his top sack artist in the fold makes sense, as he entered this season on a hot seat. The fourth-year Washington HC had hoped to retain enough pieces to salvage this season, a sentiment some in the front office shared as well; losing Sweat, who has since signed a high-end Bears extension, did not help matters. The 2019 first-round pick is closing in on his first double-digit sack season, collecting 6.5 of his nine QB drops in Washington. Without Sweat and Young, the Commanders are close to starting over at defensive end.

While Washington had regressed on defense even with its two walk-year sack artists, the team has cratered on that side of the ball without them. The Commanders have allowed back-to-back 45-point games, the second coming after Rivera — after a morning conversation with Harris — fired Del Rio and defensive backs coach Brent Vieselmeyer.

Harris and Rivera have retained a solid relationship, per ESPN, but the writing has been on the wall for the well-liked sideline bastion for a while. The Commanders are also more likely than not to clean house in the front office, with ex-Panthers execs Marty Hurney and Eric Stokes joining GM Martin Mayhew as staffers in play to follow Rivera in being ousted. It is unknown what type of coach and leadership structure Harris will prefer in 2024, but he effectively asked a lame-duck staff to trade draft capital it most likely will not be in position to use come April.

Rivera, 61, is on track to be fired by a new owner for a second time. David Tepper canned the former NFC champion HC during the 2019 season, the Panthers owner’s second on the job. This has been Mayhew’s second crack at a GM job. The former Washington Super Bowl-winning cornerback, who is 58, served as Lions GM from 2008-15.

NFC East Notes: Eagles, Leonard, Cowboys, Giants, Commanders, Del Rio

December 6th, 2023 at 5:31pm CST by Sam Robinson

Shaquille Leonard‘s free agency decision brought additional intrigue due to its NFC East-only nature, and Jerry Jones said during an interview with 105.3 The Fan (h/t The Athletic’s Jon Machota) the chase did not come down to money. The Colts still owe Leonard $6.1MM guaranteed for the rest of this year. The sixth-year linebacker will collect $416K in prorated base salary from the Eagles, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. That checks in above the veteran minimum, and Yates adds the Eagles included a $100K incentive and $17K per game in roster bonuses.

Leonard played 2 1/2 seasons on a five-year, $98.5MM accord — one that topped the ILB market until the Ravens’ Roquan Smith deal earlier this year — but saw two 2022 back surgeries impact his career. Visiting both the Cowboys and Eagles (ahead of the NFC East powers’ rematch Sunday), Leonard said (via AllPhly.com’s Zach Berman) his bond with Nick Sirianni played a key role in the Eagles choice. Sirianni was the Colts’ OC from 2018-20, Leonard’s first three NFL seasons (all of which resulted in All-Pro honors). He will attempt to recapture that form ahead of another free agency run in 2024.

Here is the latest from the NFC East:

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/5/23

December 5th, 2023 at 6:04pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

New Orleans Saints

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

  • Waived from PUP list: LB Drew White

A 2021 third-round pick, Rice started 10 games over his first two seasons. Although the Titans cut Zach Cunningham and let David Long sign with the Dolphins, they brought in Azeez Al-Shaair and have used second-year UDFA Jack Gibbens as starters this season. Rice has been strictly a backup, and a post-transaction tweet suggested the young defender was not too broken up about this Tennessee cut.

Hyder joined the Texans earlier this season. The 49ers had waived the rotational pass rusher after trading for Randy Gregory. Reuniting with DeMeco Ryans, Hyder spent much of his Texans stay on their practice squad. The team used the defensive end in two games this season, giving him 40 defensive snaps as a backup. Hyder would be eligible to return to Houston’s P-squad if he clears waivers.

Bears To Evaluate HC Matt Eberflus During Offseason; Team Interested In Eric Bieniemy?

December 5th, 2023 at 10:47am CST by Adam La Rose

The Bears have had an up-and-down season in Year 2 under head coach Matt Eberflus. As a result, his name has been floated as a candidate to be replaced this offseason, but it remains to be seen if the team’s front office will authorize a change.

Both Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles will be evaluated after the 2023 season, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports (subscription required). New president Kevin Warren has signficant sway in the team’s direction, and Russini notes he has spent his time in Chicago “getting a feel for the organization.” Warren will have a major say with respect to changes on the sidelines and in the front office, but the Eberflus-Poles pairing still has time to make a positive impression.

The Bears currently sit at 4-8 on the season, one in which improvement from last season’s tear-down campaign was expected. Chicago began the year with five losses out of the first six games, but a 3-3 record since then has likely helped the cause for Eberflus, Poles and quarterback Justin Fields to remain in their current positions. The latter could easily be replaced this spring given the Bears’ strong chance of owning the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, but he appears to still have the backing of the team at this point.

Nevertheless, it would not come as a shock if Eberflus were to be let go after the campaign. In that event, a number of candidates would no doubt be on the team’s radar. One of those is Eric Bieniemy, Josina Anderson of CBS Sports reports. The longtime Chiefs offensive coordinator took the OC position in Washington this offseason in a move which granted him play-calling duties and the added title of assistant head coach.

In the eyes of many, it also set Bieniemy up for his first NFL head coaching position in the event he were to remain with the Commanders in 2024 and beyond. Current head coach Ron Rivera is widely believed to be on the way out at the conclusion of this season, and Bieniemy’s work with respect to developing second-year passer Sam Howell has drawn praise. The Commanders rank 10th in the league in total offense despite a mediocre ground game, but the team’s defense has floundered in recent weeks in particular and resulted in a 4-9 record.

The Bears are in a similar position in the win-loss column, but improved play on defense – Eberflus’ familiarity dating back to his coordinator days – has been evident at times in recent games. Chicago ranks 11th in yards allowed per game this season (319) and first against the run (79). Eberflus has served as the defensive play-caller since the sudden resignation of DC Alan Williams in September. That move, along with the acquisition and extension of defensive end Montez Sweat, has not yielded a strong performance in the pass-rush department, however.

Eberflus and Poles were mentioned in a September report as being on the hot seat, but the former later expressed the support he had received from the organization. Plenty is still to be determined over the closing weeks of the season, but the Bears’ organizational direction will be a major storyline to watch upon the conclusion of the campaign. With the prospect of two top-10 picks in April’s draft, the team’s HC position could be an attractive one for Bieniemy if he were to find himself in consideration for the job, though he could also receive interest from other teams this offseason.

DT Jonathan Allen Addresses Commanders Future

December 4th, 2023 at 11:02am CST by Adam La Rose

The Commanders’ defensive front saw major changes made this season with Montez Sweat and Chase Young dealt at the trade deadline. The team still has a pair of former first-rounders along the D-line in defensive tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen, however.

The former was one of several DTs to land lucrative second contracts this offseason, inking a four-year, $90MM deal. That has him on the books for the foreseeable future, but the same is not the case for Allen. He is under contract for 2024 and ’25, but no guaranteed salary exists on his pact for those two seasons. Moving on from the 28-year-old via trade or a post-June 1 release could thus yield cap savings and clear one of the team’s top cap hits for the near future.

Notably, Washington made it clear no trade offers for Allen would be considered this fall. The Commanders were willing to part ways with Sweat and, after lowering their asking price, Young in lieu of signing one or both to new deals in the offseason. That is not a concern for Payne or Allen, but the latter’s latest remarks on the state of the franchise suggest he would be willing to depart the nation’s capital.

When asked about whether he has contemplated playing on another team during an appearance on 106.7 The Fan, Allen said, “1000%. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. I play this game to win and I would love to win here for sure but I want to win first and foremost. So that’s always going to be at the front and center of my mind and everything I’m going to be doing in my career is going to make sure I’ll have an opportunity to win” (h/t Grant Paulsen of NBC Sports Washington).

The Commanders recently moved on from defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, and head coach Ron Rivera is widely expected to be replaced this offseason. Those changes could bring about an uptick in on-field performance for Washington, but a transition period under new owner Josh Harris could very well result in at least a brief rebuilding phase. In that case, it would be interesting to see how the team would proceed with Allen.

The two-time Pro Bowler has posted 5.5 sacks this season, putting him on pace to finish near his career-best output of nine in that regard in 2021. Allen has added nine tackles for loss, meaning he will likely reach double-digits for the fourth time in his career. He would carry signficant value for interested teams in terms of performance, but his contract would be a burden for an acquiring team.

Allen is set to carry cap hits of $21.5MM and $23MM over the next two seasons, figures which would make his pact difficult to move. Nevertheless, the Commanders are on track to miss the postseason for the sixth time in Allen’s seven years in Washington. His willingness to remain with the franchise in 2024 and beyond will be a key storyline for the transitioning team this offseason.

NFC East Rumors: Giants, Prescott, Lewis, Garcia

December 3rd, 2023 at 9:45pm CST by Ely Allen

The reported rift between Giants head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has gotten weird. After recent reports of tension between the two coaches and rumors that both the team’s coordinators are in danger of losing their jobs, New York elected to deny, deny, deny. And then deflect, deflect, deflect.

The day of our initial report, a New York Post contribution by Mark Cannizzaro relayed multiple accounts from players and staff pushing back on the idea of a rift. Daboll himself expressed his “respect” for Martindale to the media last week telling them, “I’d say the biggest argument that Wink and I have had is who has the last piece of pizza.”

Daboll is known for running a bit of a closed-door operation intent on eliminating outside distractions, so taking his statements at face value is difficult to do. Especially when the following day, Pat Leonard of New York Daily News provided a description of a press conference in which general manager Joe Schoen and Daboll failed in their attempts to play it cool.

For the second straight day, Daboll made a joke about him and Martindale being avid eaters, saying, “I just met with Wink a little while ago. We had donuts.” This was followed by Schoen repeatedly deflecting questions about Martindale’s future with the team to Daboll, claiming that Daboll had already discussed these things with the media, which he hadn’t.

It seems like opinion for now, but those in the room seem to firmly believe in the supposed rift between Daboll and Martindale. The Giants’ attempts to get the media looking in the opposite direction don’t seem to be effective.

Here are a few other rumors from the NFC East:

  • Our own Adam La Rose recently provided a strong breakdown of the potential extension situation for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. In it, La Rose relayed the team’s plan to wait until the offseason to solidify a new deal for their two-time Pro Bowler. Well, today, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network provided a bit more detail on the situation, cluing us in to a potential deadline for an extended contract. Rapoport speculates that, since Prescott is due a $5MM roster bonus on the fifth day of the new league year, if an extension is going to happen, it’s going to be before then. The 2024 League Year is set to start on March 13, giving the team until March 17 to get a deal done.
  • A few weeks into the season last year, we saw Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis undergo season-ending surgery for a Lisfranc injury. At the time, we questioned what the injury meant for Lewis’s future as he was set to enter a contract year and an injury plus the breakout of then fifth-round rookie DaRon Bland could threaten his job security. Apparently, we should have been worried about his future for a different reason as Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News told us recently that Lewis’s injury had the potential to threaten his football career. The team’s director of rehabilitation, Britt Brown, told Gehlken that “a lot of guys…wouldn’t have come back from that.” Brown continued, “When that initially happened, his career was immediately in jeopardy.” Lewis, though, fought to return and has played in every game past Week 1 for the Cowboys this year, displaying impressive resiliency in the face of dour odds.
  • The Commanders had to turn to some new leaders on the defensive side of the ball this week after firing Jack Del Rio a little over a week ago. Cristian Garcia, who was recently tabbed as the team’s interim defensive backs coach, is reportedly whom head coach Ron Rivera will rely on, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The 29-year-old assistant coach was asked this week to “handle a larger role in game planning and on gameday.” While it’s surely an exciting challenge for Garcia, facing the Dolphins in his first week with increased responsibilities was certainly a daunting task.
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