Commanders Free Agent Fits: Wide Receiver

Taking a look at some wide receivers that the Washington Commanders could potentially target in free agency

After trading for Deebo Samuel, you might think the Washington Commanders won’t be prioritizing wide receivers in free agency next week. However, Samuel joins as just the third receiver under contract alongside Terry McLaurin and Luke McCaffrey. The Commanders still need more receivers to fill out the room. They will likely try to bring back a few of their own free agents, including the likes of Noah Brown, Dyami Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus, but in a weak free agent class, anyone that hits the open market could end up getting a bigger contract than expected.

There’s speculation after the NFL Combine that Dyami Brown could garner more interest than expected despite his lack of production after a couple of strong playoff performances. That could leave the Commanders needing to dip into the free agent market themselves to fill out their receiver room. If they are to do that, who might fit? Let’s take a closer look.

High Profile: Davante Adams, 32

I’m sure a lot of you reading this will see this name and think it’s incredibly unlikely the Commanders go after a high profile receiver like Adams, and you may well be right. But in a weak receiver class, Adams is the only real high profile option and on paper, there’s some logic behind his fit with Washington. With Terry McLaurin on one side and Deebo Samuel in the slot and moving around, the Commanders need another outside receiver opposite McLaurin capable of winning one-on-one matchups.

This offense is quite unique in that the outside receivers need to be capable of playing both the X and Z receiver role. Terry McLaurin explained last summer that to enable Kliff Kingsbury to run so much no-huddle, up-tempo offense, the outside receivers stay to their side and just switch from X to Z receiver based on the hashmark that the ball is on. That’s why early last season we saw Noah Brown get the ball in a lot of key third down situations rather than McLaurin because he was the X receiver and had the one-on-one matchup.

So with that in mind, Adams starts to make more sense for Washington. He could stay on the right side of the field while McLaurin continues on the left and be just as effective in those one-on-one situations. He’s an excellent route runner that understands how to attack leverage and create separation to make himself available to the quarterback.

This is the sort of route we saw a lot from McLaurin and Noah Brown last season. Adams aligns as the outside right receiver but in a tight split. He’s running an out route here, but the detail in the route is what sets it up so effectively. At the snap of the ball, Adams angles his path outside to widen the cornerback from their initial starting position. You might wonder why Adams would want to widen the corner when he’s intending to break outside. Adams widens the corner to make the corner believe he’s actually trying to create space inside for an in-breaking route.

At the top of the route, Adams gives a strong jab step inside, causing the corner to take a false step as he believes the route is breaking inside. Adams then sharply cuts out to the sideline, but the corner can’t stay with him because of the false step. This creates three or four yards of separation, leaving Adams wide open to receive the pass for an easy eight-yard gain.

Those types of timing routes were a large part of the Commanders offense last year. Jayden Daniels excelled in delivering the ball on time and with great accuracy on routes like those out routes and similar routes like curls, comebacks and hitches. Adams has the route running ability to consistently separate on those types of routes like McLaurin does, which would mean that the Commanders could trust both of them to win in those situations regardless of which one is the X or Z receiver at any given time. That gives Daniels options against zone coverages that don’t cover those routes well, but also man coverage.

The other thing the Commanders are looking for from and outside receiver is a deep threat. Now Adams isn’t a speedster at 32, but that doesn’t mean he can’t win down the sideline.

Here we see Adams running a fade down the sideline against man coverage. We saw McLaurin do this a lot last year and Daniels made some of his best throws hitting McLaurin on fades down the sideline. Adams uses one of his trademark releases, coming off the snap slowly and stuttering before suddenly accelerating down the sideline. The corner doesn’t do a bad job staying with Adams down the sideline here, but Adams is mindful to given himself a few yards of space from the sideline to give his quarterback more room to work with outside. Despite the corner running well with Adams, the quarterback puts the ball up for Adams to go make a play, and what a play he makes.

Adams shows off his tracking ability and ball skills superbly here. He turns to locate the ball early in the route and tracks it well, but doesn’t adjust his path until the last second. He keeps the defender from being able to read his body language to know where the ball is going, forcing him to turn and try to locate it himself. Then at the last second, Adams suddenly leans outside and reaches out to make a strong hands catch at full stretch while ensuring he gets both feet down in bounds.

The body control to reach that type of throw while keeping feet in bounds is incredible. Daniels is fantastic on those types of fade passes and we saw it a lot with Terry McLaurin last year, but nobody else really was able to offer a similar option on the other side of the field. Adams could provide that. It might not be the 4.3 40-yard dash speed that some fans would be hoping for, but it would be an alternative way of winning down the field in a way that meshes well with what Jayden Daniels does best.

Now I will admit that I think it’s unlikely the Commanders pursue Adams. I’ve also heard a lot of fans and media talk about Adams as this diva personality that wouldn’t fit in well with the locker room culture that Dan Quinn has installed. I can’t really speak to that because I don’t know Adams and have no idea what he’s like behind the scenes. But in terms of ability on the field, he ticks a lof of boxes for the Commanders.

He’d give them another outside receiver that can win one-on-ones, run precise routes on time and force defenses to pay extra attention to him, much like McLaurin. If defenses are having to pay extra attention to those two receivers on the outside, then that will open up space over the middle for the likes of Deebo Samuel and of course, help out the run game. There’s only so many threats the defense can take away, so signing someone as good as Adams would help give Daniels more options he can trust to win consistently while opening things up for others elsewhere too.

Good Value: Darius Slayton, 28

By the time free agency comes around next week, Slayton could well find himself out of the “good value” bracket down to the lack of receiving options available. His name has often been mentioned alongside Dyami Brown’s as a potential receiver that could get more money than expected due to the lack of options on the market. If that turns out to be the case, I wouldn’t think the Commanders would get involved in any sort of bidding war for a player that is solid but not spectacular.

That being said, at the right price, Slayton could provide some of the things the Commanders are looking for opposite McLaurin. Primarily, that would be deep threat ability. Slayton’s deep speed is undoubtedly his biggest asset. He ran a 4.39 40-yard dash at the combine back in 2019 and that speed still translates to the field.