State of the Roster Update: Commanders Offense

Breaking down where things stand with the Commanders offense after the draft.

Earlier this offseason I started a State of the Roster series, breaking down the Washington Commanders roster at different parts of the offseason to analyze their strengths, rank their needs and give an overall summary of where the team stood. Here is my first look at the state of the Commanders offense from back in February before any major moves had happened and here is my second look at the state of the offense after the main wave of free agency had finished, but before the draft. Today, I thought I’d finish off this series by looking at where the Commanders offense stands after the draft and evaluating both the short term and long term needs at each position. 

Quarterback

On the roster: Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota, Jeff Driskel, Sam Hartman.

Short term need: Low.

Long term need: Low.

Analysis: This was the Commanders biggest need heading into the offseason and we knew they would address it with the second overall pick. They selected LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and if all goes according to plan, they will have found their franchise quarterback and can now focus their efforts on building around him. Marcus Mariota and Jeff Driskel were both signed as free agents. Mariota has taken first team reps in OTAs to this point, but I’d be surprised if it takes too long for Daniels to earn the starting job. That will leave Mariota as the back up for this season and then the Commanders will need to address the long term back up behind Daniels. 

Mariota could of course be re-signed if he does well as Daniels’ back up this season, but he may also still hold aspirations of competing for a starting job which won’t happen in Washington once Daniels takes over. Perhaps undrafted free agent Sam Hartman could develop into that long term back up. He was given a significant contract as an undrafted free agent to sign in Washington where he knows Daniels is the guy and could have taken less to go somewhere without such a defined path. 

Regardless, the key here is that Daniels is their guy and that makes the quarterback need in both the short and long term low. Even if Washington has to search for a new back up quarterback next year, that’s not a huge issue as it’s much easier to find back ups than starting level quarterbacks. It remains to be seen if Daniels will be a success in the NFL, but even if he isn’t, he’ll likely be the starting quarterback here for the foreseeable future barring injury. 

Running Back

On the roster: Brian Robinson, Austin Ekeler, Chris Rodriguez, Jeremy McNichols, Michael Wiley, Austin Jones.

Short term need: Low.

Long term need: Low.

Analysis: In the short term, the Commanders are pretty well set at the running back spot. Brian Robinson will likely be the workhorse back with Austin Ekeler playing the third down back role. Chris Rodriguez flashed some potential last year and should be a solid back up to Robinson in the workhorse role. They may well only keep three running backs on the final roster and at this point it would likely be those three. If they opt to keep a fourth, veteran back Jeremy McNichols would be the back up to Ekeler’s third down back role. Michael Wiley and Austin Jones were two undrafted free agents the Commanders picked up, but I think they’re both long shots to make the final roster and more likely camp bodies. Their best shot at making the team would be to outperform McNichols for the back up third down back role, but even then the Commanders might just opt to keep three running backs instead of four. 

Over the long term, I did consider bumping the need up to medium and I’d probably have it borderline right now. Robinson and Ekeler are two good running backs and both are under contract through the end of the 2025 season, so the position could well be set for a while. But the nature of the running back position is that teams churn through multiple backs all the time. Players can reach their peak and fall off dramatically, they can get hurt and sometimes a younger, more explosive option is available as a late round pick and comes at a much cheaper price than a veteran. So it would well be the case that Robinson doesn’t end up meshing well with Kingsbury’s system or Ekeler’s drop off in production last year was the start of a negative trend rather than just a few injuries, in which case the Commanders would need to add a running back or two next year. But it’s most likely that we’ll see this pair in Washington for a few years before a decision needs to be made on Brian Robinson’s second contract. 

Wide Receiver

On the roster: Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Luke McCaffrey, Jamison Crowder, Olamide Zaccheaus, Dyami Brown, Brycen Tremayne, Mitchel Tinsley, Dax Milne, Damiere Byrd, Davion Davis, Kazmeir Allen, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint.