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ESPN
Did Commanders improve the defense in 2025 NFL draft?

The offense was fifth in scoring and seventh in yards during Daniels’ rookie season. They scored 30 or more points seven times during the regular season — the same total they had reached in the previous four years combined — and once in three playoff games. To that group, they added five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, receiver Deebo Samuel and offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. — their first-round pick in last week’s draft.

Meanwhile, the defense was not as accomplished; it ranked 18th in scoring and 13th in points. This offseason, the defense didn’t see the kind of star power added that the offense did, but they did address some holes to make them more competitive.

Much of the predraft attention was focused on Washington adding an edge rusher. However, the Commanders — long before the draft — identified more pressing issues to address, such as stopping the run and creating more turnovers.

Those were the two biggest issues the Commanders faced defensively in 2024. They forced 17 turnovers in the regular season — 20th in the NFL — and only three teams intercepted fewer passes than the Commanders (7). That’s why the evaluator pegged corner as one area Washington needed to upgrade. Following suit, the Commanders used their second-round pick on former Ole Miss cornerback Trey Amos — a player they would have considered in the first round.

Washington also ranked 30th against the run and 28th in yards per carry allowed — a problem when the top team in the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles, boasted the NFL’s second-best rushing attack last season. Considering the Commanders face the Eagles twice a year in the NFC East, and lost to them in the NFC Championship Game, they needed to strengthen their run defense.

“There’s a lot of things that we want to get better at,” coach Dan Quinn said. “Run defense was certainly part of that.”

To combat the run woes, Washington got bigger inside. They added nose tackle Eddie Goldman (332 pounds) and Javon Kinlaw (330 pounds), who will, in part, replace Jonathan Allen, who they released March.

Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)
What CB Trey Amos brings to the Washington Commanders

Amos profiles as an extremely well-rounded cornerback with upside in a variety of different schemes. He measured in at the combine at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds with 31¼-inch arms. That’s a big, long cornerback which the NFL desires more and more. With that size and length, Amos is capable of lining up in press and being disruptive at the line of scrimmage while playing man coverage.

At Ole Miss, Amos also showed he could play a style of coverage that Commanders head coach Dan Quinn is particularly familiar with.

On this play, Ole Miss play a Cover-3 defense, which consists of three deep zone defenders and four underneath zone defenders. As an outside corner, Amos is responsible for the deep outside third on his part of the field. However, instead of just sitting off and sinking back into his zone, Amos plays press coverage up at the line of scrimmage. This is exactly the style that Dan Quinn and the famous Seattle Seahawks Cover-3 defense used. Their variation of Cover-3 asked the corners to play physical press coverage instead of just sinking back into their zones straight away.

We can see Amos playing that technique well here. Georgia runs a play-action pass and at the snap, you can see the coverage rotation to a Cover-3. One safety drops down to cover the flat and make four underneath zones while the other safety rotates to the deep middle of the field. Amos is responsible for the deep third, but stays in press coverage with his receiver, knowing there’s no real threat to his zone elsewhere at this point in time. As the receiver declares his release inside, Amos gets physical, using his length to get his hands on the receiver and disrupt their path by forcing them further inside.

Amos runs comfortably down the field with the receiver, staying on top of the route while constantly jabbing the receiver with his hand to force him further inside and prevent him from breaking away. As the receiver breaks off his route, Amos is right there to contest it, with an underneath zone defender also sinking back under it. The quarterback knows that route is dead pretty early and looks elsewhere.

Dan Quinn admitted after his time in Atlanta that teams couldn’t just play that style of Cover-3 all game any more, and so he switched up his schemes when he became the defensive coordinator in Dallas. But he does still use Cover-3 regularly, so this type of technique for Amos will be useful in Washington. What Quinn shifted to in Dallas was playing more man coverage. We’ve already seen the potential of Amos in press man coverage, but Quinn also had his corners play off-man coverage in Dallas too. He used the likes of Trevon Diggs and Daron Bland, two corners with great ball skills, to play off the line of scrimmage and with vision to break on quick routes underneath. Amos is capable of doing the same thing.

Sports Illustrated
Trey Amos stands out as ‘perfect fit’ says NFL analyst

NFL.com draft expert and former scout Bucky Brooks has his choice as the team’s ‘perfect fit’ from the draft.

“Finding a press-man specialist to place opposite Marshon Lattimore was a top priority for Washington heading into draft weekend. Amos fits the bill as a long corner (6-1, 195 pounds) with an aggressive game built on physicality and disruption at the line of scrimmage. The Commanders are intent on limiting layups (quick passes) and 3-pointers (deep throws) with their bump-and-run tactics,” Brooks says of the fit.

Riggo’s Rag
Jay Gruden believes Commanders could switch Kain Medrano’s position quickly

These were highlighted by Jay Gruden during a scathing assessment of Medrano. The ex-Washington coach claimed there was no chance Medrano could stand up against the run in the pros. He even went as far as to say the incoming draft pick has the scope to make a transition to the safety position when push comes to shove.

“This guy is more of a sideline to sideline runner. He’s not a thumper at all. He’s only 220 pounds. If you are playing him against the run to stop Saquon Barkley between the tackles, get him out! If it’s 3&12 a passing situation, you can put him in there; he can cover a lot of ground. He could play some kickoff coverage. He’s not a very physical guy. He looks more like a safety to me. He gets overpowered in the run and is a drag down tackler.”

Jay Gruden

That’s a little harsh in terms of criticism. However, Gruden might have a point regarding switching Medrano to the backend at some stage.

The Commanders let Jeremy Chinn walk in free agency, deciding that the money he got offered by the Las Vegas Raiders was too rich. Will Harris came into the fold, who’s cheaper with similar physical attributes. Whether he’ll have the same impact remains to be seen.

Commanders Wire
Where are the Commanders in the NFC pecking order?

If memory serves, and it does, the Commanders defeated the Detroit Lions to get to the NFC Championship game in 2024. Both teams have made moves through free agency and the draft, but it’s still baffling that the Lions are consistently ranked above the Commanders in power rankings. CBS Sports is no different, placing the Commanders in third behind the Philadelphia Eagles and Lions.

What draft experts said about new Commanders wide receiver Jaylin Lane

General manager Adam Peters wisely gave quarterback Jayden Daniels another receiver. In the fourth round, Washington selected Jaylin Lane of Virginia Tech. Lane is a versatile speedster who can play outside or in the slot. He is also a dangerous return man. How will he factor into Washington’s 2025 plans?

Here’s what some expert draft analysts had to say about Lane during the pre-draft process and what Commanders fans can expect to see:

The Athletic (paywall)
The best Jayden Daniels rookie cards to collect at all price points

Most football card collectors crowned No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams as the top rookie card chase at the start of the 2024 NFL season, but the emergence of No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels has cemented the Washington Commanders quarterback as the new favorite. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner quickly showed his ability to pass and rush at the highest level and led the Commanders to their first playoff win in nearly 20 years. By the end of the season, he was among the five most searched athletes across all sports on eBay.

So now that most of his rookie cards from popular sets are released, what are the best options to start a Daniels collection? Here’s what we like.

2024 Panini Prizm #17 Rookie Variation

Daniels’ 2024 Prizm Rookie Variation card is my recommendation with the best value based on its popularity, relative scarcity, and price in gem mint grades. The high status of Prizm rookie cards makes it especially appealing to collectors and is a worthy alternative to his more valuable Prizm #347 base Silver Parallel rookie because of its comparatively limited supply.

Podcasts & videos
Commanders Film Room: The Trey Amos Episode feat Mark Bullock

NFC East links

Eagles GM Howie Roseman called Commanders GM Adam Peters trying to trade up in the draft to select Bama’s Jihaad Campbell and started the conversation with, “Hey, buddy.” pic.twitter.com/scDaIvGjcY

— Saint (@SaintWah) May 4, 2025

Malik Nabers & Jayden Daniels brotherhood won’t change because they’re division rivals

“We gonna compete … [but] that’s my brother for life.” pic.twitter.com/oSlwrKAyq6

— 7PM in Brooklyn (@7PMinBrooklyn) May 3, 2025

Big Blue View
Did Jaxson Dart land in ‘tricky situation’ with New York Giants?

Daboll’s shaky job status does put Dart in a tricky situation. If 2025 doesn’t go well on the field and Daboll loses his job, Dart is dumped into the spin cycle that negatively affected the organization’s ability to get the best out of Daniel Jones.

Dart has landed with an offensive coaching staff that has done the quarterback development thing successfully. Daboll has vast experience with quarterbacks. Daboll and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney were part of Josh Allen’s development with the Buffalo Bills. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka played a key role in Kansas City during Patrick Mahomes’ rookie season.

The question is whether or not Daboll will get to see Dart’s development all the way through, and if he does not what impact that might have on Dart’s future.

NFL league links
Articles
Front Office Sports
The Future of TV Ratings Is Here, and Sports Is the Big Winner

Sports broadcasters benefited disproportionately from the recent expansion of Nielsen’s out-of-home audience measurement. Another big boost is quickly following.

Nielsen received accreditation in January for its new Big Data + Panel measurement, a method that combines viewership data from set-top boxes and smart TVs with the company’s usual panel-based tabulation. As each of the major broadcast networks and streaming services this spring hold their upfronts for the forthcoming year—with sports content standing at the center of many of them—the expanding methodology will be a focal point as it becomes more established.

Sports programming dominates the entire U.S. media landscape, and this new measurement will, in many instances, produce bigger audience totals. For the NFL in particular, the league delivered 70 of the top 100 broadcasts across all genres in 2024, and the league has publicly cheered the introduction of Big Data + Panel, calling it a move to “modernize measurement.”

Amazon has been among the early adopters of Big Data + Panel, and said its 2024 audience for Thursday Night Football with it amounted to an average viewership of 14.2 million, 8% higher than the traditional, panel-based audience count of 13.2 million. The methodology was also the basis of an expanded unique reach of 182.8 million for February’s Super Bowl LIX, which built on the game’s record-setting average audience of 127.7 million.

Those types of lifts are likely to be frequently seen as Big Data + Panel could become the industry standard in short order.

Discussion topics
Pro Football Talk
Agent calls explanation he got for Quinn Ewers’s slide to round seven “chickensh-t”

“They thought he was a third- or fourth-round pick, but too big of a name to be a clipboard holder,” Slavin told Archer. “Which I think is chickenshit.”

It’s one of the unintended consequences of the NIL eras. Some players get enough endorsements, and attention, to make it awkward to make him a backup quarterback.

Basically, if a big-name college quarterback doesn’t get drafted high enough to be a starter, it becomes difficult to draft him to be a developmental quarterback.

[H]e left millions on the table by coming to the draft. He’ll now get a slotted contract payable to one of the last players selected.

In Miami, he’ll be behind Tua Tagovailoa and backup Zach Wilson. It won’t be easy to leapfrog Wilson. It will be impossible, at least until 2027, to jump Tua. His contract carries two more years of fully-guaranteed compensation.

All aTwitter

If you are not tuning into our weekly Film Sessions, you’re truly missing out.@MarkBullockNFL did an excellent job showing how Trey Amos would fit in DC.

He used Stephon Gilmore and Benjamin St-Juste to model off-man coverage. A DQ staple. pic.twitter.com/EHdrbaXNuE

— George Carmi (@Gcarmi21) May 3, 2025

Hot take:
The @Commanders have one of, if not THE best track record of having outstanding blocking TEs. From an honorary HOG Don Warren, to “The Legend” Logan Paulsen, and now @jjohnbates being the best in the league at what he does. Underrated pieces of team history. #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/ivyDyNu79X

— logan (@LayTheSnaccdown) May 4, 2025

Forty years ago this week, I started at The Washington Times. It was a great fit – a young paper with a young writer. Spent 20 years there before moving to the Examiner, Post Express and more. But the Times is where my heart will always lie. Here I am with @john_keim and… pic.twitter.com/SCfwoqSGqr

— Rick Snider’s Washington (@Snide_Remarks) May 2, 2025

It never gets old: