The Washington Commanders had a memorable 2024 season. Beginning with the hiring of GM Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn, to the selection of quarterback Jayden Daniels in the 2024 NFL draft, and culminating in a 12-win season and a trip to the NFC Championship Game. It was the franchise’s best season since 1991, when it last won the Super Bowl.
Repeating that success in 2025 will not be easy. The Commanders will face a more challenging schedule, and despite an improved roster, are still trying to recover from Ron Rivera’s disastrous roster construction. Peters jettisoned several of Rivera’s former draft picks, with only a handful remaining on the roster.
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Then, there’s also the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia is the defending Super Bowl champion and still has arguably the NFL’s best roster 1-53. The Eagles defeated the Commanders in two of their three meetings last season, including a blowout win in the NFC championship.
So, it’s not out of the question that Washington will be an improved team in 2025, but win fewer games. What if the Commanders fail to make the playoffs? ESPN’s Seth Walder recently made a bold prediction for the Commanders, stating that they would finish with a record below .500 and miss the playoffs.
But what if both the Eagles and Commanders miss the playoffs? In a recent simulation for ESPN, Walder had both teams missing the playoffs and finishing below. 500. Walder’s projection had the Eagles at 8-9 and the Commanders at 7-10. The simulation has the Dallas Cowboys, minus Micah Parsons, winning the NFC East with a 9-8 record.
Here’s what Walder said about the Cowboys winning the NFC East:
Maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised that the Cowboys made the playoffs (even if winning the division seemed unlikely). Though the preseason chatter was all about Micah Parsons and his eventual trade, the remaining foundation of this team still included Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Considering Prescott finished second in QBR in 2023, Dallas was always capable of having a quality offense, and it was good enough in this case to make up for missing Parsons. Young pass rushers Donovan Ezeiruaku and Sam Williams stepping up helped, too.
Let’s be clear here: Walder emphasized this was a simulation and not his projections for the 2025 season. Moreover, it was Simulation No. 4,091. So, in this case, the Cowboys may not have won the division in the previous 4,090 simulations.
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Anything is possible, but it seems highly doubtful that Philadelphia and Washington miss the playoffs. Sure, the Eagles could suffer a Super Bowl hangover, while the Commanders come back down to Earth a bit, but both missing the playoffs? We aren’t so sure about that, but that’s why they play the games. The Eagles kick off the 2025 season on Thursday against the Cowboys, while the Commanders host the New York Giants on Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders, Eagles both miss playoffs in ESPN 2025 simulation