2026 Commanders need to look back to historically great ‘91 Redskins for defensive inspiration

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Ranking every Super Bowl champion team from 1-6057. 1987 Washington (14-4, but really 11-4, 11.9%)

This team had the lowest regular-season DVOA of any Super Bowl champion, in part because I don’t count the three games, all wins, with replacement players during the players strike. Washington ended the season eighth on offense with a below-average defense and special teams for a total DVOA of just 4.2%. They also escaped their first two playoff games with close victories, beating the Bears by just four points and the Vikings by seven. But they destroyed the Broncos 42-10 in Super Bowl XXII, and that’s why they don’t come in on the bottom of this list.

46. 1982 Washington (12-1, 23.7%)

OK, back to teams that won more games than their advanced metrics would suggest, Washington finished the strike-shortened 1982 regular season just seventh in DVOA despite the 8-1 record. That gets a bit of an asterisk, however, as the top six teams in DVOA that season were all AFC teams — leaving Washington as the top team in their own conference!

Things were trending up as Washington entered the playoffs, as it beat its final two opponents by a combined score of 55-10. And Washington didn’t require a single one-score win in the postseason. The four wins in the expanded 1982 tournament came by an average of 15.5 points, including a 27-17 win over the pre-Marino Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII.

1. 1991 Washington (17-2, 53.9%)

Here’s the team that DVOA says is the greatest of all time. Washington led the NFL in points scored and was second in points allowed. It lost by a field goal to the Cowboys after an 11-0 start, then sat its starters in the second half of the final week and lost to the Eagles by two points. That was it for losses.

For the 1991 season, Washington was second in offensive DVOA behind San Francisco, third on defense behind Philadelphia and New Orleans and first on special teams. But what’s more impressive is where Washington ranks in DVOA out of 1,457 teams going all the way back to 1978. Out of those hundreds of teams, only 1991 Washington ranks in the top 60 for all three phases. (Specifically, they are 53rd in offense, 39th in defense and 18th in special teams.)

Washington won games during the regular season by scores like 45-0 (Detroit), 34-0 (Phoenix) and 23-0 (Philadelphia). It beat the Falcons 56-17 and the Rams 27-6. Then came the playoffs. A rematch with the No. 8 Falcons ended with a score of 24-7. The Lions made it to the NFC championship despite ranking only 13th in DVOA, only to be pummeled by Washington, 41-10. Washington had a 37-10 lead over the No. 4 Bills with half of the fourth quarter left in Super Bowl XXVI, eventually winning the Lombardi Trophy 37-24 after two late Bills touchdowns sandwiched around a successful onside kick.

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Barry Wilburn, Super Bowl-winning DB for Washington, dies at 62

Barry Wilburn, who led the NFL in interceptions in 1987 and won a Super Bowl with Washington that same season, died. He was 62.

The Commanders announced his death Sunday. Action News 5 in Memphis, Tennessee, citing Wilburn’s family, reported that he died in a house fire early Friday.

When Washington beat Denver 42-10 in that season’s Super Bowl, Wilburn intercepted two passes in that game. After five seasons with Washington, he played for the Cleveland Browns in 1992 and later was with the Philadelphia Eagles for a couple of seasons.

Riggo’s Rag

Commanders’ regret around Christian Gonzalez is growing by the year

Forbes didn’t even last two seasons in Washington before being cut. He’s currently on the Los Angeles Rams, but the cornerback’s lack of size continues to expose weaknesses. As for Gonzalez? He’s firmly cemented as one of the league’s most accomplished players in coverage.

Gonzalez was nothing short of sensational in the Super Bowl. He came up with some outstanding pass breakups, and nobody got consistent joy when going up against him. All Washington fans can do is look on with regret at what might have been.

Almost everyone thought Gonzalez was the better prospect coming out. One of the few who didn’t was Rivera. And to the Commanders’ detriment, he was the one making the selection.

The rest, as they say, is history.

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Garafolo: A.J. Brown’s future with the Eagles in doubt | ‘NFL GameDay Morning’

MIKE GARAFOLO: “Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown was in town this week. I spoke to him very briefly the other day and I said ‘Hey, what’s going on?‘ And he said ‘Hey, a lot of this is out of my control at this point.’ Look, there’s been speculation about A.J. Brown being traded. I’ll raise my hand, I’ve speculated it myself. And that speculation may end up being true. But there’s a difference between speculation and founded … rumors, we’ll call them? And right now multiple sources involved tell me a couple of things. One, there’s been no trade talks yet between the Eagles and some other teams. And there’s been only brief talks with Brown’s camp from the team. We do expect that to pick up around the scouting combine, which is only two weeks away. I will say, though, that everyone says A.J. Brown right now is in a good space and, just in my time talking to him briefly, I got the sense that he was much more at peace and much more calm about things. Maybe removing himself from the emotion of the situation [helped]. If they trade him, it’ll be a $43.5 million cap hit, so they’ll want some significant compensation back if it gets to that.”

Blogging the Boys

The Cowboys defensive tackles could make them Super Bowl contenders

the Cowboys have not one, but three solid defensive tackles that could reshape how we view the defense in 2026. Looking at the two teams in the Super Bowl, there’s a common theme between them centered around the heart of their defensive front—the ability to generate pressure.

Looking at Pro Football Focus, Osa Odighizuwa had 52 pressures (sixth among all DTs), Quinnen Williams had 51 (seventh), and Kenny Clark had 44 (15th). Dallas was the only team to have three in the Top 15.

Having dominant defensive tackle play won’t automatically punch the Cowboys’ ticket to the big game next season, but it certainly separates the good defenses from the great ones right now. There’s a trend across the NFL: teams are trying to find talented players at that position. The quickest path to pressuring the quarterback is up the middle.

[T]he blueprint has been laid out by the Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Build from the inside out on defense with talented players, and good things tend to happen. The Cowboys already have a few building blocks in place. They just need Parker to be the architect who helps finish the job.

Big Blue View

Giants free agents 2026: Jermaine Eluemunor, Wan’Dale Robinson headline list

The biggest decisions involve starting right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, 1,000-yard wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, and breakout cornerback Cor’Dale Flott.

Other free agent decisions to watch include players like guard Greg Van Roten, tight ends Daniel Bellinger and Chris Manhertz, safety Dane Belton, linebacker Micah McFadden, and defensive tackles D.J. Davidson and Rakeem Nunez-Roches.

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Nothing left to prove; resilient Sam Darnold makes Super Bowl statement

TWO YEARS AGO, Sam Darnold sat at a small round table in a Hilton ballroom just outside of Las Vegas. Several reporters visited the table he shared with another San Francisco 49ers teammate throughout the week of Super Bowl media availability, but many more maneuvered around it on their way to talk to someone more important. Darnold was just a backup hidden in a maze of dozens of tables. He wasn’t the star anymore, and he had chosen to fade into the background for his own good.

As Darnold sat unbothered at his table, a reporter asked if he had given thought to the best way to develop a quarterback. What had he learned in the six NFL seasons after he left college early and was drafted No. 3 by the New York Jets, saw “ghosts,” got dumped by the Jets and started over twice since? What does a young quarterback need?

“Just consistency in the organization, and trusting, too,” Darnold said in 2024. “If things don’t go well — which, having a rookie quarterback — they’re not all going to be C.J. Stroud. You’re not just going to go out there and ball out. It takes a really special coach and leadership to be able to have trust and keep everything together for at least a couple years. Let the kid grow into his skin, and after a couple years, you kind of know, if everything’s the same and if you have the same people, GM, coaches.”

That combination of consistency and trust was something Darnold, who had four head coaches in his first five seasons, hadn’t known in the NFL up to that point, and wouldn’t have it until he signed a three-year contract to be Seattle’s starting quarterback in March. He was comfortable enough that for the first time, he bought a house.

Quarterbacks who play through physical injuries are typically considered the toughest, Palmer said, but “I actually don’t think that’s hard.”

“Going through what Sam went through for four or five years, not all these tough guys that can take a hit can live through that. Sam’s one of the toughest quarterbacks I’ve ever been around, and it has nothing to do with his physical toughness.”

NFL.com

Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III named Super Bowl LX MVP; first RB to win since 1998

Walker was named Super Bowl LX MVP in the Seahawks’ 29-13 win over the Patriots on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, rushing for 135 yards on 27 carries and catching two passes for 26 yards to total 161 scrimmage yards.

He’s the first running back to win the award since Terrell Davis for the Broncos in the Super Bowl XXXII upset over the Packers on Jan. 25, 1998.

Walker’s 135 rushing yards were the most in a Super Bowl since Davis’ 157 in that game nearly 30 years ago.

The timing couldn’t have been better for the 25-year-old Walker, who is set to hit free agency this spring. The fourth-year back really stepped up for the Seahawks in the playoffs, rushing for four touchdowns in the two games prior to the Super Bowl and taking on a heavier workload after running mate Zach Charbonnet tore his ACL in the Divisional Round win over the 49ers and missed the remainder of the postseason.

Walker didn’t score a touchdown — at least not officially, anyway. He shredded the Patriots for what appeared to be a 49-yard TD cherry on top, but it was called back by a hold on center Jalen Sundell. But by that point, the game was academic.

Pro Football Talk

Devon Witherspoon’s blitzes threw off Drake Maye, Patriots

Uchenna Nwosu’s 45-yard return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal the Seahawks’ victory initially was ruled a strip-sack by cornerback Devon Witherspoon. It was later changed to an interception return by Nwosu rather than a fumble return.

Witherspoon would have had a case for MVP honors had it stood.

It would have given him two sacks and a forced fumble to go along with four tackles and a pass defensed.

As it was, the Seahawks lauded Witherspoon’s contributions to their 29-13 Super Bowl victory.

“He’s a walking Hall of Famer, right now,” Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV said, via Chris Biderman of The News Tribune. “He’s a dog. He’s my favorite player in the NFL. He can do everything.”

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald called more blitzes of Drake Maye than he has most of this season. Witherspoon’s third-down sack of Maye for a 10-yard loss in the first quarter set the tone, and his hit on Maye that led to Nwosu’s touchdown ended any thought of a Patriots’ comeback.

Witherspoon blitzed only 21 times this season, with Week 16 the most recent game he has rushed the quarterback, per Pro Football Focus. He blitzed six times Sunday, per Next Gen Stats, and had four pressures.

The Athletic (paywall)

Seahawks’ title underscores how to win in the modern NFL. There’s no going back: Pick Six

Great quarterbacks have ruled the NFL for decades, but increasingly, even they are living in a league driven by the active, opportunistic general manager.

That was John Schneider beaming on the stage at Levi’s Stadium as his Seattle Seahawks, led by the coach he hired two years ago, celebrated a dominating Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots.

One year ago in New Orleans, it was Howie Roseman’s Philadelphia Eagles celebrating a championship.

Schneider and Roseman epitomize the new breed of GMs who, rather than fearing a player might leave in free agency, relish the opportunity to get better — and are usually one step ahead. Both have won Super Bowls with different coaches and different quarterbacks. Schneider did it with all new players and a quarterback, Sam Darnold, signed in free agency.

Cash spending league-wide has skyrocketed, with owners greenlighting bolder approaches as the salary cap and franchise values boom. More resources mean more opportunity for the sharpest GMs to set themselves apart.

Schneider’s in-season trades over the past three years landed Leonard Williams, one of the NFL’s most disruptive defensive tackles; inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who became an Associated Press second-team All-Pro after the Rams and Titans gave up on him; and receiver Rashid Shaheed, whose punt-return touchdown in Week 16 helped Seattle steal the NFC’s top seed from the Rams.

“It’s not being afraid to move on from certain players when it’s time, but then also going to get guys that, when you plug them in, are as good or better with you,” a former GM said.

Trading Wilson brought a top-five pick in return. Schneider used that choice on cornerback Devon Witherspoon, a perennial Pro Bowl selection and 2025 second-team All-Pro who helped Seattle seal its Super Bowl victory over New England by pressuring Drake Maye into a pick six by Uchenna Nwosu, a free-agent signing from the Chargers in 2022.

Finding seven solid contributors in the 2022 draft, including left tackle Charles Cross, laid a foundation while Carroll was still there. Drafting Witherspoon and 2025 Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba added star power.

In some ways, the Eagles’ GM [Howie Roseman] is where Schneider found himself five years ago: trying to maximize an expensive quarterback, Jalen Hurts, who has delivered at a high level and won a championship but also carries limitations that could become problematic as the roster cycles out of its peak state.

Schneider acted from a position of leverage with Wilson, turning certainty into optionality.

Roseman did that famously when he traded Carson Wentz to Indianapolis, then won a Super Bowl with Hurts.

It’s how the modern GM must operate.

Tribute to Sonny Jurgensen

When staff at Jurgensen’s restaurant informed him former Eagles owner Jerry Wolman had visited, Sonny didn’t miss a beat.

“You didn’t take a check, did you?” Jurgensen replied

Wolman had gone bankrupt and had to divest his interest in the team.

When Jurgensen reported to camp in unusually good shape, his trademark paunch having shrunk, he was asked if the key was diet and exercise.

“Cutty and water,” Jurgensen replied.

After the Eagles traded Jurgensen to Washington, Sonny joked that bartenders in Philly wore black armbands to mourn the lost business.

Jurgensen wasn’t all laughs.

Years before Brodie challenged the NFL’s antitrust status in court, earning a huge raise in the process, Jurgensen, best known for his 1964-74 stint with the Redskins, went toe-to-toe with Vince McNally, then the Eagles’ GM, in a salary negotiation so tense that McNally ripped the arm off his swivel chair and threw it across the room.

That was in 1963. Jurgensen and backup quarterback King Hill (his real name, and the first pick in the 1958 draft) fought for what now would be laughable protections. Teams typically played five or six exhibition games at the time, with starters in the lineup. The problem was, neither Jurgensen nor Hill had contracts for that season. The team expected them to risk it all anyway.

“It’s a tough thing to have over you, playing exhibition games without a contract,” Jurgensen said at the time. “It’s a calculated risk. If we should be injured and be unable to play, we would automatically be subject to a 10 percent cut in our salaries.”

Jurgensen had reportedly earned $26,000 the previous season, or about $280,000 in 2026 dollars.

The control teams exerted over players extended to the field as well.

Underappreciated in Philly from 1957 to ’63, Jurgensen was traded to the Redskins in 1964 and played under coaches Bill McPeak and Otto Graham, the greatest quarterback of his day. But it wasn’t until Washington landed Vince Lombardi, the most progressive, prominent coach of the era, despite his gruff exterior, that Jurgensen truly felt he’d found the right match.

Jurgensen joked that he always thought “Mister” was Lombardi’s first name, but Lombardi didn’t try to change Jurgensen, embracing the quarterback’s unorthodox throwing motion and passing ability. Lombardi even suggested he never would have lost a game with the Packers if Jurgensen had been his quarterback.

The pairing lasted just one season (1969) before cancer claimed Lombardi right before the 1970 season.

Another Hall of Fame coach, George Allen, arrived in 1971 and led the Redskins to a Super Bowl, but he sought to win conservatively, with tight control over the game script. His decision to play Billy Kilmer over the obviously more talented Jurgensen reflected that mission.

Jurgensen, beloved among Redskins fans for his passing and his free spirit, was never again a full-time starter, and he left the game after the 1974 season for a four-decade career in broadcasting.

The late Dick Haley, whose playing career overlapped with Jurgensen’s early years and who was best known for being the Steelers’ scouting director from 1971 to ’90, expanded on Jurgensen during a 2008 interview about all-time great quarterbacks.

“Jurgensen had a quick release, knew where to throw it and he was accurate,” Haley said. “Probably reminds me a little of (Bob) Griese, a little of Graham, but exceptional in quarterback abilities. I’ve never been a big ‘arm’ guy. If you got a good arm, that’s fine, but so many of the great quarterbacks, they were quarterbacks. They could ‘right place, right time,’ and that is what won.”

Not quite football

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Couple legally married during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance

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The couple featured in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime performance was legally married during halftime, league sources confirmed to ESPN.

The duo was spotlighted several times during Bad Bunny’s intricate and energetic show, beginning with a proposal early on. Midway through the set, the pair got married surrounded by backup dancers. The show also featured surprise performances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin and included famous guests such as actors Pedro Pascal and Jessica Alba

The couple had originally invited Bad Bunny to attend their wedding. Instead, he gave them the ultimate wedding gift and invited them to be married during his halftime show.

Front Office Sports

The business side of the game

With a newly minted NFL title, the Seahawks are set to be put up for sale as soon as next month.

A sale of the Seahawks would be in line with the wishes of the late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who mandated the eventual sale of his sports holdings before he died in 2018. Those assets included the Seahawks, the NBA’s Blazers, and a 25% stake in MLS’s Seattle Sounders.

That Seahawks deal is expected to set a record for the largest change-of-control sale in league history, beating the $6.05 billion deal in 2023 in which a Josh Harris-led group acquired the Commanders. Several minority stakes since then have been at valuations far surpassing that figure, including a transaction last fall valuing the Giants at $10 billion.

While the Super Bowl title will create a halo effect, and some incremental revenue, around the Seahawks, the forthcoming deal will likely center more on the overall business of the NFL. That business is historically strong and only getting stronger, particularly with new domestic media deals on the way in the next few years.

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2026 Commanders need to look back to historically great ‘91 Redskins for defensive inspiration

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