{"id":74118,"date":"2025-05-24T00:01:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T00:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/74118\/"},"modified":"2025-05-24T00:01:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T00:01:14","slug":"1-washington-commanders-rookie-who-stood-out-most-in-2025-minicamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/74118\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Washington Commanders rookie who stood out most in 2025 minicamp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like every NFL team, the Washington Commanders have their contract woes<\/a>. And they also had to take chances in the offseason<\/a>. But the future looks bright, and here is one rookie who stood out the most in the 2025 minicamp.<\/p>\n

Commanders receiver Jaylin Lane is off to an impressive start. The Commanders grabbed him with the No. 128 overall pick, coming in the fourth round. He turned in a great performance at the combine, showing off terrific athletic skills.<\/p>\n

And he has made it work so far, standing out brightly in the Commanders\u2019 rookie minicamp. He wants to make a splash in the NFL, according to commanders.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always aim for the highest,\u201d Lane said. \u201cBeing an NFL player has been a dream since I was a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commanders WR Jaylin Lane looking good\"GeorgiaPeter Casey-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Assistant general manager Lance Newmark said Lane has a high ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a guy that we were really excited about, organizationally, across the board,\u201d Newmark said. \u201cWe had a vision for him, and he was the highest player on our board when we got to that point. It really was kind of a stressful wait from noon until whenever we finally picked because just a lot of stress and \u2026 hope that he was going to be there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

General manager Adam Peters said getting Lane made sense throughout<\/a> the organization, according to comments on the Pat McAfee Show via Sports Illustrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went around the room, and he had by far the most votes of anybody,\u201d Peters said of the team\u2019s internal draft process. \u201cYou had buy-in from R&D, buy-in from the coaches, from the coordinators, from all our scouts. At that point, it was just a matter of, \u2018Hopefully he falls to us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a growing sense that the Commanders may have gotten one of the draft\u2019s steals. Lane turned in quite a performance at the minicamp. He reportedly has strong route-running ability and stood out as a player who belonged in the minicamp.<\/p>\n

The Commanders\u2019 wide receiver room is better than in 2024. But there\u2019s still an opening in the door where Lane could become a key contributor. Noah Brown is WR3 on the depth chart with Luke McCaffrey, Michael Gallup, and Lane listed as second string. It wouldn\u2019t be shocking to see Lane force his way into three-wide-receiver sets at some point this season.<\/p>\n

WR Jaylin Lane opening eyes among NFL observers<\/p>\n

Lane already has some backers<\/a>, including ESPN\u2019s Field Yates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Lane will have a chance to earn receiver snaps for Washington, what most excites me about his early impact is in the kicking game,\u201d Yates wrote. \u201cLane is arguably the best punt returner in the draft class. Back in 2021, he averaged 15.5 yards per return, second best in FBS.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s shifty and instinctive, and he can flat-out fly. Olamide Zaccheaus handled the highest number of punt returns for the Commanders in 2024 but signed with the Bears this offseason. Lane should help pile up hidden yards.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Lane turned out to be such a promising draft pick. He doesn\u2019t have to stand out as a receiver in 2025 to make an impact. His ability to return kicks could give the Commanders a big special-teams boost. And if the Commanders are as good on special teams as they expect to be on offense, they might be able to overcome some anticipated defensive deficiencies.<\/p>\n

As for Lane, he said he likes what he has seen<\/a> from the Commanders\u2019 organization thus far, according to Bowie TV Sports via yahoo.com.<\/p>\n

Related Washington Commanders NewsArticle continues below<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of elite receivers who have played ball at high level,\u201d Lane said. \u201cI\u2019m just blessed to be here. It has been a real fun process. They\u2019ve done a great job welcoming me and the other rookies coming in. (I\u2019m) just ready to continue to work and get better each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

How will Lane mix with Jayden Daniels?<\/p>\n

Lane said getting picked by the Commanders was awesome for him, according to commanderswire.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they called, I was ecstatic, you know, extremely happy,\u201d Lane said. \u201cI am ready to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd McShay likes the Lane-Jayden Daniels pairing, according to a post on X by SJM.<\/p>\n

Todd McShay GUSHING over the #Commanders draft!<\/p>\n

Peters knocked it out of the park with only 5 picks! #RaiseHail<\/p>\n

\u201cJaylin Lane at 128,\u201d McShay said. \u201cI had him in my top 100, and I don’t apologize for it. You guys watch. You watch with that quarterback and that play-caller. (And) you watch Jaylin Lane and his 4.3-something speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cJaylin Lane has never had a quarterback who could accurately get him the football, so everything was a reverse, a bubble screen, like all sorts of gimmicky stuff. He can return. He’s an A++++ character. Just loves the game. I think Jaylin Lane’s going to be the big surprise from this class as a fourth-round pick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quarterback Jayden Daniels already has Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel to terrorize defenses. If Lane develops into at least a guy who has big games here and there, defenses are going to have big problems picking their poison.<\/p>\n

Lane\u2019s versatility also fits well with Daniels because of his varied abilities. Think about what Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury could design with Samuel\u2019s running ability, Daniels\u2019 running prowess, and Lane\u2019s ground-game chops.<\/p>\n

Think about a run-pass option with a reverse or fake reverse or double reverse with these three players. The Commanders could put some serious pressure on defenses with gadget plays of that nature.<\/p>\n

Yes, pump the brakes a little. Lane hasn’t proven anything just yet. But there is a growing sense he could provide a spark for a team with high aspirations in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like every NFL team, the Washington Commanders have their contract woes. And they also had to take chances…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2069],"tags":[4141,427,7,6,18732,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-74118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-adam-peters","9":"tag-commanders","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-editorials","13":"tag-washington","14":"tag-washington-commanders","15":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114559876066121392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}