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Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn named a surprising tight end to replace veteran Zach Ertz and his “superpowers.”<\/p>\n
Moving on from a veteran as decorated as Super Bowl-winner Zach Ertz<\/a> is a gamble for the Washington Commanders<\/a> at tight end, but head coach Dan Quinn has named a surprising candidate to replace one of Ertz\u2019s \u201csuperpowers.\u201d<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t the tight end the Commanders spent $30 million to acquire<\/a> early in 2026 NFL free agency. Instead, Quinn is \u201cinterested\u201d in how journeyman practice squad member Lawrence Cager<\/a> develops this offseason.<\/p>\n Quinn went out of his away to talk up Cager during the league\u2019s annual owners meeting. He told reporters, including David Harrison of WUSA9<\/a>, how \u201cThe other player we haven\u2019t talked about, but all of us have high hopes for is Cager. He\u2019s got uniqueness to him, man, and if there\u2019s one player you say \u2018Dan who\u2019re you really looking to see what\u2019s gonna take place in spring and in this training camp?\u2019 I see this guy putting in an incredible amount of work right now, and I\u2019m interested to see what goes with Cager.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s high praise for the former New York Giants<\/a> tight end, but not as lofty as Quinn suggesting Cager might even replace a key role Ertz played in the passing game.<\/p>\n Lawrence Cager Tipped for Zach Ertz Role<\/p>\n As Quinn explained to Harrison and others<\/a>, \u201cI think there\u2019s a real value there for third down, and it\u2019s one of Zach\u2019s superpowers, and so when that didn\u2019t take place, that\u2019s a harder person to replace, you known (who) knows when to sit down, when to go. So Cager\u2019s also one that we don\u2019t talk about it a lot, outside the building, but I thought it\u2019s worthy of bringing him up.\u201d<\/p>\n Having Cager become a go-to option on third down is an ambitious plan for a 28-year-old who was only added to the practice squad last September<\/a>. Cager bounced on and off<\/a> the practice squad, but was eventually handed another futures contract in January<\/a> of this year.<\/p>\n That move now takes on greater significance, based on Quinn\u2019s comments. His words put the onus on the player who initially entered the pros as an undrafted free agent with the New York Jets<\/a> back in 2020, to finally realise his athletic potential.<\/p>\n Cager\u2019s upside is obvious, since he\u2019s a roving, 6-foot-5, 220-pound<\/a> target who essentially plays like a wide receiver trapped<\/a> in a tight end\u2019s body. Quinn\u2019s belief Cager has the skills and instincts to find the voids in coverage on football\u2019s money down, the way Ertz often did, is a considerable leap of faith.<\/p>\n Ertz played a key role in star quarterback Jayden Daniels<\/a> taking the league by storm and becoming NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024. Daniels is sure to miss his safety valve<\/a>, but the Commanders are betting on younger and more dynamic athletes to create more options at a vital position.<\/p>\n Dan Quinn Sees Differences in Commanders\u2019 Tight End Room<\/p>\n Quinn spelled out the differences he sees on a depth chart undergoing no-small amount of change without Ertz. The change will be led by big-ticket arrival Chig Okonkwo<\/a>, and Quinn touted the newcomer\u2019s quickness, telling reporters<\/a>, \u201cI love the speed, first and foremost. \u2018Cuz some people have timed speed and then demonstrated game speed, and I felt that with Chig. So you see it on deep over-routes and one that, you know, build up speed on a play-action game.\u201d<\/p>\n First-year Commanders offensive coordinator David Blough<\/a> could have a new plan for making the most<\/a> of Okonkwo\u2019s speed. A new strategy can also salvage<\/a> former second-round draft pick Ben Sinnott\u2019<\/a>s strengths.<\/p>\n Those strengths include \u201chim in the move, him in the backfield, from the line of scrimmage, off the line, and he can really run and get to the edge,\u201d according to Quinn<\/a>.<\/p>\n The latter also acknowledged how incumbent John Bates<\/a> remains \u201cone of the best in-line guys,\u201d while Colson Yankoff<\/a> \u201cis somebody that we felt like has really worked hard in a dual role. So I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what Yank can do.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s more intrigue than tangible proof about what Washington\u2019s tight ends can do this season, but Quinn at least has clear plans for the many options at his disposal. It\u2019s a committee approach that might yield more than one surprising star.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJames Dudko<\/a> covers the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens for Heavy.com. He has covered the NFL and world soccer since 2011, with bylines at FanSided, Prime Time Sports Talk and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy in 2021. More about James Dudko<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Commanders\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn named a surprising tight end to replace veteran Zach Ertz and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-850319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-commanders","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-washington","12":"tag-washington-commanders","13":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116337926004001930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850319","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=850319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}