BY NOAH RANDALL, SPORTS STAFFER
The 2023-24 Washington Commanders have been an interesting team to say the least.
The bad: The Commanders just traded away two of their best defensive players in Montez Sweat and Chase Young, and they’re sitting at third place in the NFC East.
The good: Trading away Sweat and Young has Washington projected to have $90 million in cap room and just under 10 draft picks for the 2024 offseason, and Sam Howell is the league leader in passing yards as of Week 10.
So, can the good outweigh the bad?
Yes. It’ll lead the Commanders to a Lombardi before the decade is over.
At first glance, that statement may sound insane. But if you take a deeper look at the team, you’ll see that they have a solid foundation of young and talented players to build from, identifiable holes to fill, and the resources to improve that foundation and fill those gaps.
The Commanders’ receiving corps is incredibly underrated, with “Scary Terry” McLaurin on pace for his fourth 1,000-yard season, and Jahan Dotson blossoming in his second year, tied for the most receiving touchdowns on the team.
Sam Howell, the Commanders’ second-year QB, is showing real promise in his first full year as a starter, providing hope for Washington fans.
I took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask Commanders fans if they believe that Howell is their guy.
One responded saying that Howell “has all the tools” and is “capable of being a franchise quarterback”.
This leads to Washington’s biggest problems: the rawness of the team, the offensive line configuration and coaching.
This team is incredibly young, and with that inexperience, we’ve seen this team make costly errors.
However, we’ve also seen this team learn from some of their mistakes, most notably, rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes being able to bounce back from his early struggles — his performance in Week 9 being a prime example.
Sam Howell has been sacked a league-high 47 times; however, this issue is more on Howell holding onto the ball too long rather than on the offensive line missing blocks. The o-line has been far from perfect, but it appears their biggest issue is simply figuring out which guys play best and where they play best.
Another issue is the coaching, with plenty of Commanders fans online calling for the firing of head coach Ron Rivera after three-consecutive losing seasons, missing the playoffs twice. Possibly eyeing a fourth, this season seems to be the breaking point for most Washington fans.
Finally, due to trading both Montez Sweat and Chase Young, this team has been able to stock up on cap room and draft picks, which they can use to fill their gaps, possibly add some more veteran presence to the locker room and bolster an already promising roster with more rising stars.
The Commanders have a lot of work to do, but with the right moves being made, Sam Howell and the Commanders will have a ring on their fingers (maybe even several) before 2030.
nrandall@sbu.edu
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