Commanders training camp is underway. The full squad is checked in. The staff is ready for heightened activity and the coaches believe they\u2019ve set up a plan for success and development over the next several weeks as preparation for the 2026 season begins in earnest.<\/p>\n
The vibes are high around the Commanders training complex in Ashburn, VA, something that was clear at the start of Tuesday evening\u2019s press conference with head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited for you guys to feel the energy of the team, their readiness, their swagger,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cAs we get started, I\u2019m excited for you all to feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peters backed that up with this: \u201cI\u2019m excited as I\u2019ve ever been. There\u2019s a ton of great energy from all aspects of the building, to see how this is going to unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s belief in a quick rebound from last season\u2019s mess, with new coordinators, quarterback Jayden Daniels\u2019 rejuvenated health, and a bunch of free agents and draft picks ready to join the fight.<\/p>\n
Here are five things we learned from Tuesday\u2019s remarks:<\/p>\n
Commanders are happy at WR, but… <\/p>\n
Peters added to his receiver group on several occasions, most notably with the third-round Antonio Williams draft pick and Dyami Brown\u2019s return in free agency. There are several (including me) wondering if they need to add another veteran receiver to the mix.<\/p>\n
The GM was asked about adding another talent to the roster, and had this to say:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with what we\u2019ve done throughout the offseason. Our staff did a great job identifying guys who would help us, both offensively and defensively,\u201d Peters said. \u201cSpecifically, wide receiver-wise, we\u2019re really happy with who\u2019s in that room and how the guys progressed in the offseason and stepped up and will take another step in this training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike any other room in any other place, if we have ways to get better we\u2019re always going to look into that and really assess the decision and whether it\u2019s the right move for our team or not. If it is, we\u2019re not afraid to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, yeah, the door\u2019s still open. DMV native Stefon Diggs seems like a decent option<\/a>. Brandon Aiyuk did a while ago, but his often off-putting social media antics<\/a> have seemingly made him a far less attractive option should the 49ers receiver ever apply for reinstatement off the reserve\/left-squad list and be released by San Francisco.<\/p>\n NBC4\u2019s JP Finlay<\/a>, in an expertly phrased question that got a laugh from Peters and Quinn, asked if social media can impact an evaluation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do look at everything,\u201d Peters said. \u201cWe want to make sure it\u2019s the right player to be in our locker room and our bloodstream and our culture. We look at that stuff. It\u2019s not always the first thing we look at. You look at the tape and you look at the teams the players have been on and how they were in the locker room with the players they were playing with to make those decisions. But, yeah, that\u2019s not usually a huge part of it. Usually.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth watching this exchange in full:<\/p>\n There\u2019s belief in the CB corps…full stop <\/p>\n The Commanders signed veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas<\/a> earlier this month, but it wasn\u2019t to fill a void. Peters didn\u2019t see a deficiency in the group, only the possibility to add depth and experience to a premium position. He made that clear on Tuesday when asked about the Douglas addition.<\/p>\n \u201cHe started a lot of games recently, and he always performs,\u201d Peters said. \u201cSo, when you have an opportunity to add to that room, it\u2019s not a deficiency in the room at all. You just want to make each room as strong as it can be. So, getting him in, we\u2019re really excited about that. And we just got a chance to meet him yesterday. He\u2019s big, and he\u2019s played a lot of good ball. We\u2019re excited to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear the Commanders are confident in the cornerback room overall \u2014 Mike Sainristil and Amik Robertson were singled out as team leaders \u2014 with optimism that those players will fit well within Daronte Jones\u2019 scheme.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s actually a deep group, we feel, going into it,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cAnd so, I think kind of the secret sauce is, how do we fit in? Well, who\u2019s going to play inside? Who\u2019s going to play outside? How can we work through that? And I think that, in itself, is going to be some intrigue, and it\u2019ll take a few weeks for us to get to that space.\u201d<\/p>\n Jayden Daniels\u2019 \u2018hunger\u2019 <\/p>\n Daniels is coming off a 2025 season where he missed 10 games and finished just four. That rough follow-up to an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign is in his rearview \u2013 he made that clear during the offseason program<\/a> — and he\u2019s ready to meld with David Blough\u2019s new offense and return to regularly fine form.<\/p>\n That has been clear during the spring and into this summer\u2019s camp.<\/p>\n \u201cYou felt his hunger from the beginning this offseason, with the way he went after it,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cJust his ability to understand this scheme that quickly, it\u2019s not easy for anyone to do. He often makes the difficult things look easy, but … he absolutely has that.\u201d<\/p>\n Commanders have big plans for Chig <\/p>\n It sure seems like the Commanders have big plans for new tight end Chig Okonkwo<\/a>. The free-agent signing from Tennessee does a lot of things well, especially in the passing game. That\u2019s prized in the scheme we expect David Blough to run.<\/p>\n That was clear hearing Peters talk about him on Tuesday evening, that Okonkwo\u2019s presence will allow the Commanders to do some creative things.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s an outstanding receiver. He\u2019s outstanding in the pass game,\u201d Peters said. \u201cHe\u2019s great after the catch, you know, and he\u2019s also a really good blocker . A good competitive blocker. He\u2019s not the biggest tight end. He\u2019s not [TE] John Bates, but we really love the way he competes as a blocker and how he executes there too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a really good skill set, but he does help us quite a bit in the pass game. So, he allows you to be a little bit more multiple. You know, you can go more two tight end sets; you can go one tight end set. It\u2019s like you almost have four receivers on the field. He provides a lot of versatility in where he can line up and what he can do for us when he gets the ball in his hands. And then he\u2019s pretty magical.\u201d<\/p>\n Quinn confident in Nick Allegretti <\/p>\n Nick Allegretti seems set to play center for the Commanders this season despite most of his NFL experience coming at guard. There\u2019s no trepidation handing Allegretti such a plum assignment with tons of pre-snap responsibility. After hearing comments from Quinn, it was clear Washington was comfortable letting Tyler Biadasz walk<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of faith and confidence in him,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cIt\u2019s another one of the positions that we do have competition that we\u2019re going for. But, if Nick was playing on defense, he\u2019d be a green dot. This is one of the smartest guys on our team now. Like, we talk about putting it under control, that\u2019s part of playing center. And he has that targeting. \u2018Who\u2019s this? Where\u2019s the protection going?\u2019 We\u2019ve got a lot of confidence in him. He is one hell of a competitor. And so, he\u2019s one of those guys, man, you don\u2019t bet against that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Commanders training camp is underway. The full squad is checked in. The staff is ready for heightened activity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[99,15981,53115],"class_list":["post-791248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-sports","tag-washington-commanders-news","tag-washington-commanders-training-camp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}