The 2024 season was pretty freaking sweet for Commanders faithful. After all, rookie sensation Jayden Daniels led the squad to 12 regular-season wins (most since 1991!) as well as a pair of playoff victories (first since 2005!).

Sadly, the 2025 encore wasn't exactly what fans had in mind. Both Daniels (7 games) and longtime No. 1 WR Terry McLaurin (10 games) were injured for large portions of the season, and the team's lackluster defense simply wasn't up to the task of picking up the slack.

Add it all together, and the Commanders finished with a brutal -95 point differential—the second-worst mark in the entire conference.

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Fantasy Football Team Preview for the Washington Commanders

Will a healthy Jayden Daniels get back to partying like it's 2024?

• QB1: Jayden Daniels (QB5)
• QB2: Marcus Mariota
• QB3: Sam Hartman

Let's sit back for a second and remember *just* how great and productive Daniels was during his rookie campaign.

Most fantasy points per game from a rookie QB in NFL history (min. 8 starts):

1. Cam Newton (23.1)
2. Justin Herbert (22.2)
3. Robert Griffin (21.2)
4. Jayden Daniels (20.9)

Not too shabby, but obviously the returns weren't quite so great in 2025. After all, Daniels saw rather large decreases in completion rate (69% vs. 60.6%), yards per attempt (7.4 vs. 6.7), passer rating (100.1 vs. 88.1) and QBR (67.7 vs. 44.7) from Year 1 to Year 2. Maybe the most nerdy, yet awesome, advanced analytic we have for summing up QB performance is "adjusted EPA per play," and Daniels went from ranking ninth (+0.21) just ahead of Patrick f*cking Mahomes as a rookie … to 27th (+0.05) in Year 2–just behind his OWN BACKUP Marcus Mariota! 

Jayden Daniels has overall QB1 potential

Who is even the leader of this muddled RB room?

• RB1: Jacory Croskey-Merritt (RB38)
• RB2: Rachaad White (RB40)
• RB3: Kaytron Allen (RB53)
• RB4: Jerome Ford
• RB5: Jeremy McNichols
• RB6: Robert Henry Jr.

There was hope that the Commanders would manage to land stud Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love with the seventh overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but they never got the opportunity, and now we have probably, no, DEFINITELY, the single-most muddled backfield situation in the league.

So now for everyone's favorite game: Choose your (committee RB) fighter!

Could a lead RB emerge? 

Should Terry McLaurin be prioritized in the middle rounds of fantasy drafts?

• WR1: Terry McLaurin (WR25)
• WR2: Antonio Williams (WR68)
• WR3: Luke McCaffrey
• WR4: Treylon Burks
• WR5: Jaylin Lane
• WR6: Dyami Brown
• WR7: Van Jefferson

The artist known as Scary Terry, unfortunately, saw his 2025 campaign largely undone by a nagging quad injury. Still, he looked the part when healthy enough to suit up, even improving his marks in yards per reception (13.4 vs. 15.3) and yards per target (9.4 vs. 9.7) relative to his career-best 2024 season.

McLaurin's projected targets may need an adjustment

Is Chig Okonkwo THE late-round tight end of 2026?

• TE1: Chig Okonkwo (TE18 in Fantasy Life ranks)
• TE2: John Bates
• TE3: Ben Sinnott

The glass-half-full and glass-half-empty cases for Chiggy ahead of 2026:

• Bull case: The fun YAC beast works as Jayden Daniels' No. 2 pass-game option in an offense with basically nothing of substance behind soon-to-be 31-year-old WR1 Terry McLaurin.
• Bear case: More traditional inline options John Bates and Ben Sinnott hinder Chiggy's full-time role, and he winds up as one of many complementary pieces in a passing game that frankly wasn't very good in 2025.

Is TE18 too low for Chiggy?

Predictions for the 2026 Washington Commanders

Win total prediction: Washington is just one year removed from winning 12 games and advancing to the NFC Championship. Its 2-5 record last season in one-score games is due for some positive regression. A healthy Daniels-McLaurin combo and potentially more diverse scheme courtesy of new OC David Blough should produce an improved offense. And yet, I just can't get behind this squad as a real threat for double-digit wins. This remains the oldest team in the NFL, and I'm underwhelmed by the alleged improvements made to this roster and coaching staff alike. Give me UNDER 7.5 wins for an organization that has cleared that mark just twice during the last nine seasons.

Bold fantasy call: Terry McLaurin tells Father Time to f*ck right off and posts another top-15 fantasy season on the back of not one, not two, not three … but 12 receiving touchdowns.

Last season predictions: OVER 9.5 wins (whoops), and Brian Robinson to score 12+ touchdowns (the perils of writing team previews before August, but the actual Washington RBs did combine for 15 rushing touchdowns last season. "The process was right!" the man called out as his family silently shook their heads and packed the last of their belongings into the car).

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