This is the most excited I have been for a football season in my life. The reason for that is quite obvious. We actually have a good football team. It definitely feels different going into a year knowing I get to watch Jayden Daniels play 17 and hopefully more games of football. Watching him run it in during his lone preseason drive was the perfect reminder that he is still a very good football player. He’s the first quarterback to start week 1 in back to back seasons since Kirk Cousins in 2017. This is something that shouldn’t be a big deal. However, it does give a lot of perspective as to where this team was one year ago.
A quote from last year’s season outlook may help. “I am not expecting these guys to cook up a 10 win season out of nowhere but crazier things have happened. All I ask is that I am able to turn on the TV this year and not have already accepted we are going to get blown out before the coin toss has even happened.” Well, crazier things did happen. We went to the NFC Championship. At the end of the day, last year is history and this season is about proving we are here to stay. With that being said, let’s get into it.
We’ve had some offseason wins over the past few months. We extended Terry after the holdout. Him and Frankie made a commercial together. Knowing he got the number he wanted, I’m going to assume Eastern Motors didn’t pay them millions of dollars under the table. But, maybe they did, who knows. Ownership has began making moves to put the team more in touch with its past. There is legislation going on to get the team moved back to RFK. The stadium would be built by 2030. No, I am not looking forward to knowing what the PSL prices will be. They are going to be outrageous. Jerseys paying homage to the Super Bowl years will be brought back for a few games. I have already purchased Jayden’s jersey. Art Monk’s number is getting retired. Lots of good stuff. Lastly, the NFC East is this year’s in season Hard Knocks. I’m sure that first episode will be loaded up with the Terry drama and Micah trade. I’m very happy he is out of the division.
There’s no downplaying the fact we had nearly every 50/50 game go our way last year. There will be a reversion to the mean in some capacity this l season. It is statistically improbable for all those games to go our way again. But, you can’t argue with the fact we were the most exciting team in football last season. A friend mentioned the idea that we will eventually become a very hated franchise and I agree with him. The 0 to hero story will only last so long until people get tired of it. But in the meantime, I’m gonna take it in. We have 8 stand alone games this season. So whether people like it or not, they are going to be watching a lot of Jayden Daniels this season. Personally, I will highly enjoy watching our team knowing I’m not missing any other football.
Let’s get into the roster we’re rolling into the season with. The majority of our offense stayed the same aside from upgrades in various positions. We brought in Deebo to be our true wide receiver 2 and traded for Tunsil to protect Jayden’s blindside for at least the next two seasons. In my opinion, Tunsil is a bigger add than Deebo. He’s the best left tackle we’ve had since Trent. Last season, we rolled out a rookie who played guard in college to play left tackle. No disrespect whatsoever to Coleman. He did everything that was asked of him. However, the Tunsil addition allows Coleman to go back to a spot he’s more familiar with.
We used our first round pick on another tackle, Josh Conerly Jr, an All-American who gave up just three sacks in his collegiate football career. In the same offseason, we picked up two tackles who will be keeping Jayden’s jersey clean for years to come. I did not see us taking a linemen in the first round; however, I’ll never be upset with a move related to protecting our best asset. The offensive line is in a great spot to start the season and will only get better once Cosmi is healthy.
We used two other draft picks to grab a wide receiver with 4.3 speed in the third, Jaylin Lane, and the steal of the draft, Jacory Croskey-Merrit. Lane will be returning punts and offers a deep threat option that wasn’t around last season. Sound like any Washington receivers from the past? To refresh your memory that player is Desean Jackson. And by the way, Lane ran a faster 40 than Desean at the combine. As long as he doesn’t muff punts, I think he’ll be around for a while. It is upsetting to know Luke McCaffrey won’t be seeing the field as much as last year. Either way, I’m still taking him to score the first touchdown every game.
Now for the player who at this point needs no introduction. The player who has shown so much promise that we traded Brian Robinson before the season. First of all, I would like to say thank you to BRob. I have a lot of good memories watching that guy play and absolutely wish him the best in San Francisco. JCM, who likes to be called Bill for a reason I still don’t know nor want to find out, will be taking over the reigns this year. He’s currently listed as our RB4 but is going in the 7th rounds in fantasy drafts. That’s ironic because we drafted him in the 7th round of this year’s draft.
He has an awesome story making him hard to root against. He lost eligibility in his final season at Arizona because a previous college he attended did not register him changing his number. This resulted in him missing out on a lot of money and his final season. He was going to be my fantasy sleeper until the whole world found out about him. I will be placing a wager on him to win offensive rookie of the year. I’m all in on Bill this year. With Jayden at the helm, I’m expecting this to be a very fun offense to watch on Sundays.
On the other side of the ball, our cornerbacks are night and day to start this season. At this point last year, two of our starters were Emmanuel Forbes and Benjamin St. Juste. Those demons have been exorcised. Now, we have a healthy Marshon Lattimore, year two Mikey, and Trey Amos, a rookie who had no business still being on the board when we picked in the second round. Amos will be a day one starter. He served as Ole Miss’ lockdown guy holding opposing starting QBs to a 54.5 passer rating when targeting him last season. Also, I should mention Noah Igbinoghene and Jonathon Jones who give us legit depth pieces. Really, it cannot be emphasized enough how relieving it is knowing we won’t have to watch Forbes and BSJ for another season. Any player on the field is an upgrade compared to those two.
The safety positions will be held down by Will Harris and Quan Martin. Quan is criminally underrated and Harris was brought in from New Orleans to replace Chinn. Also, you can’t forget about Jeremy Reaves who will be seeing a lot of playing time this season. These aren’t names who necessarily jump off the page as game changers. But, they are guys who when called upon should be able to get the job done.
Our linebackers stayed the same with Bobby and Frankie. Both of whom, made their way onto the NFL top 100 list. I’m still remembering two seasons ago when our linebackers were Cody Barton and Jamin Davis. Please never take me back. Also, we added an athletic freak in the sixth round to complement these two. Kain Medrano was the fastest linebacker in the draft and a two sport athlete at UCLA. I would say if there’s anyone you want to learn from in the NFL, it’s Bobby Wagner.
This brings me to the biggest question mark on our team this upcoming season, the defensive line. I am not worried about the interior guys. Payne, Kinlaw, and Johnny will be fine holding that down and stuffing the gaps. What worries me is our defensive ends. It’s never a great thing when you bring in a 36 year old Von Miller to come off the edge. It shows there isn’t much faith in Dorrance Armstrong or Deatrich Wise. We might need Von to hop in a time machine and bring back the guy he was 10 years ago. Defensive end was a problem last year and it’s likely going to be again this year.
That about wraps it up for the roster overview. I like what we’ve got in most positions. I am confident this is a team, barring injuries, will be able to make it back to the playoffs and give us some exciting football to watch. Now, let’s get into some futures for this season.
First of all, we hit on rookie of the year last season. Now, it’s time to hit on the big one. Jayden Daniels to win MVP. All of the measures this front office has taken to ensure there won’t be any slump whatsoever makes me believe he can get it done in year two. I already mentioned Bill to win OROY. I don’t know if this is fact checkable, but he has got to be up there with the shortest odds of any 7th rounder to win the award before the season kicks off. We are projected to win 9.5 games. I would like that over and for us to make the playoffs. Terry’s over on DraftKings is 1000.5 yards. He’s hit that in his past 5 seasons and I don’t see anything changing especially with his new contract. Lastly, the one that hasn’t made it past week 3 in either of the last two seasons. I feel like this is finally the year we score a touchdown in every single game. This one has been a monkey on my back and this is the year I get it off.
This Sunday we are currently 6 point favorites against the Giants. Personally, I don’t love this line. It’s only week 1 and it already feels like a trap. That doesn’t mean I’m going to not take it. I absolutely will be. I do however think the league is sleeping on the Giants this season. They have a very questionable offense but a great defensive line. At the end of the day, we are the better team and I believe we will win. Just maybe not by 7 points. Landover will be rocking at 1pm on Sunday. The place will be packed with ideally all DC fans. I love the moneyline bet and like the spread bet. One player I firmly believe we will see doing a touchdown dance tomorrow is Deebo Samuel. You can tell how excited he is to be here and how Kliff plans to get him involved often this season. Also, I am obligated to take Luke McCaffrey first touchdown. He just has to do it once and I’m in the green for every bet I’ve ever placed there. I’m not going to get crazy with the bets in week 1. I’ll start airing it out as the season goes.
It’s so nice to have football back. It’s such a new feeling going into the season thinking we have a chance to win the big one. According to Vegas, we have the 7th best odds to win the Super Bowl. At +1900, that is worth throwing around a unit. I believe we will make it back to the playoffs. Once we are there, who knows what can happen. When you have a quarterback like Jayden, anything is possible. Looking forward to writing more throughout the season. I’m so happy football is back. Let’s have a year.
Photo Credit: Washington Commanders X