The Washington Commanders’ 2025 season is over. Well, Washington has six games remaining, but the playoffs are out of the question. At 3-8, the Commanders are currently 14th in the NFC out of 16 teams. Washington is four games out of the NFC’s seventh and final playoff spot. To make the playoffs, the Commanders would need to go 6-0 and receive help from others.
Unlikely, especially given the current injury situation and, arguably, the NFL’s worst defense.
That begs the question: Should the remainder of this season be about evaluation or trying to win as many games as possible?
Ideally, you try to do both. One story we’ve often heard from teams is trying to win as many games as possible late in the season so the momentum carries over into the following year. That’s a myth. Momentum never follows you from one season to another. NFL teams never stay the same. If momentum followed you, the Commanders, who reached the NFC Championship last season, would not be 3-8 right now.
With so many players on expiring deals and the NFL’s oldest roster, Washington should try to win as many games as possible, while giving some of its younger players an extended look. That means 2024 second-round picks Ben Sinnott and Johnny Newton should assume starting roles. The Zach Ertz experiment should be over. Ertz has had a phenomenal career and was an essential part of last season’s team and Jayden Daniels’ development. It’s time to see what Sinnott can do as the starter. If you have no confidence in him to start, that’s a miss for GM Adam Peters.
Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury likely wants to keep Ertz in the lineup. The same goes for Daniels. Both trust Ertz, but his mistakes this season are adding up and have been costly.
The same goes for Newton. Washington bragged about how Newton fell to them early in the second round, and they couldn’t pass on him. Yet, two years into his NFL career, he’s still not a full-time starter either.
Jordan Magee has recently assumed a larger defensive role. After playing a career-high 58 snaps in Week 8, Magee has been back down to 26, 27 and 27 snaps over the last three games, respectively. Not only should Magee’s playing time increase, but it should be at the expense of future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner. That doesn’t mean you should bench Wagner outright, but he shouldn’t be playing 100% of Washington’s snaps. The Commanders need to find out if Magee can play MIKE linebacker for them in 2025.
What does head coach Dan Quinn think about the balance between trying to win and evaluating the future?
“I’m going to work like heck to try to fill both those buckets of winning now and also developing players for the future because it’s important to win now, it is,” Quinn said.
“These guys put absolutely everything you can into it, but it’s also important to bring players along, I recognize that. So, fill in both of those buckets; that’s my job to navigate that, and I’ll work hard to make sure we can do both of those. And it’s not easy, but that’s the goal for sure, to do both. And it takes a fine line, I think, but one that you can do. It takes some thoughtfulness, but it may not be every single game at every single position, but moments where you get guys to evaluate and see what they can do, that helps for sure.”
It is a fine line. You never want to look at your players and say, “We are benching you to see what we have for the future.” The players on this team want to win. Many won’t be on the team the following season, and you aren’t doing them right by benching them for unproven players.
However, the future must always be considered. With a roster that needs plenty of help, it’s time for Quinn and Peters to make some tough decisions.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Play to win or evaluate for 2026?
