As the Washington Commanders prepare this week to travel to Florida for a Week 1 date with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, experts around the NFL are taking one last stab at racking and stacking each franchise in power ranking order.
For the Commanders, coming of a four-win season earning them the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft, it’d be easy to dismiss the team as a bottom-feeder hoping to get better while not really making any waves in the playoff picture.
However, more than 60 percent roster turnover and a brand new Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback has Washington sitting a bit higher than it sat at the end of 2023, including in NFL.com’s own power rankings entering Week 1.
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“The social media feedback I was getting after my glowing, love-the-effort review of the Commanders from my last rankings is that I am a wee bit more upbeat about their chances than even people close to the team might be. And I get it,” says Eric Edholm of NFL.com who ranks the Commanders 26th in the league, the same spot he had them in his aforementioned previous rankings. “There are still a lot of boxes that need checking, and at a few high-priority positions, such as offensive tackle and cornerback. But I think Washington got the biggest position right this offseason with Jayden Daniels, whose scrambling ability can help cover for some of those blocking concerns, though obviously not all. I also think there was a big coaching upgrade. Dan Quinn has a great career mark of making teams better — both as an assistant and head coach — in his first year on staff. …If Washington can catch the Bucs napping in Week 1 ahead of Week 2’s home opener against the Giants, a 2-0 start is possible.”
In support of Edholm’s stance, we happen to be pretty close up to Washington and agree that this team is better than the one we last saw wearing burgundy and gold uniforms.
And sure, there are concerns at some key areas, maybe even call them curiosities as starting left tackle Brandon Coleman is a rookie returning from an injury and cornerbacks Benjamin St-Juste and Emmanuel Forbes were part of the NFL’s worst pass defense last season. But we also all bore witness to the Houston Texans who had several players on their 2023 roster that helped earn the franchise the No. 2 overall pick following the 2022 season.
Just like this Commanders group, they set out on a mission to prove they were better than expected.
The Texans, by the way, entered last season’s first week ranked 31st in these same power rankings.
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