Commanders updated depth chart ahead of 2nd preseason game at Miami

Several changes since the Jets game

Since last week’s preseason opener against the Jets, there have been a number of changes to the roster

Additions

• WR Martavis Bryant signed ($985K cap number)
• QB Trace McSorley signed

Subtractions

• K Ramiz Ahmed was waived (not signed by another team)
• OL Mason Brooks was waived (not signed by another team)

Other

• The right tackle initially identified in the Commanders announcement as Alex Taylor goes by the name of Armani Taylor-Prioleau; (Alex seems to be his nickname).

UPDATED DEPTH CHART

The numbers that appear beside some players’ names are 2024 cap hits per Over the Cap.

Please note that assigned positions and color coding are my own personal opinions. They do not necessarily represent the thinking of Washington’s coaches or front office, nor are they necessarily consistent with fan consensus. This chart represents my personal interpretation, and may not reflect the thoughts of other writers on Hogs Haven. Finally, when it comes to backup players, I don’t put much effort into making sure that they are on the right or left or behind the specific player that they backup. I mostly just try to fit everyone on the chart efficiently.

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The Commanders currently have 91 players on the roster (including one International Pathway Player who is exempt from the usual 90-man limit). Going into the second preseason game, the team has 44 offensive players, 44 defensive players, and 3 specialists (K, P, LS).

Some notes on players/positions

Martavis Bryant (and receiving group in general)

Martavis Bryant was signed by the team on Tuesday. He has not caught a regular season NFL pass since 2018, but the 32-yr-old receiver was on the Cowboys practice squad last year, so Dan Quinn knows him and seems to believe in him.

The Commanders receiving group comprises a lot of guys between 5’10” and 6’1”, without much height. Drafted rookie Luke McCaffrey stands 6’2”, but the only bigger receiver on the team had been 2023 UDFA Brycen Tremayne, listed at 6’4”, 212 pounds. By signing Bryant, whom the team website lists at 6’4”, 211 pounds, the Commanders add another potential target with size to the wide receiver group.

Bryant appears to be a dark horse for making the initial 53-man roster given the length of time he has been out of the NFL and the timing of his signing, but his addition indicates that the coaching staff is not completely satisfied with the wide receiver room that they took on the road to New Jersey last week.

Dan Quinn sounded enthusiastic about Bryant on Tuesday:

He’s got size and length and the ability to use him in the red zone, so when you see him, he’ll stand out. He looks like a linebacker playing wide out from a size standpoint. I got a chance to work with him previously when I was in Dallas, and, so I’m looking forward to having him here.

Jahan Dotson, Olamide Zaccheaus, Dyami Brown, and third-round pick Luke McCaffrey are also in what Dan Quinn described as a spirited fight for the job.

We are right in the middle of it,” Quinn said. “You’ll see a lot of guys in today. You’ll see two, three, four, five. There are a lot of guys that are really battling. I’ve been really impressed with Olamide, I thought he’s had a really strong camp. Looking forward to getting Luke some extra work into here [as well as] Jahan [and] Dyami, so that’s where we’re at.

I have applied my own logic to the receiver group depth chart above (though it may be somewhat mysterious). Outside of Terry McLaurin, the status of the group as a whole and each member of it is likely to remain opaque until the end of the month.

LB Jordan Magee injury

There is a continuing lack of clarity about the nature and severity of Jordan Magee’s injury. My experience as a fan tells me that, if Dan Quinn knew that Magee was lost for the season, he’d have announced that already. Also, if Magee was known to have a minor injury that would allow him to play again in the preseason, that would have also been announced already. This leads me to believe that the coaching staff either (a) still doesn’t know his status, or (b) he has an injury that will keep him from playing at the start of the season. If the former is true, I guess we just need to wait for the doctors to assess the nature and extent of the injury. If the latter is true, expect Magee to be put onto the PUP list this month and to open the season on IR, meaning that he will miss at least 4 games.

Note on IR rules: Each team can utilize up to 8 activations from IR in the regular season. No player can be activated more that two times in a season, and each activation counts against the limit of 8. Each NFL team can designate, at the time of the initial 53-man roster formation, up to 2 players for return to the active roster during the regular season (otherwise, a player on IR at this time cannot play for that team during the entire season). These designations count against the 8 permitted activations whether or not the player(s) is/are actually activated during the season.

Sam Hartman injury – Trace McSorley signing

Applying the same logic as with Jordan Magee above, it seems unlikely that the Commanders plan to put Sam Hartman on season-ending IR.

Releasing guard Mason Brooks instead of putting Hartman on inactive PUP to make room for McSorley indicates that either Hartman will be active again by Preseason Game 3 or the Commanders expect to get Hartman to IR without ending his 2024 season.

There are only THREE quarterbacks active for Saturday’s preseason game against the Dolphins. I expect Jayden Daniels to start, but to play less than a full quarter of football. He played only 11 snaps (the first offensive drive) against the Jets last week. I doubt whether he plays much more than that against Miami.

McSorley will have a somewhat limited knowledge of the playbook, so I expect Jeff Driskel to play the bulk of the game — probably until at least midway through the 3rd quarter. When McSorley enters the game, expect a meat & potatoes offense with a lot of running plays and limited passing concepts.

Bo Bauer injury

Bo Bauer is an undrafted rookie linebacker. He was always a long shot to make the roster (or even the practice squad) and looked slow and outmatched on the field against the Jets. He suffered a right leg injury at Thursday’s joint practice in Miami.

I would expect the team to announce on Monday or Tuesday that Bauer has been waived with an injury designation, which would allow them to sign another player to the roster ahead of the final preseason game.

Kicker

With the release of Ramiz Ahmed, there is only one kicker currently on the Commanders roster: Riley Patterson. When asked about this in a press conference this week, Dan Quinn’s response was a bit puzzling:

[It’s] Still an open competition for us at that spot, but we did feel like this was something — let Riley [Patterson] go into this week and have these reps at Miami, both at practice and at the game. He’ll kick, obviously, in both of those settings.

Referring to “open competition” with only one kicker left on the roster seems to imply that either Ramiz Ahmed could return to camp next week, or that, following the final preseason game, Washington will grab a kicker who gets waived by another team.

This is clearly a position to keep your eyes on.

Preseason Games

The Commanders opened the 2024 preseason with a 20-17 loss to the NY Jets on Saturday, August 10th.

The second preseason game will be this week in Miami, at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday the 17th of August.

Washington will close out its preseason with a home game against the Patriots at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 25th.

Every NFL team needs to reduce its roster to a maximum of 53 players by 4pm on August 27th.