Daily Slop – 26 May 25 – PFF ranks the NFC East 5th in overall strength in 2025

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, and a sprinkling of other stuff

Commanders links

Articles

The Athletic (paywall)

Two former Seahawks stars challenged each other. They show how relationships really grow

I have known Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright for a dozen years now, which is hard to believe.

For much of that time, Wagner and Wright were linebackers for the Seattle Seahawks during the franchise’s golden years, while I was a young reporter for The Seattle Times and The Athletic.

[T]hey are entertaining as a pair, equal parts complimenting each other and bickering in the way lots of friendships will recognize. Second, I wanted to hear how they navigated the intersection of their personal and professional relationships — how they held each other accountable in the workplace while remaining close away from it.

Today, Wright is an assistant for the San Francisco 49ers in the early days of his coaching career. Wagner is about to enter his 14th season and is the leader of the Washington Commanders.

[KJ] Wright: (Laughs). Bobby [Wagner] had an injured hamstring. I had a concussion that game so I didn’t play. I was sitting there looking at this dude, and he’s limping and hitching on the field before the game. He asked me how he looked. I said, “Uh uh. No, dog, you ain’t right.” He walks away from me. Alright, whatever. Fast forward, the game happens and Todd Gurley runs a little route, and Bobby is still limping and hitching. Gurley scores a touchdown.

I walked up to Bobby, and I don’t know what I said, but I believe Bobby interpreted it as, “You’re costing the team. You’re costing us right now.” Maybe I came off that way. He comes out of the game, and I go into the locker room during the game and follow him. He said something along the lines of: “Bro, get out of my face.”

I didn’t talk to him the Monday after the game, but I think Bobby called me that Tuesday and said: “Bro, I appreciate that. Thank you for being honest.”

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NFL.com

2025 NFL season: Player departures that will have biggest impact on their former teams

Dante Fowler – Dallas Cowboys · Edge

FORMER TEAM: WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

Fowler was a tremendous value last season, racking up a team-high 10.5 sacks for Dan Quinn’s defense while playing on a one-year deal for less than $5 million. Fowler was due for a raise and received one from the Cowboys this offseason, while Washington is hoping Dorance Armstrong can step up in his second year with the team after signing a three-year, $33 million deal last offseason. If Armstrong can produce like Fowler did, the change won’t matter much, but Armstrong has never cracked double-digit sacks in his seven-year career.

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Riggo’s Rag

Commanders must get more from Brian Robinson Jr. in a contract year

The former Alabama star is on the chopping block, make no mistake about that. There’s little chance Robinson won’t be on the 53-man roster, but his future beyond the current campaign will be murky unless his performance levels become more consistent.

Robinson stated the 2024 season superbly. He looked well on course for his first 1,000-yard rushing campaign before tailing off down the stretch and into the playoffs. The offensive line’s regression didn’t help, but the explosiveness and purpose that saw him catch fire early deserted the player when the Commanders needed it most.

The Commanders are keeping faith with Robinson. They believe there is more to come, and the added urgency is there for all to see in pursuit of another financial commitment from the franchise.

Some believe Robinson has been unfairly criticized. Sections of the Commanders’ fan base wanted Peters to use his first-round pick on a running back. Those pleas fell on deaf ears, but this doesn’t detract from the significant challenge awaiting the fourth-year pro when competitive action commences.

Austin Ekeler will be a useful pass-catching outlet. Jeremy McNichols could feature if he secures his roster spot. Croskey-Merritt hasn’t come to make up the numbers despite his lowly draft status. He wants to silence his doubters and become a potential focal point to build around long-term.

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Pro Football Focus

Ranking the NFL divisions by strength heading into 2025

5. NFC EAST: EAGLES, COMMANDERS, COWBOYS, GIANTS

Cumulative over/under win total: 34

The NFC East sent both representatives to the NFC championship game last January, but those two teams — the Eagles and Commanders — are carrying most of the weight for the division as a whole.

Philadelphia lost key talent in free agency, but reloaded effectively enough to remain one of the favorites to return to the Super Bowl in 2025. Washington, meanwhile, struck gold with Jayden Daniels, who earned PFF’s Rookie of the Year honors. The offense looks promising, but the defense must improve after ranking 29th in team grade (60.0), including a 54.2 run-defense grade and just 258 total pressures (21st). Upgrades in the front seven are a step in the right direction.

The Cowboys were derailed by injuries at quarterback last season, and while the arrival of Brian Schottenheimer as head coach brings some uncertainty, they still have the talent to be competitive — especially if the run defense, which graded out at a league-worst 49.3 in 2024, can bounce back.

As for the Giants, their quarterback situation remains unresolved, with three players currently in contention for the starting role. The offensive line hasn’t seen meaningful improvement, which raises concerns regardless of who starts under center. However, the additions of Paulson Adebo and Jevon Holland should help bolster a secondary that ranked 26th in coverage grade (52.5) last season.

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Podcasts & videos

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NFC East links

Blogging the Boys

Predicting the result of every game on the Cowboys 2025 regular season schedule

Week 7: Sunday, October 19, vs. Washington Commanders, 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX

Holleran: While the Commanders did have an outstanding season last year, the Cowboys played very well against them in their two matchups. I see Dallas having the same success this year, keeping their winning streak intact, logging their fourth-straight victory. Give me Dallas, 27-24.

Current Record: 5-2

Howman: The Commanders officially moved into contender status last year, but they lost one game to the Cowboys and nearly lost the second one too. Dallas matches up well here, and with them riding a hot streak they’ll continue to roll and get the win

Current Record: 6-1

Week 17: Thursday, Dec. 25, at Washington Commanders, 1 p.m. ET, Netflix

Holleran: If the Cowboys want any shot of making the playoffs, this game against Washington on Christmas Day becomes a must-win. Even on a short travel week, Dallas defies the odds, led by Dak Prescott tossing four touchdown passes, walking out with a huge win. Give me Dallas, 34-27.

Current Record: 9-7

Final Record: 10-7

Howman: A short turnaround and going to the nation’s capitol on Christmas day? That’s hardly an ideal turn of events in the calendar, even without considering how good the Commanders are now. Dallas drops this one, splitting the series.

Current Record: 10-6

Final Record: 11-6

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Barstool Sports

There’s No Way Abdul Carter Can Be A Bust After Watching The Giants Bring In Justin Tuck And Lawrence Taylor To Teach Him How To Be A Star

[W]hat ]the Giants] did in the Draft and how they are going about actually making smart moves is something I haven’t felt since the Super Bowl days.

Part of that is Abdul Carter. Part of it is the fact the Giants didn’t overthink it. The freak in the Draft was just sitting there at 3, you take him. Whether it was listening to my grandfather talk, my dad talk, any older family member talk or just watching through the 38 years of my life the Giants have always been a defense first team. Go back to the best era with LT, Pepper Johnson, Carl Banks, to Strahan and Armstead to Jason Sehorn to Tuck, Osi, JPP and the NASCAR package. It’s defense. That’s why you take Abdul Carter and more importantly why you do this

You bring in the greatest football player of all time and the another all-time Giants legend to teach the next star. There’s no excuse for this defense to be bad with what they have. Plus, Justin Tuck might be the number 1 pick in terms of guys in sports who were made to give speeches in the huddle.

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NFL league links

Articles

Pro Football Talk

Darrell “Housh” Doucette hopes flag football players get an opportunity to make Olympic team

Doucette and other flag football players ostensibly will get their chance, if the tryout process for the 2028 Olympics gives them a fair chance to compete with active NFL players.

“The flag guys deserve their opportunity,” Doucette told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. “That’s all we want. We felt like we worked hard to get the sport to where it’s at, and then when the NFL guys spoke about it, it was like we were getting kicked to the side. I felt like I was the guy who could speak out for my peers, for my brothers that’s been working hard to get to this level, for us not to be forgotten.”

Doucette believes that the current complement of American flag football players is good enough to win gold, without NFL players horning in.

“This is a sport that we’ve played for a long time, and we feel like we are the best at it and we don’t need other guys,” Doucette said. “But we all have one goal in mind, and that’s to represent our country. We’re definitely open to all competition. If those guys come in and ball out and they’re better than us, hats off to them. Go win that gold medal for our country.”

Doucette’s confidence comes from the inherent differences between flag football and tackle football. “It’s entirely two different games,” Doucette said. “You can’t really compare flag football and tackle football.”

“These are things that we practice and we work on to become great,” Doucette said. “Those guys, they don’t understand it yet.”

The looming opponents of the U.S. men’s team believe the NFL players will figure it out.

Chad Palmer, the head coach of the Canadian men’s national flag football team for eight years, would rather face Doucette and his teammates than an all-star collection of NFL talent.

“We have a better chance of beating the flag players than the NFLers,” Palmer told Kilgore. “I say that with a fair bit of confidence.”

Palmer believes the Canadian team also will consist of primarily NFL players, too.

“I don’t think the current guys who have been doing it for a long time will hold a candle to the pros,” Palmer said.

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Discussion topics

Pro Football Talk

Roger Goodell hints that next CBA will address owner concerns about cap system, rising costs

During Commissioner Roger Goodell’s press conference to cap this week’s ownership meetings, he was asked about potential discussions on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. With the NFL intent on expanding to 18 regular-season games (the current CBA allows 17) and 16 annual international games (the current CBA allows 10), a new deal with the NFL Players Association becomes a must.

And a new deal can be done, in theory, at any time.

“There are no formal plans on any discussions,” Goodell told reporters. “We obviously continue to be in close communication with the union on a variety of matters, but no start of negotiations have been set or are under consideration really at this point. We did spend time today talking, at length, about areas of our Collective Bargaining Agreement that we want to focus on. The two areas that we spent time on were really the cap system itself, the integrity of that system, how’s it working, where do we need to address that in the context of collective bargaining, when that does happen. That was a very lengthy discussion.”

Go back and read those last three sentences again.

“The second is just the rising cost, the cost of stadiums, the cost to facilities, the cost of operation, the cost of investment, and how dramatically that’s impacting the ownership view,” Goodell said. “So, I think both of those will form what I would call our priorities. Going into any negotiation whenever that occurs. So that was the extent of our discussion today. [the] 18-and-two [season format] did not even come up.”

This is how it starts. With fewer than five years to go before the current CBA expires, the league is signaling its eventual objectives.

Reading between the lines, Goodell seems to be saying that the owners are considering whether the current split of revenue between players and owners possibly isn’t working. Really, why have a “very lengthy discussion” if things are going swimmingly?

Here’s the basic reality. The owners learned in 2011 that, when push comes to shove, the players will do a deal. They’ll huff and they’ll puff but they won’t miss game checks. It creates an imbalance in bargaining power that the owners — who would shut a season down in a heartbeat without blinking — have yet to fully leverage.

With the salary cap now at $279.2 million per team, some owners surely think that too much is being spent on players. That, as the NFL continues to make more and more and more money, the players no longer need half.

It’s one thing for the NFL to make record revenues. It’s another thing to turn those revenues into maximum profits. And it’s safe to say that more than a few owners could be thinking that the ongoing explosion in cash (as mentioned earlier today, the cap has increased more than 130 percent since 2011) may be getting to the point at which the franchises should be retaining more than half of the money.

If nothing else, the NFLPA is on notice.

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All aTwitter

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