Daily Slop – 27 Feb 25 – Pete Carroll, who drafted Bobby Wagner & coached him for 11 seasons, mentioned yesterday that Wagner will be free agent in March

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders

Commanders links

Articles

ESPN

Sizing up potential big Commanders moves this offseason

If they want to be aggressive, and in some cases bold, there are some moves — and some big names — they could consider.

“There will always be trade opportunities,” Peters said. “It just goes back to doing what we think is best for the team.”

Here are the pros and cons of each.

Trade for end Myles Garrett

Why they might: Washington needs an impact defensive player, and few, if any, would provide more of a boost than the Cleveland Browns’ Garrett, the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and a first-team All-Pro at defensive end in four of the past five years. As one NFC offensive coach said, it would move the needle for Washington on defense: “They would be able to compete better with Philly for sure” by acquiring Garrett. And with quarterback Jayden Daniels on a rookie contract, Washington could take advantage by not only trading for Garrett but also extending his contract, which expires after the 2026 season.

Trade for WR Deebo Samuel

Why they wouldn’t: Cost. Samuel is in the final year of a contract worth $17.5 million, though it is not guaranteed. Would Samuel want an extension from any new team, and what would that cost? Also, the potential draft pick compensation remains uncertain and would be determined based on how many teams are interested. However, teams also know he wants to be traded and that the 49ers will honor that request, which could lower the cost to acquire him.

Raid the Eagles’ defensive line

Why they might: End Josh Sweat and tackle Milton Williams are coming off strong years and played key roles on the Philadelphia line that helped the team win the Super Bowl. Both would fill a hole. Washington could use an end adept at playing the run and rushing the passer — it has soon-to-be free agent ends in Clelin Ferrell and Dante Fowler Jr. Sweat has averaged 8.25 sacks the past four seasons, and his run stop win rate of 29% last season was better than any of Washington’s defensive ends. Williams would fill a hole created by the potential trade or release of Allen. Williams had a career-high five sacks in 2024 and is only 25.

Why they wouldn’t: Cost. Corry said Sweat could command a deal worth “north of” $20 million annually. Though Williams’ contract will not be as expensive, he might have more suitors driving up that price. The draft is also considered deep at defensive tackle, so that might provide another option to find players to pair alongside presumptive starters Daron Payne and Jer’Zhan Newton.

---

Washington Post (paywall)

The Commanders seem prepared to revamp their defensive line

Washington has 28 free agents — one of the highest totals in the NFL — and five are defensive linemen. That means a major change could be coming.

As the Washington Commanders prepare for the new league year at the NFL combine, it’s clear that one of their priorities is to strengthen the defensive line. The Commanders are likely to move on from defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, whom they gave permission to seek a trade, and they have just four other linemen under contract who played any snaps last season.

Two rival team personnel executives, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation, were skeptical that the Commanders could get a big return for Allen — maybe a sixth-round draft pick, they speculated, or a late-round pick swap. Both said a strong defensive tackle draft class will hurt Allen’s market.

Washington could retain some of its linemen in free agency but is eager to upgrade its porous run defense.

“Beating somebody to the punch is so important at that spot,” Quinn said. “The bigger the offensive line, they’re more difficult — I can’t get through; I can’t get around ’em. So how do I beat a guy to the spot? … If you have that trait, that’s it. There’s not a certain [40-yard dash] speed. This is an initial quickness. That’s the number one thing.”

That skill can help differentiate free agents. For example, while they have some similarities, Philadelphia’s Josh Sweat had very good initial quickness this season and Kansas City’s Charles Omenihu did not.

---

Commanders Wire

Could Pete Carroll lure Bobby Wagner from the Commanders to the Raiders?

The legendary Pete Carroll took over as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders last month, and fans are hoping for a quick turnaround. Could the Raiders follow Washington’s example from 2024? Remember, the Commanders finished 4-13 in 2023 and enjoyed their best season in 33 years, going 12-5. The Raiders finished 4-13 last season.

While no Jayden Daniels is available for Las Vegas, Carroll could look to Washington for help in turning around his new team. Wagner, 34, signed with the Commanders last March, and his former coach reminded everyone on Tuesday at the NFL combine that Wagner is a free agent in two weeks.

Carroll drafted Wagner in 2012 and his head coach for 11 of his 13 seasons.

---

Front Office Sports

NFL Players’ Views of Commanders Dramatically Improve After First Full Year Away From Snyder Control

Union report cards had ranked Washington dead last in the league for two years running. Now players rate the team 11th overall.

After finishing dead last in the NFL Players Association’s annual report card for two years in a row, Washington rose to 11th overall in 2025’s report cards, which were released Wednesday morning.

Last year’s report cards covered the 2023 season, which played out only months after Josh Harris closed a deal with disgraced former owner Dan Snyder to buy the team for $6 billion in July of that year.

The Commanders were ripped across the board in the 2024 report cards with issues ranging from sewage leaks in the locker room to an understaffed training room. As Snyder sold the team, the NFL fined him $60 million after an investigation that found he sexually harassed a team employee and withheld millions in ticket revenue from the league.

Harris backed up his talk, receiving an A this year for ownership, ranking eighth among his peers. New head coach Dan Quinn was the top-ranked head coach on the report cards, too.

---

Podcasts & videos

---

Analyzing Commanders’ Approval of DT Jonathan Allen’s Request to Seek a Trade Partner | Adam Peters

---

NFC East links

Bleeding Green Nation

What could Howie Roseman’s “different” offseason for the Eagles look like?

It sounds like the Eagles’ roster will be constructed a bit differently this spring.

On Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Roseman addressed the media and talked a bit about this upcoming off-season. In short, Howie sought to tamp down on expectations the team would be big spenders in free agency or on the trade market fresh off the team’s second Super Bowl victory.

“We have challenges because we have a lot of good players and we have long-term contracts with a lot of our players who are in their prime,” Roseman said. “My expectations aren’t that we’re going to have to lose a lot of players and that means that there are excuses for next season. It’s just, it’s going to look different.”

Unlike previous off-seasons where it appeared Roseman had money flowing from his pockets to scatter across the roster, those previous decisions will also prevent him from signing external free agents. The team would also like to spend some money giving players like center Cam Jugens the extensions they need/deserve.

“It’s probably not going to look like maybe the [way] conventional wisdom thinks it should look,” Roseman said of this impending off-season. “When I look at some of the decisions that we have to do, we’re going to have to trade off in some other areas.”

Most Eagles fans are salivating at the thought of the team adding a stud edge rusher like Cleveland’s Myles Garrett in a trade, but how realistic is that? It depends. Roseman was asked about the possibility, but refused to speculate.

---

Bleeding Green Nation

Eagles fall to 22nd in newest NFLPA Report Card rankings

The Philadelphia Eagles, who you may remember as the current Super Bowl champions, fared quite well in this evaluation last year, finishing fourth in the league. The year before, the first year the NFLPA conducted this exciting (???) endeavor, the Birds were 14th. Not entirely sure what happened this year, but the Eagles PLUMMETED to 22nd out of 32 NFL teams once all of the results were tabulated.

A failing grade for “team travel” is pretty brutal with “players feel[ing] that their team’s travel schedule is not very efficient” and also that “they should get first class seats on team flights instead of the coaching staff.” I guess travelling to Brazil to open the season wasn’t as much fun as I imagined?

However, despite the overall low grades the organization earned, the players are confident things can turn around quickly and gave three examples:

• providing childcare on game days (like most NFL teams do)
• prioritizing first-class seating for players instead of coaches
• staggering lunch times to avoid overcrowding in the cafeteria

---

Big Blue View

Report: Abdul Carter might need foot surgery

This news could end up having implications for the New York Giants

Since Carter is considered a potential No. 1 overall pickin the upcoming NFL Draft that could have a direct impact on the New York Giants at No. 3 overall, perhaps throwing the top of board into chaos.

“There are mixed opinions on whether he needs surgery, and we will figure that out in the near future,” Carter’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told Schefter.

Per Schefter, Carter could have surgery to have a screw inserted into the foot. That procedure would sideline him for roughly two months. He could also opt against the surgery, work out at his Pro Day and hope to convince teams he is healthy.

Rosenhaus told Schefter he still expects Carter to be the first pick in the draft.

---

NFL league links

Articles

Pro Football Talk

NFL plans to use state-of-the-art technology for measurements in 2025

The NFL will use technology for virtual line-to-gain measurements next season, but officials will continue to spot the ball.

“The goal is for it to come online in 2025,” Kimberly Fields, the NFL’s senior vice president of football operations, said Wednesday.

The chain gang will remain as a backup.

The league tested Sony’s Hawk-Eye tracking services in the 2024 preseason and in the background during the 2024 regular season. The optimal tracking system notifies officials instantly if a first down was reached.

The technology does not track the ball, with officials still needing to spot it, but replay assist will confirm accuracy of that placement. Since the technology requires additional cameras in every stadium, there will be more — and better — replay angles of forward progress.

Six cameras will be used for the virtual line-to-gain technology, along with 12 boundary-line cameras and 14 Hawk-Eye’s SkeleTRACK cameras that monitor more than two-dozen skeletal points on a player’s body. All 30 NFL stadiums, and the international stadiums where the league plays, will be equipped with a total of 32 cameras.

---

The Athletic (paywall)

NFL combine primer: Why top prospects skipping drills could be here to stay

“Every NFL team probably wouldn’t want to say it, but they realized (during the pandemic), ‘Hey, maybe the draft process, especially for top-tier guys, isn’t really that important,’” Galko said. “A lot of the on-field stuff can be a little bit, in my opinion, superfluous for some players who don’t want to show too much.

“That’s why I think players are taking ownership of their process and saying, ‘Hey, I’m not going to open the door for critique.’”

Last year, five of the top six picks in the NFL Draft opted out of combine drills (quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, and wideouts Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers). Movement tracking technology clocking players’ speeds in college and at spring all-star events, plus game film that shows a track record of success, could make the combine look more like a risk to a top-tier player’s draft stock than an opportunity.

Trainer Matt Gates — co-owner of XPE Sports, which specializes in combine prep and sent 35 athletes to this year’s event — pointed to another factor: the condensed amount of training time for prospects playing in the college postseason. Players from Ohio State and Notre Dame who were in the Jan. 20 College Football Playoff national championship, the first of the expanded 12-team field, had three and a half weeks to train after their seasons ended, half of Gates’ ideal time frame.

“If the NFL wants to see more players participate in this event and not wait until pro day, you have to have more time to train after the national championship, or even after the semifinals,” Gates said. “It’s just not enough time.”

---

NFL Draft

Commanders.com

Top quotes from DL/LB media press conferences

Georgia LB Jalon Walker on his versatility:

“I feel like I’m better at being that chess piece. Like playing multiple positions and being that inside backer, outside backer, sometimes playing that nickel of SAM. That increases my value and increases the team’s value as well. You never know where I’ll be at in the game for that.”

South Carolina LB Demetrius Knight on playing in the SEC:

“That’s the closest you’re gonna get to the NFL with the monsters that are out there at offensive line, defensive line, so on and so forth. So, being able to compare yourself to those guys, it gives you a tip of the scale on where you’re at, athletically, mentally, how you prepare and things like that. If you play well in the SEC, you can play well in the NFL once you connect with those veterans to adapt to the game.”

Notre Dame DL Howard Cross on playing alongside Commanders DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste:

“Javontae was one of my really close friends. Great player, great physicality, brought a lot of energy. That was the main thing I remember about him. He just knew how to hype everybody up and stuff like that, in the locker room and out of the locker room. He’s just a hype man, and every team needs that. I feel like that’s why he’s succeeding right now.”

Penn State DE Abdul Carter on if it’s realistic for him to be the No. 1 overall pick:

“I feel like it’s very realistic. I feel like I’m the best player in the country, and the best player should be selected No. 1.”

---

All aTwitter

---

---

---