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It’s fair to say that Commanders defensive tackle Johnny Newton had a somewhat underwhelming rookie season in 2024. The team surprisingly drafted him at the top of the second round despite having a strong group of defensive tackles already, but they felt he was a first round talent that they just couldn’t pass up on. Unfortunately he dealt with injuries throughout the offseason and hardly practiced until the regular season, which led to him playing catch up all year and struggling to make the type of impact he would have liked.
However, Newton has been healthy this offseason, which the Commanders will hope leads to a big step forward from him. He wasn’t one of the 30 players rested in the preseason opener against the Patriots which could be interpreted as the team wanting to see more from him, but also could be seen as the team giving him more opportunities to play and develop. He did only play a limited number of snaps, rotating in for a few series and the odd key situation. But he did immediately jump out on a number of plays. The first was on the Patriots opening drive.
That play set up a second and long, which turned into a third and long and set up Newton for his next big impact play.
Newton’s next snap of note came on the following drive. After the Patriots moved the ball down the field easily, the Commanders put Newton back on the field down near the goal line.
andscape
After his spectacular rookie season, Daniels is only getting better entering Year 2
Throughout the Commanders’ offseason program, training camp and the preseason, Daniels has been more communicative with teammates than he was while dipping his toe in the water as a rookie. Clearly, Quinn said, Daniels’ newfound assertiveness is the result of his eye-opening performance.
Daniels has matured into a tone-setter in a manner that “you’re not quite able to do … your first day on the job,” Quinn continued. “You gain street cred by your performance, by the things that you do. People trust him.
“And so [when Daniels says], ‘Hey man, this is what I see. This is where the ball would go.’ As a teammate, OK, we wanna hear that information because that’s giving you feedback. [Daniels is saying], ‘This is what I need to do to help you in this spot.’ [He’s] making others better just by his communication and the way he’s leading.”
Daniels isn’t interested in looking backward. His eyes are locked on the road ahead.
“It’s a prove-it thing every year,” Daniels told Andscape. “This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business. Because of that, last year really doesn’t matter. I know I can play at this level. But I also have to go out there and continuously prove it.
“And doing that is really doing a...
