Hogs Haven
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With a few receivers on short contracts potentially available, such as Jakobi Meyers, Calvin Ridley, Chris Olave and Jerry Jeudy, shouldn’t the Commanders look at moving a third- or fourth-round pick to get some more available personnel? Love Noah Brown and his story, but he simply misses too much time. — Chris V.
Doesn’t make much sense to me. First of all, the Commanders don’t have a 2026 fourth-round pick. They gave up theirs in the trade for Laremy Tunsil. Second, when they traded for Marshon Lattimore at the deadline last season, they were 7-2 and seemed to be further along in their rebuild than perhaps they thought initially. Now they’re 3-3 with a tough stretch ahead, the oldest roster in the NFL and clear roster deficiencies.
I also struggle with the notion of trading for a skill player. A premium position, maybe. But to give up assets for a receiver who will soon need a new deal doesn’t add up for me.
I like Joe Whitt, but at what point is his ability as a DC determined? We keep hearing the same excuses every week and that “we’ll correct it,” but then it’s SSDD. This defense seems no better than last year’s, when the offense was near-perfect. It’s not this year, and the defense does not appear capable of picking up the slack. — Mike L.
Man, you guys are quick to write off people! I’m old enough to remember when it seemed outlandish to fire a coach after only two seasons. In his defense (no pun intended), Washington’s defense — the whole roster, really — has been dealt a tough hand with all the injuries. Whitt lost a starting defensive end (Deatrich Wise Jr.) and his backup (Javontae Jean-Baptiste) for the season, lost his top backup corner (Jonathan Jones) for a stretch and lost his starting strong safety (Will Harris), too.
Plus, I don’t think the problem in most instances (not all) is the coaching. Even players themselves have said it’s been about the execution. The plays are there, but they’re not executing. I understand that it ultimately falls on the coach, but it would seem silly to get rid of a coach who could be a very fine coordinator and is well-respected by players when the real issue is execution.
The parts that do bother me, however, are the persistent problems with the basics, like tackling. Missed tackles are happening far too often, which of course leads to too many explosives. I don’t know why the team is unable to clean those up.
The Athletic (paywall)
Neither Samuel nor McLaurin will travel with the team to Dallas. Washington will face the Cowboys with three wideouts on the active roster — Luke McCaffrey, Jaylin Lane and Chris Moore — and three...
