Hogs Haven
After a rough opener, the Commanders will look to right the ship in Week 2 at home versus the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. The hope for Washington fans is that the participation of more starters this week will make for a more pleasurable viewing experience. It will be great to see Jayden Daniels take the field for the first time in 2025, but there are plenty of other players to keep your eye on Monday night.
The special teams underperformed in Week 1, but since I can’t list that many players, I’m going to use our new placekicker, Matt Gay, as the canary for the group. While outside of 50 yards has been a problem for the last couple of years, his first kick was just inside that range and badly missed. In addition, he’s had a fair number of issues during camp as well:
I disagree with Lewis Jr. on the idea they will bring in competition for Gay, mostly because the Commanders signed him to a $4.25 million fully guaranteed worth up to $5 million to bring consistency to the position. It would be nice to see it over the remainder of the preseason.
Dominique Hampton was on last week’s list and paid the price for his rough outing with his roster spot. Tyler Owens had some issues in the opener as well, missing tackles and generally looking lost in certain situations.
Unlike Hampton, I don’t think Tyler Owens is in any danger of losing his roster spot, but the Commanders are dangerously thin behind starters Will Harris and Quan Martin. Washington desperately needs the undrafted free agent to develop into a viable defender in his second year. He has all the tools and has been receiving first-team reps throughout camp, but his lack of experience showed in the opener. Here’s hoping he looks more comfortable in his second outing.
Not all the players on my list are looking to bounce back from poor performances. Brooks struggled with concentration drops in his senior season, dropping 7 balls total with a career drop rate over 10 percent. You wouldn’t have known it last week, as Ja’Corey reeled in all 5 of his targets for a team-high fifty-nine yards, adjusting nicely to a couple of poorly thrown balls. He also showed some impressive movement skills, belying his poor athletic testing.
The competition for the last wide receiver spot on the roster is fierce, so the undrafted free agent out of Louisville will be looking to stack more plays on Monday night. A splash play on special teams, which he was known for in college, would help make his case for a roster spot.
Washington’s first round pick was notably absent from this list last week. The reason was I expected him to have a good night, albeit with room for improvement. Conerly only played limited snaps, but did look good in both pass blocking, allowing...
