Washington Commanders free agent spotlight: WRs Tay Martin and Braylon Sanders

Davontavean Martin

Tay Martin is a 6’3” 185-pound wide receiver out of Oklahoma State who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the San Francisco Forty-Niners in April of 2022. Martin spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons on the team’s practice squad before being released on September 3rd, 2024. He signed with the Titans practice squad a week later and was elevated to their active roster on January 4th of this year. The totality of his regular season NFL statistics came on this 49-yard touchdown pass from Will Levis in that game:

Tay was later waived and released with an injury settlement on May 14th. After his recovery, he signed with the Washington Commanders on July 23, 2025, and shined in limited reps in last week’s preseason opener against the Patriots catching all three of his targets for 36 receiving yards. He also converted a two-point conversion in the third quarter. A tall, lanky wide receiver, Martin’s play mirrored his pre-draft profile from NFL Draft Buzz:

• He is quicker than fast and lacks elite wheels to simply blow by defenders, but has good football speed.
• Does not possess top breakaway speed, though he’s rarely caught from behind.
• Often used on deep routes, getting separation down the sideline or over the middle on crossing routes by extending his arms rather than pure speed.
• Balanced, savvy route runner with top field awareness, setting up and selling routes beautifully.
• Has knack for getting open and is quarterback’s best friend-passers just need to toss the ball in his areas, and he’ll come down with it.

His RAS score indicates a well-rounded athlete with neither serious deficiency nor exceptional strengths.

He wasn’t overly productive in his five college seasons with Oklahoma State and Washington State, recording 2,810 yards and 28 touchdowns. Perhaps that is partly because his 2020 season at Oklahoma State was spent backing up current NFL wide receiver Tylan Wallace. He enjoyed a breakout his senior season, however, leading the conference with 1,046 yards on 80 catches. Martin is considered a high-character player that navigated significant adversity to get where he is today.

Despite his lone long NFL TD reception, Tay Martin is more a possession-type receiver than a true deep threat. If he claims a spot on the final roster, he will slot into a Jamison Crowder-type role on the offense.

Jontavius Braylon Sanders

Braylon Sanders is a 6’0” 194-pound wide receiver out of Ole Miss. He spent all five of his college seasons at Oxford, appearing in multiple games every season, but only starting a few every year. This was in large part due to a lengthy history of injuries. As Sanders himself put it “Since I’ve been here, I’ve been dealing with injuries.” As one might expect, his college statistics suffered: