Liam Griffin | September 5, 2025
(The Washington Times) — The Commanders took the NFL by surprise last year with an unexpected run to the NFC championship game.
They won’t fly under the radar this season, which begins with Sunday’s home opener against the New York Giants.
Coach Dan Quinn’s Commanders will be talk-show fodder throughout the upcoming campaign, with second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels as the centerpiece.
None of it shakes the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year, though.
“You still got to go out there and prove it each and every year. People can have expectations. They can say you can do this or hope you fail to do that. It really doesn’t matter at the end of the day,” Daniels said. “The pressure you give is on yourself to go out there and prepare the right way.”
The coaching staff is unconcerned about pressure affecting their franchise quarterback. Nothing rattled him during the rookie campaign.
“He has a rare focus about him, and the best players I’ve been around have had that,” Quinn said. “He does not back off of that. He doesn’t look too far down the line, which I appreciate.”
The former Heisman Trophy winner reportedly turned down a commercial shoot this offseason because it would have taken too much time away from training — a single day.
With expectations come stakes for Daniels and Quinn. Struggles from the second-year signal-caller could be written off as a sophomore slump or raise questions about whether his sensational rookie season was a flash in the pan.
But those scenarios don’t raise much concern inside Washington headquarters.
“The expectations of things really come from the outside. But if we’re really going to be who we want to be, we’re the ones that have to challenge ourselves to see how far we can take it or how high our standards can go,” Quinn said, maintaining his focus on the regular season. “If we have to think that the season doesn’t begin until January, we’ll miss it.”
The squad is bullish about its chances, though.
“I couldn’t tell you anything that I’ve heard as far as the expectations,” wide receiver Noah Brown said. “We’re coming to work, and we’re focused on what we can do. The sky is the limit.”
After a year as an underdog, media and players around the league spent the summer showering praise on the Commanders.
National outlets like USA Today, NFL.com and Bleacher Report all listed the Commanders as the sixth-best team in the league in preseason power rankings. ESPN was the most pessimistic among major publications, dropping Washington to 11th over concerns about defense and regression after a rollercoaster first season.
Even the less optimistic pundits still see Washington as a playoff contender.
“Second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels appears to be the real deal and can carry this team far, especially with more veterans on offense, such as left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Deebo Samuel,” ESPN’s Mike Clay wrote. “The defense remains a major red flag, but defensive mastermind Dan Quinn could again coach it into a competent unit.”
The compliments weren’t limited to the media.
The league’s players ranked Daniels as the 21st-best player in the annual NFL Top 100 list. Tunsil joined him on the ranking, along with wide receiver Terry McLaurin — now equipped with a new contract — and the linebacker duo of Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu.
Few outside the organization saw the Commanders as contenders in their first year with Quinn, Daniels and general manager Adam Peters.
That won’t be the case this season, but Quinn isn’t looking for a repeat performance.
“I don’t want to replicate it. I want to build off of it,” he said of his first-year success. “I want this to be the start of it.”
National TV audiences will be along for the ride.
NFL schedule makers expect the Commanders to be appointment viewing again this year — they set the team for at least six nationally broadcast games, starting with next Thursday’s visit to Green Bay to visit the Packers and continuing through a Christmas Day matchup with the rival Dallas Cowboys.
The team’s momentum carried through off the field, too. Owner Josh Harris parlayed the good vibes from the postseason run into a deal for a new stadium with the District. The D.C. Council approved a new $3.7 billion home for the team on the site of the old RFK Stadium last month.
If it passes another vote this month, Harris will plan to open the glitzy gridiron palace in 2030. He won’t break ground on a stadium until next year, though.
This year’s construction centered on the practice facility in Ashburn, Virginia. The headquarters — widely considered shabby by NFL standards — got a facelift this summer. Players were glad to see new treatment and recovery areas anchored by a high-tech new locker room.
“It was looking tough in there and the people who take care of this building did the best job to make it as presentable as they could for us and we maximized it,” McLaurin said. “But I’m not going to lie, it’s nice to have everything clean and looking nice in there and just aesthetically, you’re excited to come in there. It’s like your home.”
The players’ stalls now feature larger seats with built-in air conditioning, more storage and special dryers to blast the sweat off of helmets and shoulder pads.
“It shows they take care of the players, so that’s a big thing,” Daniels said. “They’re willing to invest and make sure that we’re okay and we’re right and we’re happy. That’s the biggest thing.”
