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• The mandate in Washington is clear—now is the time.
Let’s start with Washington Commanders GM Adam Peters trading WR Jahan Dotson and a fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2025 third-round pick and two seventh-round selections (one that was initially Denver’s), and DT John Ridgeway III and their own ’25 seventh-rounder to New Orleans for a sixth-round pick last summer. Peters then flipped the Commanders’ slotted third- and fourth-round picks, and returned the sixth-rounder he got for Ridgeway, to the Saints for CB Marshon Lattimore, who finished the season in Washington and is under contract through ’26.
Lattimore came with a sweetner, too—a 2025 fifth-round pick that Peters flipped last month to the San Francisco 49ers for WR Deebo Samuel. After that came Monday’s blockbuster, with Peters packaging the third-rounder (initially Miami’s, and used by the Dolphins to land Jaylen Wright at pick No. 120 last year) and one of the seventh-rounders (initially Denver’s, and acquired in Philly’s trade for TE Albert Okwuegbunam) he received for Dotson, plus second- and fourth-rounders in ’26 to land Houston Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil and the Texans’ ’25 fourth-round pick.
So, now, the Commanders have Lattimore, Tunsil and Samuel, and five picks left for 2025: Their own first-rounder, plus second- and sixth-rounders, Houston’s fourth and Philly’s seventh. They’re also down two of their first four picks for ’26 with over a year to work on that.
My takeaway is that Washington, rightfully, thinks it’s close. And it’s also pretty cool how they’ve been able to work through all this. As I see it, Peters and coach Dan Quinn inherited a roster needing work at almost every premium position: quarterback, left tackle, edge rusher, corner, and complementary parts at receiver, too.
Not every one of those holes has been filled. But a year later, they have Jayden Daniels at quarterback, Tunsil at left tackle, Samuel opposite Terry McLaurin at receiver, and Lattimore at corner. They spackled the edge-rusher situation last year with veterans Dante Fowler Jr. and Dorance Armstrong, so there are long-term questions there. But they have a draft class in front of them now that is unusually deep at that position.
Now, it’s certainly possible the draft-pick drain of 2025 and ’26 has an impact on the roster long-term. But, again, the Commanders have a lot of a runway to deal with that from here.
And a lot of winning to do now.
