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It appears the Washington Commanders are only a handful of good roster decisions away from being a Super Bowl contender again in 2025. They must make a good draft pick and re-sign their best free agents. And here are the Commanders’ free agency targets after the disappointing loss to the Eagles.
Washington suffered on the wrong end of a 55-23 decision in the NFC Championship game. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels performed well with 303 total yards and accounted for a pair of touchdowns.
But the Commanders’ roster weaknesses reared their ugly heads. Two of the three critical fumbles came from players — Dyami Brown and Jeremy McNichols — who aren’t the level of players who should be counted on in a championship game. The other fumble came from a former great player, who is probably at the end of his NFL career rope after eight years and 1,545 touches.
Bengals WR Tee Higgins should be top target
This is one move the other NFL teams don’t want to see. And that’s why it should have the Commanders biggest attention.
Pairing Higgins with Terry McLaurin would give Jayden Daniels a dynamic one-two punch on the outside that would cause major problems for every NFL team that doesn’t have two standout cornerbacks — which is nearly all of them.
Shockingly perhaps, Higgins ranked No. 6 in the Pro Football Focus grading system in 2024. That put him above Ja’Marr Chase (No. 11) and Justin Jefferson (No. 9). Wow.
Other evidence of Higgins’ value comes from his quarterback, Joe Burrow, who said he wants Higgins to remain in Cincinnati, according to nfl.com.
“You don't want to make a living out of letting great players leave the building,” Burrow said. “And I think that's why you gotta do everything you can to get those deals done early.”
But it will cost $$$$ for the Commanders to get Higgins, who may want to stay with the Bengals.
“I grew a love for this city for sure,” Higgins recently told reporters, “and I grew a love for this team and these coaches, yeah, I'm not ruling it out.”
Jets CB D.J. Reed should be on Commanders’ radar
In order to compete in a division with CeeDee Lamb and A.J. Brown, the Commanders must get better at the cornerback position. Marshon Lattimore’s poor performances in the postseason — and his terrible lack of emotional discipline — means the Commanders can’t count on him to be their top cornerback.
The Commanders must get better on the back end, and Reed fits the bill. He’s coming off his sixth straight 70.0-plus PFF overall grade. And he excelled in advanced metrics with a 51.28 lockdown percentage.
Washington would be a great fit for a guy with the attitude expressed in the following comments, according to nypost.com.
“Obviously, in this league, it’s about winning,” Reed said. “But, you could go to a good organization. You think is a good organization, and the year you go there, they’re not winning. I think it’s deeper than just winning. (And) I think it’s just being in a stable organization that has a winning culture and just being in a good environment, a healthy environment. I think that’s the most important thing for me is just to have a good mental space. I know if I have that, I’ll be able to dominate whoever is in front of me.”
That’s the Commanders under head coach Dan Quinn for sure. And the Jets experience left him with a sour taste he needs to change.
“This year has been frustrating,” Reed said. “I feel like everybody in this locker room is frustrated. If you’re not, there’s probably something wrong with you. We put in a lot of work. This is the hardest that I’ve worked, which is why I don’t understand why we aren’t winning or why we aren’t finishing. But I’m at peace. We’ve done some amazing things these last three years. We had some really good years, and obviously, this year was a down year for everybody. But I guess that happens in the league.”
49ers LB Dre Greenlaw could be a steal
If the Commanders can keep Bobby Wagner in the fold, adding Greenlaw to the linebacker mix with Frankie Luvu could help the team move above average at this position.
Yes, there’s an injury risk here and Greenlaw worked his way back from Achilles injury. But GM Adam Peters is familiar with Greenlaw, and the contract would not be expensive for the Commanders. He would give them a nice addition
Neither Luvu or Wagner can cover at all, which is where Greenlaw excels. His coverage grades of 82.6 and 79.5 over the past two seasons make him a top-10 NFL performer in that metric. And it’s something the Commanders sorely need.
Also, he’s good people, according to Kyle Shanahan’s comments to nbcsports.com. That’s a great fit for the Commanders.
“We’re going to do everything in the world we can to bring Greenlaw back,” Shanahan said. “(And) we’re not into losing really good players who are unbelievable people. We’re going to do everything we can to never lose good players who are good people. But that’s also a really hard challenge.”
Washington simply needs to add the right pieces that could make this team very tough to handle in the postseason on both sides of the football.
