NFL
By: Courtney Byrd
The Washington Commanders have spent the last few months talking about change. On Sunday, we finally get to see what that looks like.
Washington opens its 2026 season against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field at 4:25 p.m., and there really isn’t much of a warm-up period here. The Commanders are going straight into an NFC East matchup against the team that has won the division the last two seasons.
After everything that happened last year, it’s good that Washington gets this kind of test right away.
The Commanders went from reaching the NFC Championship Game in Jayden Daniels’ rookie season to finishing 5-12 last year, when injuries and inconsistency made it difficult to ever really see the team Washington expected to have. This offseason brought changes on both sides of the ball, including new coordinators, new weapons around Daniels, and potentially as many as eight new starters on defense.
We’ve talked about those changes all summer. Sunday is the first chance to see if they made Washington better.
There are a lot of new pieces on this team, but I’m most interested in seeing what Daniels looks like.
Last season never really allowed him to build on what he did as a rookie. He appeared in only seven games as injuries continued to interrupt his season, and Washington eventually shut him down for the final three games.
This summer has been different.
Dan Quinn made it a priority to get Daniels more work during training camp, even though we barely saw him during the preseason. Daniels took more than 500 practice snaps while learning David Blough’s offense, and Washington has worked on getting him more comfortable under center and operating from the huddle.
Now we finally get to see what all those reps were building toward.
I don’t think Daniels needs to walk into Philadelphia and immediately look like the quarterback who helped take Washington to the NFC Championship Game two years ago. What I do want to see is a quarterback who looks comfortable, healthy, and in control of an offense that was built to give him more help.
And there should be more help.
Terry McLaurin is still his No. 1 receiver, but adding Stefon Diggs gives Washington another proven option defenses must account for. Rookie Antonio Williams impressed throughout the summer, and Chig Okonkwo gives Daniels another weapon at tight end.
That should make it harder for defenses to put all their attention on McLaurin. It also gives Blough options when Philadelphia tries to pressure Daniels or take away the outside of the field.
Sunday isn’t only Daniels’ first game of the season. It’s also our first real look at Blough as an NFL play caller.
That’s one of the things I’m most curious about.
We’ve heard about the changes throughout camp, but Washington kept most of the offense basic during the preseason. Against Philadelphia, Blough must finally show us what he wants this offense to be.
If there’s one thing that could make all those offensive changes harder to see, it’s the offensive line.
Washington lost Laremy Tunsil to a torn triceps during training camp, forcing Brandon Coleman to move to left tackle. The Commanders signed veteran D.J. Humphries late in August to provide some experience behind him, but on Friday, just two days before the opener, Washington released Humphries.
I wasn’t expecting that move this close to Week 1.
Humphries had more than 100 career starts and was listed behind Coleman at left tackle on Washington’s depth chart. His release leaves the Commanders with eight offensive linemen on the active roster and makes it clear that, at least for now, Washington is comfortable moving forward without him.
That puts even more attention on Coleman.
Philadelphia’s defense isn’t exactly the opponent you want to use to ease into a new position. The Eagles still have plenty of talent up front, and Vic Fangio’s defense can make things difficult without needing to send pressure every play.
The good news for Washington is that Nick Allegretti is back at center after missing most of training camp with a calf injury. He’s had limited time to work with Daniels recently, which makes their communication especially important in a road environment like Philadelphia.
We know what Daniels can do when a play breaks down, but Washington can’t build an offense around asking him to escape pressure all afternoon. One lesson from last season should be that keeping Daniels healthy matters more than squeezing something out of every broken play.
If the offensive line gives him time, I like the options Washington has around him. If it doesn’t, Sunday becomes much more difficult.
As excited as I am to see Daniels and the offense, Washington’s defense might tell us even more about how different this team really is.
The Commanders made major changes after what happened defensively last season. Daronte Jones is now running the unit, and Washington could have eight new starters on that side of the ball.
That’s not a small adjustment. That’s basically a new defense.
The first challenge is also obvious: Saquon Barkley.
Washington knows what Barkley can do, and this isn’t a matchup where one player is going to stop him. Jones has talked about defending him as a team, and that’s exactly what it’s going to take. Washington must stay disciplined with its gaps, set the edge, and avoid giving Barkley the kind of space where one missed tackle suddenly becomes a huge play.
Philadelphia has changed, too. The Eagles have a new offensive coordinator in Sean Mannion, and A.J. Brown is no longer part of the offense. DeVonta Smith remains one of Jalen Hurts’ biggest weapons, but Washington isn’t preparing for the same Eagles offense we’ve seen in recent years.
That makes Sunday interesting because neither team has much current film on what the other side really wants to do.
Washington has Blough calling the offense for the first time and Jones taking over the defense. Philadelphia also has a new offensive play caller. There are going to be things both teams see Sunday that weren’t on preseason film.
For Washington, I want to see whether all the defensive changes translate into more pressure and more consistency.
And the Commanders got some very good news Friday.
Odafe Oweh, K’Lavon Chaisson and Bill Croskey-Merritt have all been cleared to play. Washington doesn’t have anyone on the active roster carrying an injury designation into Sunday, which is a pretty big difference from what we were talking about throughout training camp.
Oweh and Chaisson being available is especially important because Dorance Armstrong is suspended for the opener. Washington needs its pass rush to make Hurts uncomfortable, and having those two available gives Jones more to work with.
After watching injuries become such a big part of Washington’s story last season, simply entering Week 1 healthy feels significant.
I’m not looking at Sunday’s game as something that will tell us everything about the Commanders.
It’s Week 1. There are going to be mistakes. There are new coordinators on both sides of the ball, new starters learning to play together, and players who haven’t had many live reps since last season.
But I do think we’ll learn something.
I want to see if Washington can protect Daniels without Tunsil. I want to see how Blough uses Diggs and McLaurin together. I want to see what the running game looks like now that the preseason hiding is over. Most of all, I want to see whether a defense that changed so much during the offseason looks different when Barkley and Hurts are standing across from it.
Washington doesn’t need to prove the entire 2025 season is behind it in one afternoon. That’s impossible.
But beating Philadelphia on the road would be a pretty good way to start.
Even competing with the Eagles for four quarters would give us a much better idea of where this team stands than anything we saw during August.
That’s why I like this matchup for Washington.
There is no easing into the season and no waiting three or four weeks to see how the Commanders measure up against one of the teams they’re chasing in the NFC East. They get that answer immediately.
All summer, we’ve talked about a healthier Daniels, a different offense, and a rebuilt defense.
On Sunday, Washington must finally show us what all that means.
