Washington Commanders fans were dreaming of lifting a Super Bowl in 2025 after reaching the NFC Championship game last season. What's followed has been nothing short of disastrous.
Running it back with the NFL's oldest roster was a calculated risk by general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn. It's backfired spectacularly, with the Commanders sitting at 3-6 after returning to the same bad habits that have plagued the franchise for decades.
There are mitigating circumstances attached, of course. The Commanders have suffered more injuries than almost any other team, and it's exposed not only their lack of depth but also their complete reluctance to involve younger players consistently.
Quinn must come to a realization, especially if the Commanders cannot pull off an upset over the Detroit Lions in Week 10. This campaign is a lost cause, so the best thing for the future is to throw those with less experience into the fire to see how they fare.
This will do wonders for the team's assessments heading into a pivotal offseason. And who knows, perhaps it might even spring a surprise or two that they weren't expecting.
With this in mind, here are seven Commanders players who must get more snaps as the team looks to the future.
Commanders players who must be unleashed to shape the next chapter
Johnny Newton - Commanders DL
It's time for the Washington Commanders' youth movement to begin. If it doesn't work out, so what? At least Dan Quinn and Adam Peters will have all the information they need to make better choices in terms of their roster construction next offseason.
This starts by getting Johnny Newton more reps. The 2024 second-round pick is playing second fiddle to Daron Payne and Javon Kinlaw on the defensive line interior. They are a tricky proposition to shift, given the money invested, but the free-agent signing isn't performing particularly well right now.
The Commanders have to find out what Newton is. Can he be an every-down 4-3 defensive tackle? Is he more suited to a 3-technique in obvious pass-rushing situations? Would it be worth deploying him as a 3-4 defensive end, depending on the schematic alignments? These are questions the coaching staff needs to answer, and the only way to do that is to allocate more reps in his direction.
For someone taken No. 36 overall and projected as a first-round lock by most analysts, watching his snap share plummet from 51 percent as a rookie to 33% in 2025 is simply unacceptable. The Commanders have a lot invested in Payne and Kinlaw, but Newton was a high draft pick that remains a relatively unknown quantity.
That has to change urgently.