If you’re a fan of the Washington Commanders, you may want to take a few deep breaths before going any further. We’re about to talk about the single biggest problem Adam Peters is facing as he tries to get the franchise back on track.
Washington’s roster is old. Really old. The oldest in the league. And then some.
The reason is simple. It is even logical. Peters began rebuilding a dead roster immediately upon taking over from the previous regime. He got rid of more than 60 percent of the players assembled by Ron Rivera. He expressed his desire to build through the draft, acquiring a core of young talent that would sustain the club for a decade to come.
Then, entering his second season as general manager, Peters threw that all out the window. The results have been disastrous.
Commanders must recognize their grave situation for what it is right now
The thing that changed Peters’ well-reasoned plans was Jayden Daniels. The rookie was so promising in 2024, and the team performed so well, that he decided to shift into win-now mode. He traded draft picks for veterans. He signed or re-signed many older players.
He now has a team that is 3-8 with a very real chance of getting much worse after the bye.
Heading into the bye week, Washington’s 53-man roster carries an average age of 28.4. That is the oldest in the NFL, slightly up from the opening day age, which was also the highest at the time. Breaking it down further does not help ease concern.
The Commanders have more players over 30 than under 25. And it gets worse.
On its current roster, Washington has 18 players under 25. That’s not bad. Right around the league average, actually. In the NFC East, the Philadelphia Eagles are the only team with more young players. They have 19. The Dallas Cowboys have 17 and the New York Giants have 16.
But look at the older end of the spectrum.
The Giants have 10 players over 30. The Cowboys only have five players over 30. As for the Eagles? They have just two players older than 30 on their roster.
The Commanders currently have 18 players over 30. That is as astonishingly bad as the Eagles' number is astonishingly good.
Of course, a few young players would be on that roster, but they are hurt. Trey Amos, Luke McCaffrey, Javontae Jean-Baptiste. Good players, but hardly world beaters. At least not yet.
So what does this mean for the remainder of the 2025 season? Dan Quinn needs to start getting his younger players on the field more often. He needs to see what they can do. He and Peters need to learn as much as they can about which of the young guys are part of the future.
Treylon Burks and Jaylin Lane need to play a lot more, while Chris Moore and Robbie Chosen play a lot less. Both Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown are due back soon, and both should play. But maybe not as much as they would if Washington were in postseason contention.
McLaurin is still a part of the team’s future and needs to get back in the groove. The second-team All-Pro wide receiver needs to shake off the rust he accumulated by sitting out the summer before injuries ravaged his campaign.
Jordan Magee is already playing more, but now it is time for Kain Medrano and perhaps Ale Kaho to get some defensive snaps. Bobby Wagner and Von Miller will not be back next year.
Ben Sinnott and Colson Yankoff in place of Zach Ertz. That doesn’t mean the Pro Bowler never gets on the field. It just means that he doesn’t take two out of every three snaps the way he has done through the first 11 weeks.
Then there are practice squad call-ups who should get a look, but we’ll leave that for another time.
When the upstart Commanders had a chance to challenge for the playoffs, it made sense to play the veterans. But they have not delivered.
Now it is time to play the young guys. The Commanders' roster needs to get younger, and that process needs to begin right now.