LANDOVER, Md. — Consider this the ramp-up period. The Commanders opened their preseason on Friday with a 20-7 win over the Miami Dolphins, a rebuilding team sorely lacking talent and depth on both sides of the ball.
The win may not directly foreshadow the Commanders’ season ahead, but there was plenty to glean as coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters continue to evaluate the roster.
Quinn has stressed competition throughout camp (and, really, throughout his two-plus seasons in Washington), but many starting jobs are clearly taken, leaving the uncertainty primarily with the reserves.
Washington sat 26 veteran players, most of whom are locks to start this season. Quarterback Jayden Daniels was among them, as were veteran receivers Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs.
The focus was on the twos and threes (and at some positions, the fours, fives, sixes and sevens) battling for roster spots. Here’s what we learned from the Commanders’ preseason opener.
Commanders feeling whiplash with addition of Diggs, loss of Tunsil
Nicki Jhabvala
Marcus Mariota got hurt
Washington’s backup quarterback was slated to play only one drive , but he left four plays into it with an apparent non-contact injury.
Mariota went down after handing the ball off to rookie running back Kaytron Allen on a first-and-10 from Miami’s 47-yard line. Mariota pointed to his right knee as athletic trainers ran onto the field, but he quickly popped up and walked off on his own.
Mariota was briefly examined in the medical tent, then walked back to the locker room with assistant head athletic trainer Mark McCracken.
Quinn said after the game that he did not have an update on Mariota’s status (teams are not required to disclose injuries in preseason) but expects to know more in the next couple of days. The team’s next practice with media availability is Tuesday.
Sam Hartman took over for Mariota and played the remainder of the first half, plus the first drive of the third quarter, before turning the offense over to undrafted rookie Athan Kaliakmanis. Hartman was 5-of-8 passing for 80 yards with one interception, while Kaliakmanis was 6-of-10 for 87 yards. Neither quarterback threw a touchdown.
A slow start but a quick rebound
The Dolphins opened with a 14-play, 93-yard scoring drive — after muffing the kickoff and getting flagged for holding on the return. It was hardly the showing Washington hoped for after overhauling its defense in the offseason.
The Commanders’ defensive line featured all reserves, but Sonny Styles and Leo Chenal started at linebacker, and the secondary included safeties Will Harris and Quan Martin, along with veteran corner Rasul Douglas. That they couldn’t stop a Miami team lacking in playmakers and depth was alarming, but Washington quickly regrouped.
After their opening score (a one-yard run by De’Von Achane), the Dolphins never made it past Washington’s 45-yard line and ended their subsequent drives with a turnover on downs, an interception, six consecutive punts and two interceptions.
Defensive tackles Johnny Newton and Ricky Barber stuffed quarterback Quinn Ewers on a fourth-down run in the first quarter, then Quan Martin picked him off for the first of Washington’s three interceptions. Linebacker Ale Kaho and safety Malik Spencer had the others.
Cornerback Antonio Hamilton also bounced back after getting flagged for pass interference on Miami’s scoring drive (the penalty was declined). He landed a huge hit on Jalen Reagor during a kickoff return, then knocked the ball loose when he hit Tahj Washington on a pass play in the final seconds of the first half.
Hamilton is among the corners fighting for a spot that may or may not exist on the initial 53-man roster. The top four at the position are presumably Trey Amos, Mike Sainristil, Amik Robertson and Douglas. If Washington keeps a fifth corner, or if injury necessitates a replacement, Hamilton may have a shot.
The young backs shined
Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt, Rachaad White and Jeremy McNichols (quad injury) were all inactive, leaving Washington’s run game primarily in the hands of its two rookies, Kaytron Allen and Robert Henry Jr. And they didn’t disappoint.
Allen, a sixth-round draft pick, collected a game-high 85 rushing yards on 23 carries, including a one-yard touchdown run with 11 seconds left in the second quarter.
Allen began the game with a handful of short runs, but he broke free for a 16-yard carry late in the second quarter. The spark, he said, was watching his fellow rookie break away for Washington’s first touchdown earlier in the quarter.
“When Rob got a little run, I feel like he got me going,” Allen said. “Seeing him get one made me get one.”
Henry, an undrafted back out of UTSA, displayed his shiftiness, patience and vision behind the line, totaling 75 yards on 12 carries for an average of 6.3 yards per carry. Half of his yardage came on two runs in the second quarter, when he weaved through the middle of the line for a 15-yard gain, then capped the drive with a 22-yard touchdown run. Henry took the handoff from Hartman, faked going inside, then cut right and sprinted up the sideline for the score.
Henry also returned a kickoff 30 yards at the start of the third quarter.
His play Friday night was reminiscent of his final season at UTSA, when he topped 1,000 rushing yards and averaged 156 in the first four games.
“I liked the backs,” Quinn said. “They’re in shape. They were focused. They were ready. And like I said, when they came out to be a little shorthanded, there was no flinch. That was a good sign to me.”
Quan Martin has a strong showing
The Commanders’ initial depth chart, which Quinn joked is as valuable as preseason rankings, lists Jeremy Reaves and Martin as co-No. 1s at free safety.
Reaves was among the 26 inactive players on Friday, while Martin played the entire first half.
Martin’s place on the roster remains uncertain, despite starting 32 of the Commanders’ last 34 games. Last season, he had a 154.6 passer rating against, the fourth-highest among NFL defenders with at least 200 coverage snaps. He also missed 15 tackles, the second-most on the Commanders behind Frankie Luvu’s 21.
Martin was benched in the team’s Week 11 loss to the Dolphins in Madrid, and logged only six defensive snaps in the team’s season-ending loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Washington signed veteran safety Nick Cross as a free agent in March and has another year with Will Harris. Tyler Owens and Percy Butler are also back and, like Reaves, have been core special-teamers for Washington.
To say Martin needed a strong showing on Friday would be an understatement. He delivered, with a body-slamming tackle of Achane during Miami’s first drive, then the interception on a third-and-7 early in the second quarter.
Commanders safety Quan Martin celebrates after securing an interception in Washington’s preseason win over the Dolphins. (Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
“I think in this profession, in life, I think we all kind of go through some things, but it’s all about our response, man,” he said. “I think I responded great, and I just kind of know what I want out of this season, and now I just want to have an impact on the team.”
Quinn said Reaves and Cross are expected to play in the second preseason game, and indicated it’s possible Martin will be inactive or take fewer defensive snaps.
A little bit of Style
First-round rookie Sonny Styles started and played only one series — the 14-play, 93-yard scoring drive by Miami. Styles’ sample size was miniscule, but he had a run stuff and flashed his speed. He also wore the green dot, as the on-field quarterback of the defense tasked with relaying plays in the huddle.
Styles said he and Chenal asked to play another series to flush the 14-play scoring drive by Miami, but Quinn didn’t veer from his plan.
Drew Stevens still leads
The undrafted rookie Stevens and incumbent kicker Jake Moody are still competing and alternated kicks and kickoffs on Friday. Although they had a field goal apiece, Stevens seems to have a strong lead over Moody, who has had a slew of misses in recent training camp practices.
Moody doinked a 29-yard attempt off the upright, but the ball went through. Stevens booted a 41-yarder and nailed an extra-point attempt.
Put 5 on it
I honestly thought I’d see way more of these jerseys at Northwest Stadium after Daniels dominated headlines because of the cease-and-desist letter he sent to LSU earlier this month. But nope. Just saw this guy.
Change of tune
Over the three years since Josh Harris and his group of 20 limited partners purchased the team from former owner Dan Snyder, the Commanders have paid tribute to the team’s past through nearly every facet of the organization, from the latest uniform change to the design of its future stadium in D.C. Last year, the team introduced a pregame show that aired in the stadium before kickoff and attempted to create more of an identity for the Commanders name, which it adopted in 2022 after 87 years as the Redskins.
During the rebranding process, former team president Jason Wright wrote on the team’s website that engaging with Native American leaders and individuals “demonstrated to us a consensus that moving forward with no ties to Native American imagery is the right path.” Although some fans preferred the nickname Warriors as a replacement for Redskins, Wright said that “an embrace of potentially Native-adjacent iconography and imagery would not represent a clear departure that many communities have so forcefully advocated for us to embrace, and that frankly, we set out to do when we started this process …”
But on Friday, the team not so subtly restored one piece of Native-adjacent imagery by restoring the line “Braves on a warpath” to its fight song. The line had been replaced with “Fight for our Commanders” after the name change.
