Potential Commanders QB target Jameis Winston progressing in ACL rehab

The report that disclosed Aaron Rodgers’ interest, or lack thereof, in joining the Washington Commanders this offseason hopefully served as a timely reminder to the team that trading for a superstar won’t be easy.

Heck, we don’t even know whether Rodgers, Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson will even be available for trade.

In other words, Washington should be doing its due diligence on more low-profile quarterbacks. If we had any say in the matter, we’d much rather the front office sign a free agent at a discount than trade for a mid-level starter.

As far as the free agent crop goes is concerned, it looks like Mitchell Trubisky has the best chance of landing in Washington.

However, there’s said to be multiple teams interested in the former No. 2 overall pick, so someone like Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota or Teddy Bridgewater could become realistic targets for the Commanders.

When it comes to Winston, who carved up Washington this past season, he’s progressing tremendously in his recovery from ACL surgery.

For the first time since suffering the ACL tear in Week 8, the pending free agent was running on an anti-gravity treadmill in a video posted by physical therapist Kevin Wilk on Monday.

Potential Commanders free agent target Jameis Winston is already running post-ACL surgery.

This is great to see. Yes, it’s an anti-gravity treadmill, but speaking from experience, this is a massive step post-ACL surgery. As long as Winston doesn’t suffer any setbacks, he should be all systems go for the start of training camp.

As far as the Commanders are concerned, they should definitely be in the market for Winston’s services. For starters, a torn ACL isn’t all that devastating for a quarterback who does most of his damage in the pocket.

More importantly, though, is that Winston reaped the benefits of taking what was essentially a redshirt year to study under Drew Brees in 2020. After Brees retired, the starting job was waiting for Winston and he ran with it, leading New Orleans to a 5-2 record before the knee injury.

In those seven starts, the former No. 1 overall pick completed 59% of his passes for 1,170 yards and 14 touchdowns to just three interceptions. Pretty impressive for a guy whose receiving corps was without Michael Thomas and comprised of Deonte Harris, Tre’Quan Smith and Marquez Callaway.

Oh, and if you’re not sold by Winston’s jogging session, here’s a video of him going through throwing drills and launching a 50-yard bomb.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Winston’s turnaround was that he turned himself into a game manager and let the offense run through Alvin Kamara. If this is who he is now, we’d take him on Washington, which already has superior weapons to the Saints and could add more this offseason, in a heartbeat.

Projected to sign a one-year deal worth $7 million by Pro Football Focus, signing Winston would maximize the Commanders’ spending budget and allow the team to take the best player available with the No. 11 overall pick.

Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?