4 biggest takeaways from Commanders OTAs thus far

3. No Joint Practices this Offseason

In late-March, Ron Rivera revealed the Commanders were discussing joint practices with other teams, referencing the preseason being reduced to three games as the main reason. It was a salient point made by the head coach, as starters hardly play in the preseason to begin with and joint practices are a great way to give the first-team more reps against other team’s projected starters.

Following Tuesday’s practice, though, Rivera disclosed the Commanders will only practice amongst themselves at training camp.

"“We really like where we are,” Rivera told reporters. “It’s a young team. A lot of guys that have played a lot of football for us already and added some good young players. So we just feel this is about us focusing on who we are.”"

Washington’s starters haven’t played much in the preseason under Rivera, so this development could cause concerns about potential rust to open the year. It’s partly why the first few weeks of the NFL season aren’t a great product. For such a violent game, it takes teams time to get back into the swing of things.

Another positive of joint practices? It allows players to match up against a different roster. Weeks and months of lining up versus the same players could get redundant and not particularly challenging, and it might be tough to keep the same level of motivation all summer.

Perhaps these plans will change, but as things stand, Washington’s first real live action against another team will come in the preseason opener vs the Panthers. From there, they’ll hit the road to play the Chiefs and Ravens.