3 dream scenarios for Commanders during 2022 season
By Jerry Trotta
With two months remaining until the NFL season, fans are starting to set expectations for the Washington Commanders. The fan base is hopeful this is the year the team, which admittedly has a young core relative to most contenders, makes the playoffs and potentially even wins a game or two in the tournament.
There’s no denying the roster has the talent to accomplish just that. Additionally, the landscape of the NFC East has changed after this offseason.
The reports out of OTAs and minicamp have been overwhelmingly positive, but it’s impossible to gauge how good the team is until the regular season gets underway, especially considering several new faces have joined the team.
With training camp just two weeks away, we wanted to highlight some best-case scenarios for the Commanders in 2022. While optimistic, we wanted to keep things realistic, so don’t go setting your sights on a Super Bowl!
3 dream scenarios for the Commanders in 2022
3. Jahan Dotson Becomes a Stud
Terry McLaurin is phenomenal and only figures to improve — at least from a production standpoint — with Carson Wentz, a legitimate QB, under center.
Fresh off signing a three-year extension and being the first Washington receiver to post consecutive 1,000-yard seasons since the 1990s, McLaurin is locked in as the team’s No. 1 receiver for the foreseeable future.
What would go a long way towards helping Terry climb the WR ranks? Jahan Dotson emerging as a bonafide No. 2 receiver. Could that hurt McLaurin’s production? Perhaps, but we’d much rather see the 2019 third-round pick draw less attention from defenses so that his skillset can be maximized than him continue to command bracket coverage and double teams and catch around 60% of his targets.
The entire complexion of the Commanders’ offense would change if Dotson establishes himself as a true WR2 opposite McLaurin and all signs from organized team activities and minicamp suggest he’s on that trajectory after he dominated practices. Should that concept manifest itself, the team would have two elite receivers under contract for multiple seasons. When was the last time Washington could say that?