After a month of no football, the Washington Commanders will report to team headquarters in Ashburn, VA. for training camp on July 27.
In terms of storylines to watch, Carson Wentz will partake in his first practices with comparable intensity to games. The Commanders’ newly-minted quarterback will also get his first practice reps with No. 1 receiver Terry McLaurin, who missed all of OTAs and minicamp while he negotiated his new contract.
While Washington’s veterans will be the center of attention at camp, the team’s first-year players will have just as much intrigue.
Jahan Dotson will look to piggyback off his eye-popping spring, Phidarian Mathis has big shoes to fill as the top backup defensive tackle on the roster and Brian Robinson Jr. will look to prove to the coaching staff that he’s worthy of meaningful snaps behind Antonio Gibson from the jump.
But what about Washington’s other rookies? Let’s highlight a trio of first-year players who need a big training camp to earn a role on the team.
3 Commanders rookies who need to shine during training camp
3. Chris Paul, OL
It’s unfortunate for Paul that the Commanders’ offensive line is arguably their deepest position group, but a dominant camp could see the rookie seventh-round pick carve out a reserve role on the 53-man regular season roster.
A Tulsa product, Paul’s versatility should resonate with the coaching staff. He started 32 career games, making 28 starts and made the move from left guard to right tackle as a junior in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. At Tulsa, he started eight games at right tackle, 12 at left guard and eight at right guard.
Paul projects as an interior lineman in the NFL, but the fact he has experience at both positions should help his case to make the team.
Assuming the Commanders keep 10 offensive lineman on their final roster, you’re probably looking at the five starters — Charles Leno, Andrew Norwell, Chase Roullier, Trai Turner and Sam Cosmi — and Cornelius Lucas, Wes Schweitzer, Saahdiq Charles, Tyler Larsen and Paul as the likely finalists.
Currently buried on the depth chart, which isn’t out of the ordinary for a seventh-round pick, Paul could potentially leapfrog Charles, who’s coming off a poor spring, in the guard pecking order if he sticks out at training camp.
2. Christian Holmes, CB
Holmes’ size and length fits the profile of what Washington has sought in its recent cornerback additions, including William Jackson and Benjamin St-Juste. The Commanders other seventh-round pick, Holmes played his final two years in college at Oklahoma State as a graduate transfer from Missouri.
He used his extra year of eligibility following the COVID-shortened season and responded by turning in a breakout year, which included being one of two cornerbacks named to Pro Football Focus’ All-Big 12 first-team.
A former receiver in high school, Holmes boasts elite ball skills, and his 28 passes defended in college are a testament to that. Already a safe bet to make the 53-man roster, the OSU product could assert himself into Washington’s cornerback rotation if he impresses the coaching staff during training camp.
As of this writing, Danny Johnson and Corn Elder (!) are the only backup cornerbacks ahead of him on the depth chart.
The Commanders are reportedly high on Holmes’ physicality, which is why we’ll likely see him feature heavily on special teams. If he shows out during camp, though, there’s a clear pathway to him earning meaningful defensive snaps as a rookie.
1. Percy Butler, S
The Commanders drafted Butler higher than expected. That should paint a pretty clear picture in terms how excited they are by his potential. In 2021, Butler played 616 snaps and logged a 78.6 player grade from PFF, which ranked first amongst Sun-Belt safeties and 78th out of 749 qualified safeties in the nation.
Of those 616 snaps, Butler played 217 as a deep-lying safety, 168 in the box and 155 as a slot cornerback, according to PFF. The versatility doesn’t grow on trees and fails to mention Butler’s expected upside as a special teams ace, too.
Butler was sound in coverage for the Ragin’ Cajun’s defense, allowing just 356 yards over his collegiate career. He loves laying down the hit stick, but his penchant for missed tackles (14.5% miss percentage in college) will have to get cleaned up if he’s to earn snaps at safety behind Bobby McCain and Kamren Curl.
Butler’s biggest upside for Year 1 is his expected contributions on special teams, but he has the versatility to line up all over the secondary.
The last time we checked, the Commanders haven’t found a Landon Collins replacement to fill the Buffalo nickel role. The idea sounds fun in theory, but Butler needs to be consistent at training camp to even warrant consideration for that role.
Note: Phidarian Mathis and Brian Robinson would obviously benefit from a strong training camp, but odds are they’ll be locked into key roles as rookie as long as they don’t trip over themselves over the nearly month-long camp.