3 Commanders who deserve less playing time after Week 5 loss
By Jerry Trotta
The Washington Commanders’ season is coming off the rails. The NFL season is all about adapting, right? Well, after entering the year with hopes they’d compete for the NFC East or at least a wild card berth, the Commanders are officially in the mix for a top-five pick as one of the league’s worst teams through five games.
Pro Football Talk listed the Commanders No. 31 in their latest power rankings. After the previously-winless Texans upset the Jaguars on Sunday, other media outlets might jump on the bandwagon and rank Washington as one of the NFL’s basement dwellers.
Though the Commanders’ season is falling apart at the seam, the coaching staff can send the right message to his players by seeing to it that certain players receive less playing time going forward. We saw this come to life against the Titans when William Jackson was benched after a sorry tackle attempt on Derrick Henry.
Ron Rivera can’t bench every underachiever, but these three players cannot continue in their current roles after the team’s latest loss.
3 Commanders who deserve less playing time after Week 5
3. Dax Milne
For what reason is Milne still the primary return specialist? It’s honestly laughable the plug hasn’t been pulled on this experiment. Whether it’s a kick or punt return, you can write the ending of Milne’s returns every single time. He’ll unleash a couple meaningless stutter-steps that don’t fool anyone before getting tackled about six or seven yards shorter than most competent return specialists would.
On Sunday, Milne returned two kicks for 27 yards. Conversely, Jonathan Williams’ lone kickoff return went for 19 yards. The depth running back left the game with a knee injury. If it’s nothing serious, we’d love to see Williams take over kick return duties. Why not give Antonio Gibson a crack every now and then?
Anything but Milne, please.
On five punt returns, Milne managed 29 yards (5.8 yards per). The second-year receiver often makes questionable decisions when fielding punts and rarely gets a burst upfield (see the stutter-step issue) on the rare occasions he fields them.