Commanders' painful 2025 roster failure just received its ultimate indictment

The Washington Commanders' 2025 season achieved its worst-case scenario and then some, finishing with a 5-12 record after beginning the year with playoff expectations and very real Super Bowl aspirations.

Most of that was due to injuries, but the cracks in the roster general manager Adam Peters assembled couldn't be ignored either.

Peters has done an admirable job of correcting course this offseason by focusing on younger, ascending free-agent signings such as Odafe Oweh, K'Lavon Chaisson, Chig Okonkwo, Rachaad White, and Nick Cross, who can play at least medium-term roles. The only greybeard he's brought in is a guy who accumulated 1,000 receiving yards last season and helped his team reach the Super Bowl.

Nobody is signing the Commanders' castoffs, and the numbers prove it

As for all the players they're replacing? Not only was Washington ready to move on, but it seems like the entire NFL is.

It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that no team in the NFL has more unsigned free agents than the Commanders. No fewer than 14 players who were on last year's roster are still without a home as the league's full preseason slate gets set to begin this week.

It's the final verdict on a construction strategy that felt necessary at the time but ultimately backfired on Washington in the worst way.

After the Commanders were left with sparse young assets due to previous head coach Ron Rivera's multiple years of drafting disasters, Peters decided to jump-start his rebuild by loading his squad with aging vets to change the culture. It came with mixed success.

The 2024 campaign was supposed to be a transition year for Washington, with most of those "locker room guys" signed on one-year deals. But after the team stumbled its way to 12 wins and an NFC Championship game appearance, it only reinforced the need to win now.

Peters doubled down, bringing back linebacker Bobby Wagner and tight end Zach Ertz while also trading for cornerback Marshon Lattimore and signing edge rusher Von Miller.

Things didn't go nearly as well.

All four of them, as well as running back Austin Ekeler, are now among the established, experienced veterans who don't look like they'll be playing football to start the 2026 season and perhaps ever again. Wide receiver Noah Brown and defensive end Preston Smith are also among the notable aging contributors who remain unsigned.

Washington has moved on, with high hopes to return to at least a playoff-caliber level of football in 2026. But the disaster of 2025 still stings, and this glaring statistical indictment just puts the icing on the cake.

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