The Washington Commanders will have some difficult decisions to make once preseason rolls around, with a significantly deeper roster than they featured a season ago.
On the defensive side of the ball, general manager Adam Peters either signed or drafted no fewer than five new starters. Most of the players potentially being replaced, including Will Harris, Deatrich Wise Jr., Jordan Magee, and potentially even Dorance Armstrong Jr. and Frankie Luvu, will remain on the team in differing roles.
The Commanders have a lot of cooks in the kitchen, particularly when it comes to their edge rushers and linebackers. Not everybody is going to have a chance to stay around, and for one recent draft pick, the writing is on the wall.
Javontae Jean-Baptiste's chances to make the Commanders' roster are slim to none after defensive overhaul
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Javontae Jean-Baptiste to stick around in the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick in 2024. He beat the odds to make Washington's roster as a rookie, playing in 12 games and starting one. He recorded his first career sack in the Commanders' Week 3 win against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football.
However, injuries in Year 2 kept Jean-Baptiste from building on his promise.
His 2025 season ended after only three appearances, and now he has been absolutely buried on Peters' roster. In the new 3-4 scheme Washington is expected to utilize under Daronte Jones, the competition is simply too overwhelming for the Ohio State and Notre Dame product.
Washington's defensive ends will effectively be used as linebackers, with Odafe Oweh and either Armstrong or K'Lavon Chaisson expected to start. Wise is also still there, and Charles Omenihu was brought in for additional depth. Commanders fans also can't forget about Drake Jackson, the once promising second-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers who is finally healthy after a multi-year absence.
Life was already going to be difficult enough for Jean-Baptiste, and then the team drafted Tennessee pass-rusher Joshua Josephs in the fifth round. That makes seven players likely ahead of the third-year pro on the depth chart, and realistically, the team will probably keep only five at most.
Oweh, Armstrong, Chaisson, Omenihu, and Josephs are probably those five. It would be a surprise if Jackson or Wise make the cut, and it would be a stunner if Jean-Baptiste does.
The potential was there, but the opportunity just never came in Washington. Jean-Baptiste will simply have to hope someone else extends him a lifeline after his inevitable release.
Add us as a preferred source on Google