John Bates and 4 Commanders whose stock is tumbling entering the bye week

Not counting special teams, 44 Washington Commanders have played at least 20 snaps in 2024. Of those, only 19 were with the team last season.

That number includes Jamin Davis and Emmanuel Forbes Jr. - former first-round draft picks who have now been released. If you factor in those and also consider a new kicker and long snapper, you realize that general manager Adam Peters has rebuilt more than 60 percent of the inherited roster in less than one year.

And he is not done yet.

Peters has rebuilt previous weaknesses into strengths, most notably at quarterback and linebacker. But when the Commanders take on the league’s elite - teams like the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Philadelphia Eagles - it is clear that holes remain.

Those three franchises do a marvelous job of roster building. They constantly reload with draft picks. They hire good coaches. They maintain an identifiable chain of command. In short, they are well-run organizations. Not surprisingly, they tend to have consistent success.

Peters came from one of the best examples of that. The San Francisco 49ers certainly have their share of stars, but they tend to have success because of the depth they maintain across the entire roster. They may not have elites in every position, but they rarely have holes.

With the recent release of Forbes, Peters has shown he will continue making changes to the roster. With that in mind, here are five Commanders' players who find their stock falling at the bye week.

None may be in danger of imminent release, but all five need to show something in the final month to feel good about their position heading into 2025.

Commanders players whose stock is tumbling at the bye week

John Bates - Commanders TE

John Bates has always been a block-first tight end. Several things have happened this season which suggest he might not be around by the start of next year.

First, though he has primarily been a blocker in his first three seasons, his targets this season have shrunk to virtually nothing. Bates has been on the field for around the same number of plays as last year - about 50 percent of offensive snaps - but he has been targeted just seven times. He normally would get 25-35 targets before this season.

Second, Bates’ blocking has not been special. His Pro Football Focus score as both a run blocker and a pass blocker puts him at or below the league average.

Finally, although Ben Sinnott has not made much of a mark yet, you can expect him to get more attention as the season winds down. The very fact that a player like Colson Yankoff made the roster this year is an indication that Peters prefers the type of versatile tight ends he saw in San Francisco.

That is not Bates.