5 Commanders players who cemented roster spots in 2024 preseason opener

Tyler Owens - Commanders S

Undrafted free agent Tyler Owens did not look like a rookie during his NFL debut.

Everyone knew about his physical gifts this off-season. His broad jump at the NFL Scouting Combine - an indication of leg explosion - was off the charts. He is big, fast, and has everything you look for in a safety on the backend. The main question is whether he can turn that athleticism into on-field production.

He did that time and time again against the New York Jets. Owens played a lot of snaps early and made plays all over the field.

One of the players he may be competing with, Jeremy Reaves, missed a clean tackle early on. Owens didn’t miss a thing. When he hit players, they went down. Though it can be hard to tell in limited snaps against a vanilla offense, he never seemed out of position, which was a major problem for Commanders' safeties last season.

Dyami Brown - Commanders WR

This one is simple.

New quarterback Jayden Daniels throws a beautiful deep ball. Dyami Brown is supposed to be a deep threat. Three plays into the game, the signal-caller launched a gorgeous throw down the right sideline. The streaking wideout hauled it in, despite having one arm held by Jets’ cornerback Jarrick Bernard-Converse.

Brown was already likely to take one of the backup receiver roles. This one play not only locked up a spot but probably earned a longer look as the top option behind starters Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson.

The former third-round pick played much of the first half and later caught a second ball from Jeff Driskel. It is significant that both of his catches came on third and long plays and resulted in first downs.

Brown has shown flashes of this potential before but has never built on it. He's also never had a quarterback who could take advantage of what he does best. In Daniels, he finally has such a player under center.