5 difficult decisions facing Commanders GM Adam Peters in 2024

Tress Way's future

This one hurts.

Tress Way has been the Washington Commanders' most consistent player over the past decade. After Brandon Scherff fled town a few years ago for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the punter was the team's only legitimate shot at getting someone into the Pro Bowl.

That’s generally the mark of a bad football team - when your punter is your best player. But that’s what we were left with.

Way will be 34 years old at the start of next season. He is currently the third highest-paid punter in the league, making more than $3 million per season. I hate to say it, but he is no longer one of the three best punters in the league.

He was not especially good in 2023, finishing in the bottom half of the league in both yards-per-punt and net yards per punt. On the flip side, he was still pretty good at pinning opponents deep. He was such a good holder on kicks that long-snapper Camaron Cheeseman probably survived a few extra weeks due to Way’s excellence.

However, there are at least 15 punters in the NFL all in their 20s who had arguably better seasons than Way. It may be time to find somebody new. But that is one of many items on Adam Peters' to-do list during what's sure to be a baptism of fire in his first offseason as Commanders general manager.