1. Coaching staff cohesion
First-year coach Dan Quinn assembled a staff with limited experience working together. That could look smart in contrast to Ron Rivera’s strategy or devolve into mistrust and infighting.
2. Jayden Daniels’s development
3. First-team quarterback reps
To open camp, Quinn is expected to say the quarterback job is still a competition between Daniels, the rookie drafted second overall, and veteran free agent signing Marcus Mariota.
If Daniels takes all the first-team reps — as he did in minicamp — it’s not a real competition. If the reps are shared, it will spark questions about how that prepares Daniels to start Week 1, as he’s expected to do.
4. Adam Peters’s first draft class
The new general manager started the rebuild with nine draft picks in April, and the spotlight is brightest on Daniels and …
5. Johnny Newton’s left foot
The Commanders placed the second-round defensive tackle on the non-football injury list last week, and though he can return at any time during camp, it’s an ominous start. Newton hasn’t stepped on the field for his new team.
The Commanders evidently missed Newton’s left foot injury in their pre-draft evaluations, which prompts questions about how the medical staff will handle other injuries — especially because improving player health has been a priority of new ownership.
Camp will be a test for the department led by senior director of player health and performance Tim McGrath, who was hired in March.
7. Kliff Kingsbury’s consistency
Kingsbury hasn’t been an offensive coordinator since he helped Johnny Manziel win the Heisman Trophy at Texas A&M in 2012. Can focusing exclusively on offense, instead of juggling the demands of being a head coach, help him end the worrisome trend of his teams fading down the stretch?
8. Joe Whitt Jr.’s attack mindset
Will the first-time defensive coordinator call plays as aggressively as he speaks in his news conferences?
Last season, Washington had 21 long, hard camp practices. This year, there will be fewer practices (18), with the intensity level to be determined. The Commanders could benefit from quality over quantity, especially if the team is productive during …
Since 2021, when the NFL moved from four to three preseason games, joint practices have grown more popular. The sessions let coaches create gamelike tests in controlled environments, with less injury risk than a game because there’s no tackling.
This year, Washington will have two joint sessions — one in Florham Park, N.J., with the Jets and one in Miami Gardens, Fla., with the Dolphins.
Two veterans, Cornelius Lucas and Trent Scott, are expected to compete with third-round pick Brandon Coleman.
12. What’s not happening
Over the past three seasons, Washington’s quarterbacks have had the worst turnover-worthy play rate (TWP) in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.
In college, one of Daniels’s strengths was protecting the ball; his 1.7 percent TWP was the best by a Power Five quarterback with at least 600 drop-backs since PFF started tracking the stat in 2014.
During camp, pay attention to whether Daniels can continue to avoid turnovers — and if they tick up, ask why.
The Commanders still haven’t settled on a replacement for Brandon McManus, who was released in June. The only kicker signed to the roster, Ramiz Ahmed, was tepid this spring and could face competition in camp.
Regardless of the kicker, special teams coordinator Larry Izzo is tasked with figuring out how to exploit the league’s radically different new rules.
15. How the Rivera holdovers fit (or don’t)
This especially applies to players with unclear roles, such as linebacker Jamin Davis (who tried edge rusher during the offseason program), wide receiver Dyami Brown, safety Darrick Forrest and cornerbacks Emmanuel Forbes and Benjamin St-Juste.
16. Undrafted free agents
Under Rivera, the Commanders seldom got meaningful contributions from undrafted rookies. Early in his Atlanta Falcons tenure, Quinn found important roles for safety Robenson Therezie and cornerback Brian Poole, who started nine games in 2016.
Washington could give opportunities to undrafted free agents this year, such as cornerback Chigozie Anusiem and tight end Colson Yankoff.
The Commanders’ new staff values ball skills on defense so much that the team bought new JUGS machines. Washington now has four, which coaches hope can help a defense that intercepted a league-low 17 passes over the past two seasons.
18. Here for a good time, not a long time
Peters’s 2024 bridge roster includes many shorter, “prove-it” deals for players who believe a strong season could lead to a bigger payday, most notably …
The versatile defensive back, who figures to be an important chess piece for Whitt, said he turned down more money to come to Washington because he wanted to play in this scheme.
The Commanders were terrible at generating pressure last year. They didn’t add a big-name pass rusher and will instead be looking for bounce-back years from Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne.
We already covered this. Don’t expect the disgruntled San Francisco wide receiver to wind up in Washington.
The right guard, a PFF darling, is entering a contract year.
Washington has arguably one of the league’s worst perimeter units with Forbes, St-Juste, Michael Davis and others. It’s a challenge for new position coach Tommy Donatell.
The look — the quarterback in shotgun and a running back behind him — could be a big part of the Commanders’ offense this season. Daniels used it in college, Kingsbury used it with the Arizona Cardinals, and it’s on the rise leaguewide. The formation forces defenses to account for the quarterback as a runner and can still create a “hard” play-action fake, unlike the “soft” fake from shotgun with a running back to the side.
Under Harris’s hires, Washington’s embrace of data could become more obvious in places such as fourth-down aggression. The analytics department includes four staffers now and will probably continue beefing up.
26. Local political leaders
As the Commanders’ stadium sweepstakes continues, expect training camp visits from local elected officials, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D). Keep in mind: The legislation that would give the District greater control over the RFK Stadium site needs to pass before the end of the year to make D.C. a realistic option, and it has been blocked by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) for months over demands the team honor a Native American family that helped design the franchise’s former logo.
27. Other off-the-field stuff
The business staff seems likely to continue changing following the recent transition of former team president Jason Wright to a role as senior adviser.
Minority owner Mark Ein said in a recent appearance on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast that rebranding is not currently a priority.
Washington has had a construction crew at team headquarters all offseason as it tries to improve the working conditions that players panned in the annual NFLPA report card.
In the report card, the Commanders got an F-minus for treatment of families. Improving that score is the responsibility of the team support and advancement department, which is now headed by senior director Dylan Thompson, whom the Commanders lured away from Houston, where star players spoke glowingly of him.
Harris cares a lot about peripheral departments such as support, health and analytics because he believes, in a competitive league with a salary cap, they can offer edges.
Last year, fans flocked to camp practices in Ashburn to celebrate the departure of Daniel Snyder. One day, there were about 10,000 people. Despite the organizational overhaul and sense of optimism, the question remains of whether supporters will turn out in such strong numbers.