The Washington Commanders received a dose of severe bad news Saturday when star left tackle Laremy Tunsil suffered a torn triceps that will require surgery and likely cost him much, if not all of the season, according to a league source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the matter. Brandon Coleman is expected to replace Tunsil.Two days before that development jolted Washington, I chatted with Commanders fans on Reddit. An edited summary of our conversation is below; the full Q&A can be found on Reddit. I’m starting with a question that wasn’t asked but is now top of mind, courtesy of my editor.Where would you rank Tunsil on the list of most indispensable Commanders?
To me, Tunsil is the second-most valuable player on the Commanders’ roster, behind Jayden Daniels. There’s an argument to be made about Terry McLaurin being the second-most valuable, but there are fewer consistently elite left tackles in the NFL than there are very good receivers.And consider this: In 2024, when Coleman started much of the season at left tackle, he allowed 30 pressures with 11 sacks in 442 pass-blocking snaps. That’s a pressure rate of 6.8 percent.Last season, Tunsil allowed only 15 pressures with only two sacks in 445 pass-blocking snaps at left tackle. Almost the same number of pass-blocking snaps, but with half as many pressures and 82 percent fewer sacks. That type of impact is why the Commanders didn’t hesitate to give up essentially three draft picks to acquire Tunsil last year and quickly signed him to a two-year, $60.2 million extension this year.Now, some might argue that the Commanders won with Coleman at left tackle in ’24 and that the line, overall, fared well. That’s true.But context matters.Daniels’ performance that season, while leading the pass game and the run game, masked many of the team’s deficiencies. And for as many things that went wrong for the team last year, just as many swung in Washington’s favor in 2024. Five regular-season games that season were won on the last play from scrimmage. Had those five plays ended differently, the team could have been 7-10 instead of 12-5.But Tunsil’s impact has been seen beyond the stat sheet, with his mentorship of second-year tackle Josh Conerly Jr. and quiet leadership on offense. Losing him is a tremendous blow to the Commanders’ hope of having a bounce-back season. They can still win, sure. But it’ll be significantly harder in a season when they have almost no margin for error.Commanders’ Daniels looks sharp; questions remain at key positionsNicki JhabvalaHey, Nicki! Last year, you were one of the few who reported something felt off with training camp. Excluding the Terry holdout, does training camp this year feel any different when compared to last?It does feel a bit different. The intensity of the workouts is different. There’s a clear sense of urgency that was lacking last year. Before last week, the one area that still concerned me, however, was the receiving corps. That was a group that was especially worrisome last year because we could see firsthand how its limitations affected the offense. Daniels struggled to get much of anything going during camp and the preseason. And given the extended absences of Noah Brown and McLaurin, you had to think about a potentially higher risk of injury for them when the season started. You could certainly hope that they wouldn’t get hurt, but you had to consider it. And sure enough.So, seeing the receiving corps this year, prior to the Stefon Diggs deal, I had similar concerns. What if Terry got hurt? Is this group enough without him? Is this group enough even with Terry? I didn’t think it was, and clearly the team didn’t think so either. Adding Diggs is significant — and necessary.With the new defensive additions and the new scheme from Daronte Jones, the defense should be better, but it’s still a big unknown. Last year I had high hopes for the defense, as it sounded like it outperformed the offense in camp, but then the defense was historically bad. I’m not expecting them to be world-beaters this year, but I would hope that there is significant improvement. Have you seen anything that gives you some hope that the defensive performance could be different?OK, someone is paying attention! I feel like every offseason the defense looks ahead of the offense in the early going, and it can be deceiving. I do have some concerns about the back end of the defense; it’s hard to gauge whether they have the personnel to clean up some of the issues they had last year with the explosives given up and the minimal takeaways. But the front seven, so far, seems significantly improved. I don’t think we’ll get a true sense of where they’re at, though, until we see them go against another team in a joint camp practice. That’s typically when the team’s flaws have been exposed or, conversely, when the players who seem promising confirm that. I think back to when Emmanuel Forbes looked really sharp at the start of his first training camp here and then really struggled in the joint practices against the Baltimore Ravens. I also think back to Jayden’s start two years ago. He looked really good in camp, and just as good, if not better, in the joint practices.What can we expect from the running backs room? Seems like at least three players (Rachaad White, Jeremy McNichols, Jerome Ford) with the same playing style will be fighting for those third downs/passing plays … any favorites?I was skeptical of this group at first, but I actually really like them. I like the versatility of the room now, with the explosiveness of Bill — Jacory Croskey-Merritt — and White’s pass catching. It’s obviously still early, but my top three today would be Bill, White and the rookie, Kaytron Allen. (I can’t bring myself to call anyone “Fatman.” Sorry, Kaytron.) Allen may be raw, but he has the natural instincts of a back — the vision, the decisiveness, the burst — that can’t always be taught. And I’m not sure he’d clear waivers if they cut him. The fourth guy on my list, as of now, would be McNichols. He’s proved over the last couple of years that he can step in and be that third-down back and get some chunk plays.How comfortable does Jayden look taking more snaps from under center?Very comfortable. The footwork that so often seems to trip up (no pun intended) young quarterbacks doesn’t seem to be an issue at all for him. His timing with his receivers and tight ends was slightly off at the beginning of camp, but since last Monday, he’s looked really sharp. Seems to have a good command of the offense, and his accuracy is exceptional.Love your work! You were one of the first to be on the lower win count for last year. What’s your not-popular opinion for this season?Dang, you trying to get me blasted before it all starts?! I don’t want to be the constantly negative reporter — I swear, I’m not! — and I have no idea if these are considered unpopular takes. But to keep it balanced, I’ll give a good and bad: As I mentioned earlier, I do like the running backs room. I think they could be a sneaky good group. If there’s a negative, I’m not as sold on the tight ends room as maybe others are. I really like Chig Okonkwo, but I don’t know that they have the depth they need there, and considering David Blough may use more multi-tight end sets, I’m curious to see how that group shakes out.How long did the Diggs deal take to come together? Have they been discussing it for a while?Yes, they had been talking to him for a bit. From what I was told, Brandon Aiyuk was a consideration earlier in the offseason, prior to the social media stuff. The thinking was that if the San Francisco 49ers were going to release him, he could’ve been a boost to the receiving corps, given his age and familiarity with Daniels and general manager Adam Peters. But the team was never going to trade for him, social media stuff aside, and he remains under contract with the 49ers. So then the focus shifted to Diggs. He’s in the later stages of his career, but he’s still producing at a high level and could be the perfect No. 2 to complement McLaurin.Stefon Diggs practices as a CommanderNicki JhabvalaIn your opinion, who is the breakout player this year?Hmm. I don’t know that a good season would be considered a “breakout” for any of these guys, but here are some (not including Jayden) with the potential to be really productive in the new systems:
