ESPN’s Commanders Offseason Grade Has One Major Problem — And It Isn’t the Grade

ESPN’s Commanders Offseason Grade Has One Major Problem — And It Isn’t the Grade

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The Washington Commanders getting a C+ from ESPN in its annual 2026 NFL offseason grades is not the part that should bother anyone all that much.

That is not to say that all fans will agree with it. It also does not mean the team had a bad offseason. The Commanders were active this offseason, especially on defense, where Odafe Oweh, Nick Cross, Amik Robertson, Leo Chenal, K’Lavon Chaisson, and first-round pick Sonny Styles gave the unit an instant facelift after last season’s struggles.

For the Commanders, 'active' does not mean 'finished.' Normally, we make a point of tracking the national media’s level of respect for Washington when it appears the team is being overlooked. This is not one of those moments, as the grade itself is not that hard to understand. Washington still has some spots, at least on the surface, that feel unsettled.

There will also likely be another wave of free-agent workouts and roster churn before camp and again before the regular season. That does not mean the Commanders will sign anyone, but it does mean the roster should not be treated as a final product yet.

Firing Kliff Kingsbury Wasn't a Blame Game—It Was a Structural Pivot

The bigger issue with ESPN's breakdown was not the grade; it was the move the columnist chose to criticize the most. ESPN’s blurb listed the decision to move on from Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator as the offseason move it most disliked. That was where the argument got shaky, as it went on to say that if anyone should be the one on the warmer seat, it was Dan Quinn. That is not necessarily an outrageous take, but it also does not make the Kingsbury decision wrong.

The Real Debate: Roster Question Marks at WR2 and Cornerback

As far as the roster is concerned, the Commanders need more clarity at receiver and cornerback. Terry McLaurin is the top receiver in the building, and adding Chig Okonkwo gives the offense access to a legit weapon at tight end. That is not the issue. The question is whether Washington already has a WR2 hidden on the roster who needs to step up, or whether it should add one once camp begins.

The names have stayed the same over the past few weeks as 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk and free-agent receiver Stefon Diggs have remained part of the national conversation. Both of those names will keep floating around in fan conversation even if neither should be treated as the answer.

A similar conversation can be had at cornerback, just without the same star-power names attached. Washington has options there, but it is fair to wonder whether it has enough proven depth to hold up for a full season.

Protecting the Franchise: Building an Offense That Outlasts Weekly Matchups

Moving on from Kingsbury should not be viewed through the lens of Washington blaming him for everything that went wrong last season. The defense was the clear issue, but a team can know one side of the ball is to blame and still understand the other side needs to change too. That also appears to be the point.

Washington is not just trying to get quarterback Jayden Daniels through weekly matchups. They are trying to build an offense around him that will last, headed by new offensive coordinator David Blough. This includes better protecting him by using a more traditional approach of lining him up under center, rather than constant shotgun, and using play-action more often off the run game.

That is not to say Kingsbury's offense lacked value. It may also not have provided the best long-term answer for where the Commanders want Daniels to go next. That is a fairly sizable difference, and a legitimate reason for Washington to make a change.

The C+ grade is fair, given the overall argument is that Washington still has work to do. But calling the Kingsbury firing the move to dislike most completely dodges what Washington appears to be trying to become.

The grade is not the problem. The explanation is where the debate begins.

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Philip Hughes covers the Washington Commanders with a focus on daily news, film analysis, roster construction, player development, and the fan culture surrounding one of the NFL’s most scrutinized teams. A longtime sports writer and content creator, Hughes has spent more than 20 years building football audiences across the interwebs and following the daily beat of the NFC East. email: [email protected]

Brandon Aiyuk Could Owe the 49ers Up to $18.4 Million

Brandon Aiyuk Could Owe the 49ers Up to $18.4 Million

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Last week, Brandon Aiyuk posted a video in which he said he doesn't care how much money he has to give up to leave the 49ers and join the Commanders. Turns out, he might not have realized just how much money the 49ers are going to take back from him.

Aiyuk recently taunted the 49ers by posting a video in which he called them stupid for paying him $50 million in 12 months, then voiding the guarantees in his contract for 2027 when he'll be on a new team. Meaning the 49ers can't really do anything to hurt Aiyuk. At least, that's what he thought.

He was wrong. Not only did the 49ers void his guarantees for 2027, they also voided his guarantees for 2026, and will look to recoup up to $18.4 million that they already paid him, according to NBC Bay Area's Matt Maiocco.

"Brandon Aiyuk gave the 49ers an incredible gift, an incredible out, by not fulfilling the terms of his contract and defaulting on it after he got injured with the torn ACL," Maiocco said.

"By him not showing up to rehab sessions, check-in sessions and everything else, by him not following the terms of his contract, he gave the 49ers the incredible opening to void the remaining guarantees of his contract, and I believe it also gives them the ability to go after a lot of the money that they have already paid him.

"Not only will the 49ers not have to pay him another penny, whereas if he had just shown up, the 49ers would have been on the hook for $27 million for this year, it also enables the 49ers to get a lot of money back. I don't know the exact numbers that they will be able to get back from Aiyuk, but I would put it somewhere between $13.8 million and $18.4 million.

"So, on the $23 million signing bonus, which is basically an advance for future performance, it comes out to $4.6 million per year for those five years. If the 49ers voided his contract a year ago in late July, they could get as much as $18.4 million back. Whatever the case may be, the 49ers are certainly going after that money, and there is no representation right now for Aiyuk, according to him."

Keep in mind, Maiocco said this on Saturday. Up until that day, Aiyuk had been posting multiple childish videos per day on social media. Since Maiocco reported that Aiyuk most likely will have to pay back a ton of money to the 49ers, he hasn't posted any videos online. Instead, he formally filed the paperwork to fire his agent, and posted a written letter to the NFL Players' Association asking for help.

Seems like Aiyuk finally understands the severity of his situation.

Here's the good news for Aiyuk: Now that he officially has fired his agent, other agents are free to contact him and help him take the necessary steps to get released, become a free agent and sign with the Commanders. Which means he most likely will file for reinstatement in the league and show up to the 49ers' facility for a day when training camp starts if he has to.

Here's the bad news for Aiyuk: He's probably on the hook for all those millions. He has been so relentlessly rude to the 49ers that they almost certainly won't cut him any breaks. They feel they paid him a fortune for essentially nothing. So they're going to get even.

If Aiyuk does indeed owe the 49ers roughly $18 million, and if he doesn't have all that cash saved up right now, he will have to pay the 49ers out of his future contracts.

What a price to pay just to join the Commanders.

Clearly, the 49ers want to make an example of Aiyuk so that no player ever will try to do what he has done, which is sign a huge extension, get injured, and then walk away from the team. They think they did nothing wrong, and he changed after getting paid.

But there's more to the story than that. Their narrative is awfully thin. They contributed to the breakdown of this relationship, and they should own that, because they need Aiyuk. When healthy, he's a top -10 wide receiver in his prime who has outstanding chemistry with Brock Purdy. They're attempting to replace Aiyuk with Mike Evans, who will turn 33 in August and is coming off the worst season of his career.

So when the 49ers finally get all the money back from Aiyuk that they can take, they can pat themselves on the back and say that they won. But really, they lost one of their best young players and got nothing in return for him.

That's nothing to be proud of.

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.