Pro Football Focus top grades for the Commanders vs the Jets

Where did Jayden Daniels land? How about Dyami Brown?

I’m not sure how they do it, but Pro Football Focus has already provided the grades for the Commanders’ preseason opener at the New York Jets.

Of course, keep in mind that 11 Commanders did not even play in the game, and many of Saturday’s starters received very little playing time.

But hey, it’s preseason, and the Commanders 2024 football season opener is four weeks from today (Sunday). So, here we go:

With his big 42-yard reception in the first quarter and another reception for 13 yards, receiver Dyami Brown graded out the highest at 91.1.

New receiver Olamide Zaccheaus was actually the second highest-graded Commander with a 90.2. Interesting is the fact that Zaccheaus actually did not have an official reception. He did have one for a nice gain in the first half, that was negated by a penalty. He also contributed a nice 19-yard punt return.

Tight end Ben Sinnott scored an 87.2. On three targets, he made three receptions for 57 yards, including one where he was a bear to bring down, which gained 44 yards.

Starting quarterback Jayden Daniels was fourth with an 85.1. Daniels completed 2 of his 3 attempts for 45 yards and ran once for a 3-yard touchdown.

Offensive tackle Alex Taylor recorded an 82.2. Taylor is one of the newest Commanders. The Commanders don’t even have a photo of him yet for their online roster.

PFF states that players had to participate in at least ten snaps of the Jets game to qualify for their official grading system.

PFF commends Commanders draft and roster overhaul

A mostly positive and realistic preview of the Commanders’ 2024 season.

Pro Football Focus provided their season preview Friday, of the Washington Commanders.

Sam Monson and Dalton Wasserman of PFF gave their evaluations. Here we go:

Monson began unfairly calling Dan Quinn “a retread head coach” and noted a “huge proportion of the roster was overhauled.” Quinn once won the NFC; how is he merely a retread?

Wasserman began much more optimistically. He thinks, “Dan Quinn is going to come in there and change things quickly. And for me, this was a monster draft class. This was actually my favorite draft class in the whole league…These are players all over the place who are really good college players…There’s probably no one in our building who hypes up Jayden Daniels more than I do.”

Not being shy about Daniels, Wasserman continued, “I look at him and go, that could be a down-the-line MVP caliber player…He, to me, is the full package. If Caleb (Williams) wasn’t sitting there, he would have been the number one pick pretty easily…I think he is every bit in the Rookie of the Year race as Caleb Williams or anybody else is.”

“I find Washington a really difficult team to project forward,” countered Monson. He pointed to the massive turnover on the entire roster and referred to the NFC East as “that weird division,” noting that no one has won the division in consecutive years in two decades.

“Overall I think you are right, Jayden Daniels could be really, really good. Their offensive line is still a bit of a concern for me. They still don’t have a great-looking one on paper.”

“I don’t think they will be where the Cowboys or Eagles are, but I think this could be a close division, maybe tighter than people are expecting it to be.”

Dalton echoed Monson regarding the offensive line, “I don’t think it is the worst line in the league. It could certainly be a concern, and offensive tackle especially is a spot where that could be a sore spot.”

Dalton likes Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu’s additions at linebacker but sees questions at defensive end and cornerback.

“If they hit on Johnny Newton and Mike Sainristil, you’ve got a seriously better base to work with.

So both guys see things looking up for the Commanders with the new staff and new overhauled roster.