The Washington Commanders have quietly done an excellent job of improving their roster through the first two weeks of free agency. Washington’s only big move was re-signing defensive tackle Daron Payne to a four-year deal worth up to $90 million. Payne was slated to play the 2023 season on the franchise tag.
Once Washington locked up Payne, it went to work on the rest of its roster.
The Commanders have signed three players to improve their offensive line. Nick Gates and Andrew Wylie are expected to start, while Trey Scott will compete with Cornelius Lucas as Washington’s swing tackle.
The Commanders lost quarterback Taylor Heinicke and linebacker Cole Holcomb but replaced them with Jacoby Brissett and Cody Barton, respectively. Heinicke was beloved in Washington, but there is no debating that Brissett is an upgrade. It remains to be seen if Barton is an upgrade over Holcomb, but the two players should be similar, at worst.
Washington claimed cornerback Cameron Dantzler off waivers from the Vikings and also added more depth at defensive tackle with Abdullah Anderson.
While the Commanders were disrespected in NFL.com’s power rankings this week, others view Washington’s offseason moves thus far as a net positive.
Kevin Cole, a former data scientist at PFF, now has his own analytics site called Unexpected Points. Cole uses his specific data to determine the NFL improvement index. And according to Cole, only six more teams have improved more than the Commanders through two weeks of free agency.
Biggest movement over the weekend on the @Unexpected_Pts Improvement Index is the Eagles falling further with the loss of C.J. Gardner-Johnsonhttps://t.co/BKNgYpOVuZ pic.twitter.com/GARKusSCag
— Kevin Cole (@KevinCole___) March 20, 2023
What goes into determining the improvement index?
The index is built on the rigorously researched NFL Plus/Minus metric, which translates player values into intuitive, concrete and position-agnostic currency of points added or lost. The index is the point differential gain or loss each team during the offseason, beginning with the first player cuts in early February.
Cole ranks the Commanders ahead of the rest of the NFC East in his improvement index. The Giants are right behind the Commanders. New York has had a busy and active offseason, re-signing quarterback Daniel Jones and adding some weapons, including tight end Darren Waller.
The defending NFC champions, the Eagles, have taken a major hit thus far in the offseason.