Another second-round pick has agreed to terms on his rookie deal.
According to multiple reports, cornerback Trey Amos has agreed to a four-year pact with the Commanders. Amos was the 61st overall selection in April.
There were 30 unsigned second-round picks earlier this week, but Amos is one of seven picks to agree to terms in the last couple of days. The amount of overall guaranteed money in the deals were the sticking point in negotiations and the dam breaking should lead to several more agreements in the near future.
Amos played at Louisiana and Alabama before finishing up his college time at Ole Miss last season. He had 50 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, and a forced fumble in 13 starts.
Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin described himself as “pretty frustrated” with the pace of his negotiations for a new contract, and said he hasn’t decided if he will show up to training camp without a new contract. But Commanders tight end Zach Ertz believes McLaurin will be ready to go when the time comes.
Ertz told Kay Adams that McLaurin will work hard to get himself ready to play in the Commanders’ Week One game against the Giants whether he’s doing it on his own or at training camp.
“I don’t know the business of what’s going on. I’m not privy to the conversations. But what is it? July 16? The first game is September 7. There’s a lot of time between now and then to get something done,” Ertz said. “Everyone knows Terry’s working his butt off whether he’s in the building or not in the building.”
Ertz said he believes players should stay out of their teammates’ business when it comes to contracts, but he hopes the Commanders give McLaurin the contract he’s asking for.
“As a player that’s gone through contract situations, public contract situations, I appreciated that my teammates weren’t out there giving their opinions and everything like that,” Ertz said. “So I’m not going to come out here and say one thing or the other. But what I do know is Terry’s going to do everything he can to be at his best when his best is needed. Fortunately, his best is not needed tomorrow or early next week. It’s needed toward the end of training camp, Week One. For me, I’m rooting for Terry. I hope he gets paid as much as he wants to get paid. But in terms of the business side of it, I’m going to stay far away from that.”
The MVP of Super Bowl 50 has a new team.
Per multiple reports — and as announced by the player himself on social media — Von Miller has agreed to terms with the Commanders.
The second overall pick in the 2011 draft, Millers has played for the Broncos, Rams, and Bills.
During the 2021 season, Denver traded Miller to the Rams. He capped the season with his second Super Bowl win. In the offseason, he signed with the Bills.
Miller had six sacks in 2024 and none in 2023. For his career, he has 129.5. That’s 25th on the all-time list.
Terms of the deal have not been leaked. Which often means there’s nothing regarding the deal about which the player or his agents should be bragging.
Regardless, the deal will at some point become known. We’ll break it down here when it does.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels had a wildly successful first season, leading his team to the NFC Championship Game and winning AP offensive rookie of the year.
But that doesn’t automatically mean he’ll be able to pick up right where he left off when the Commanders take on the Giants to open the season on Sept. 7.
Given Daniels’ work ethic, however, veteran teammate Zach Ertz is particularly confident that the quarterback will continue to progress in Year 2.
“I think he had a phenomenal year last year,” Ertz said in an interview with Kay Adams this week. “And I think when he goes back and watches the film, I, as a tight end, can’t exactly say what he needs to improve on. But I know there’s always things in this league that you can improve on. Going into my 13th year, there’s things that I’m continually trying to get better at. And, really, that’s all sports. That’s the best part about sports, is you can always find something to work on because no one is a perfect player. So for Jayden, I’m sure it’s just little things — consistency, footwork, timing, whatever it is. There’s something that he is working on because he’s a guy who loves to put in the work, loves the process, and has very, very high standards for himself.
“He has such high confidence in himself because he wants to be so great that it really resonates with the rest of the guys on the field and on the team with him. So, from the outside looking in, you could say he had a phenomenal year. But in the back of his mind, he’s saying, ‘I could be better this year.’ And it’s crazy going into his second year, how good he was last year. But he’s going to have that mentality for, hopefully, the next 15 years.”
Being in the league for a while and seeing his share of quarterbacks, Ertz has an appreciation for how Daniels performs and how he handles himself.
“His humility — the thing about Jayden is, things really haven’t changed,” Ertz said. “He’s such a humble guy. He is just one of the guys. And oftentimes, when you see guys come in that were drafted as high as he was, that won the Heisman — they come in with almost an ego. And Jayden was just a guy that wanted to learn. I think that’s so rare, and I think that speaks about the type of person he is, the type of person that he’ll continue to be.
“Yeah, his confidence, his comfort in the offense has grown from last year when first he came in to now — the offseason, OTAs. His demeanor, his ability to execute, yeah, it’s improved. But the person has not changed at all.”
Daniels completed 69 percent of his passes last season for 3,568 yards with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also rushed for 891 yards with six TDs. In three postseason games, he completed 66 percent of his throws for 822 yards with five touchdowns and one pick.
Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson landed a contract extension this week, but another former Ohio State wideout is still looking for a new deal of his own.
Terry McLaurin did not attend the Commanders’ offseason workouts as he looks for a contract that will keep him in Washington beyond the 2025 season. McLaurin has a base salary of $15.5 million for the coming season, which lags far behind the numbers in Wilson’s new deal and those signed by a number of other receivers since McLaurin signed his pact with the NFC East team.
On Tuesday, McLaurin said that he’s unhappy with the lack of progress that’s been made toward a new deal.
“I’ve been pretty frustrated, I’m not gonna lie,” McLaurin said, via JP Finlay of NBC Washington. “Everything that has transpired up to this point has been disappointing and frustrating. I’ve wanted to continue my career here, created my life here. My wife and I bought our first home here so this is somewhere where I’ve always wanted to be. Just to see how things have played out is disappointing.”
The Commanders report to training camp next week and McLaurin said he’s still figuring out whether he’ll join the team.
“I haven’t decided that yet,” McLaurin said. “I’m trying to take things day by day. I think that’s the disappointing part where I was hoping up until this point that things would clear up more than they have. I haven’t made that decision yet. I just want to see how the rest of this week goes and take it day by day from there.”
McLaurin’s comments did not paint a picture of two sides close to coming to an agreement, so there’s a good chance he won’t be doing any on-field work even if he does decide to report to camp. Either way, the situation is going to be a lead storyline as the Commanders get to work on building off their NFC Championship game appearance.
No. 81 is officially no longer in circulation for the Commanders.
Washington announced on Tuesday that it is retiring Hall of Fame receiver Art Monk’s number, with the ceremony coming during the team’s Week 9 matchup against the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football.
Monk’s number has not been worn by a Washington player since Monk departed the club after the 1993 season. Also a member of the team’s Ring of Fame, Monk remains the all-time franchise leader in receptions (888) and receiving yards (12,026).
“I can sit here and take all the credit, but a lot of the credit also goes to them and to the rest of my teammates because a team is a team,” Monk said, via Zach Selby of the Commanders’ website. “One could not do their job without the other.”
Monk was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 as a three-time Super Bowl champion, one-time first-team All-Pro, and three-time Pro Bowler.
He is now the sixth player to have his jersey number officially retired by Washington, joining Darrell Green (No. 28), Sammy Baugh (No. 33), Sonny Jurgensen (No. 9), Bobby Mitchell (No. 49), and Sean Taylor (No. 21).
There are two potential explanations for the Commanders’ sudden decision to lean heavily into their abandoned logo. One, it’s accidental. Two, it’s deliberate.
At a time when the team seems to be floating trial balloons regarding a possible return to their former name, another not-so-subtle reference to days gone by came this morning, in a “happy birthday” post to former Washington tight end Chris Cooley.
Of all the photos the Commanders could have chosen, they picked one in which the scrapped logo was prominently displayed.
Compare that as to how it was in the time between the changing of the name and the purchase of the team by Josh Harris. The London Fletcher birthday posts in 2021, 2022, and 2023 did not include the logo. Last May — at a time when it seemed that the team was tiptoeing toward its former name and/or logo — the logo was back for Fletcher’s birthday wishes. (It was back again for 2025.)
Although some seem to think we’re trying to muster opposition to any possibility of the name and/or logo returning, as I told the Sports Junkies on Friday morning, I don’t really care anymore. If they want to bring it back, bring it back. They can use it all they want. People who choose not to use it can do the same.
The point is that the organization seems to be developing and/or implementing a strategy. And that strategy could result in the logo returning to the throwback uniform. Or the logo returning for good. Or the name coming back temporarily. Then permanently.
Regardless, the longer Harris owns the team, the more the old logo is emerging. It’s becoming normal to see it again.
Now that it’s normal, why not use it? And once they start using it, why not bring back the name?
Again, this is all either accidental, or deliberate. Either way, it makes sense to watch where it goes from here.
This item isn’t about whether the Commanders should or shouldn’t have changed their name. It’s not about whether they should or shouldn’t change it back.
It’s simply an effort to assess whether the foundation is being laid to do it, at some point. And the Commanders currently seem to be inching toward a possible embrace of the name they abandoned five years ago.
Frankly, they’ve seemed to moving in that direction from the moment Josh Harris bought the team, nearly two years ago. In the aftermath of the closing of the deal, Harris used the former name, multiple times. Limited partner Magic Johnson tweeted it.
At the time, the team said a change back to the old name isn’t being considered.
In May 2024, coach Dan Quinn made waves by wearing a T-shirt with the old logo to a press conference. Although the team had “no organizational comment” on the matter, it felt like a trial balloon.
What’s happening now feels like more than a trial balloon.
In the aftermath of the name change, the team generally has avoided the posting on social media of images containing the team’s former logo. The unveiling of the “Super Bowl era” uniforms came with a video of highlights from those teams — with the former logo prominently unavoidable.
“History doesn’t fade,” the quote accompanying the video says. “It fuels the future.”
In this case, the partial embrace of history will naturally fuel speculation and/or fascination regarding whether a change is coming. Especially since the new uniforms — which look exactly like the Super Bowl-era uniforms but for the “W” in place of the abandoned logo — arrived only days after President Trump made his strongest statement yet regarding his belief that the former name should be the current name of the team.
How much of a nudge will it take from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, if the Commanders eventually ask the Commander-in-Chief to push the D.C. Council to approve the new stadium? If, in the end, the President conditions the exercise of his influence on the team changing its name, will Harris do it?
He may want to do it. The quid pro quo may give Harris all the cover he needs to return to the pre-existing status quo.
That’s the best outcome for anyone, isn’t it? There’s something we want to do. Something we’ve said we aren’t going to do. And then, someone comes along who wants us to do the thing we said we aren’t going to do. Something we actually want to do.
Again, this isn’t about whether the Commanders should or shouldn’t have changed their name. It isn’t about whether they should or shouldn’t change it back.
It’s an effort to assess whether the foundation is being laid to do it. Based on recent events, it sure seems like it is.
The Commanders and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser want the D.C. Council to rubber stamp the deal for a new D.C. stadium ASAFP. The urgency apparently isn’t contrived; as reported by the Washington Post, it flows directly from a desire to position the new venue to host major international events in other sports.
Both the 2031 FIFA women’s World Cup and the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup will be played in the United States. The nation’s capital wants in on both events. And the current stadium in which the Commanders play is barely suited to host NFL games.
The women’s World Cup and Rugby World Cup aren’t the only reasons to try to open the new stadium by 2030, but they carry special significance after D.C. failed to make the cut as a host city for the 2026 men’s World Cup.
“[The year] 2031 is a major year in the sports world globally,” Commanders executive Andy VanHorn recently told Bisnow, per the Post. “We believe we have opportunities — we’re already in discussions for both of those events. We think it’s a [$750 million] year for the District.”
Raising the stakes is the fact that D.C. missed out on hosting any of the matches of the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup. As noted by the Post, the capital of a host nation “rarely” gets snubbed for FIFA hosting.
The fact that D.C. didn’t get picked for 2026 would, in theory, make it more likely to get selected for 2031. Especially if it has a swanky new state-of-the-art stadium.
To date, that hasn’t been enough to get D.C. Council to move on the timetable of the team. And the team wants to break ground in 2026, with the goal of opening the facility in 2030.
The initial key deadline arrives on July 15. After that, D.C. no longer has exclusive negotiating rights. Which could, in theory, bring Maryland and/or Virginia to the table.
The Commanders will have an alternate uniform in 2025, and it’s a lot like how the franchise used to look on a weekly basis.
Washington announced on Wednesday that the club will debut its “Super Bowl Era” uniform and helmet this season, which resembles the traditional kit the team wore under its previous name. The uniform includes a white jersey with burgundy pants that sport gold and white stripes down the side. The “W” helmet also has two white stripes and a gold stripe in the middle with a gold facemask.
“We are excited to celebrate Washington’s rich history with these iconic, Super Bowl Era uniforms this season,” Commanders President Mark Clouse said in a press release. “Ever since Josh Harris and our ownership group acquired the team back in 2023, they’ve placed great value in finding ways to connect the past and present and pay homage to those that made the Burgundy and Gold what it is today.”
As the Commanders’ announcement notes, the uniform design is inspired by what the franchise wore during Super Bowl seasons of 1982, 1987, and 1991.
“These uniforms honor the most successful era of our franchise -- one that reflects a culture of excellence and encompasses many historical moments and special memories amongst our fanbase,” Clouse said. “We look forward to bringing that nostalgic feeling back to fans, while incorporating a modern feel for our next generation of fans.”
The Commanders will debut the uniform against the Seahawks in Week 9 on Sunday Night Football. Washington will also wear it against the Broncos in Week 13 and the Cowboys in Week 17.
