Free agent running back Austin Ekeler is medically cleared for all football activities, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports.
Ekeler, who turns 31 next week, plans to play in 2026.
The nine-year veteran tore his Achilles in Week 2 last season. He had 19 touches for 81 yards in his second season in Washington after seven seasons with the Chargers.
Ekeler appeared in 12 games for Washington in 2024, rushing for 367 yards and four touchdowns on 77 carries, catching 35 passes for 366 yards and averaging 31.3 yards on 19 kickoff returns.
In his career, Ekeler has 1,561 touches for 9,053 yards and 73 touchdowns.
The Washington Commanders announced the death of three-time Super Bowl champ Monte Coleman at 68 on Sunday.
Coleman was an 11th-round pick by the franchise in 1979 and spent his entire 16-year career as a linebacker with the team. Coleman was part of all three championship teams during the Joe Gibbs era and is in the franchise’s Ring of Fame.
“Monte Coleman was one of the greatest players in Washington history,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said in a statement. “He was one of the pillars of our championship defenses having played for all three Super Bowl-winning teams. His durability and leadership set the standard for what it meant to suit up for the Burgundy & Gold.”
Coleman became the head coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff after retiring as a player and went 40-71 over 10 seasons in that job.
The NFL draft has set a new attendance record.
The official number for the Pittsburgh road show was 805,000. That breaks the record set by Detroit in 2024, which had 775,000 in attendance.
The total attendance always merits some context, even if the NFL would like to create the impression that 805,000 different people made the pilgrimage to Pittsburgh for the draft. For starters, plenty of people who attended on Thursday attended on Friday. Plenty who attended on Friday attended on Saturday.
Also, each time a person enters the perimeter of the draft area, they’re counted again. Coming and going (which surely happens during the Saturday marathon) pumps up the final number with the same person being counted multiple times the same day.
It’s still an impressive showing. But the official number overstates it. (And it’s OK to point that out, because it’s true.)
The NFL has no reason to not seize on the biggest figure. It creates the impression that the draft is something worth attending, and that anyone who doesn’t is missing out. Which gets more people to decide that, next year, they’d better not miss it again.
The three-day breakdown in Pittsburgh was 320,000, 280,000, and 205,000. If not for rain during the early hours of Saturday’s session, the number surely would have been higher.
The record may not stand for long. The method that leads to the same person being counted multiple times could lead to a million or more next year, when the draft is held on the National Mall in D.C. If there are multiple points of entry and exit, folks who stream in and out throughout the three rounds will keep driving the official tally higher and higher.
The Commanders have added a fourth player to their quatrerback room in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL draft.
With the 223rd overall pick, Washington selected Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis.
The Commanders have their franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels and their veteran backup in Marcus Mariota, so Kaliakmanis will likely compete with Sam Hartman for the third-string job.
Kalkiakmanis spent five years in the Big Ten. He started 17 games for Minnesota before transferring to Rutgers in 2024 and starting every game for the Scarlet Knights in 2024 and 2025. He finished his college career with unimpressive statistics -- 55.8 percent completion rate with 55 touchdowns and 27 interceptions -- but he showed flashes of talent, and the Commanders thought he showed enough to be worth a seventh-round pick, and worth a look this offseason to see if he can earn a third-string job.
49ers General Manager John Lynch said before the draft that he’s had discussions with teams about a potential trade involving wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and that he believes there’s “a chance” that a deal comes together.
The Commanders reportedly hope that’s not the case. Lynch said after the season that it was safe to say Aiyuk has played his final snap for the Niners and Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Commanders have “significant interest” in signing Aiyuk if the 49ers release him.
The 49ers are less likely to do that as long as they think the Commanders might pivot to making an offer and they voided the remaining guarantees on Aiyuk’s contract, so there’s no particular time pressure for them to make a move at this point in the calendar.
Washington has frequently been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Aiyuk. He and quarterback Jayden Daniels were teammates at Arizona State and the team has space for a complement to Terry McLaurin in their receiving corps. They drafted wideout Antonio Williams in the third round on Friday and also have Treylon Burks, Luke McCaffrey, Dyami Brown, Van Jefferson, and Jaylin Lane at the moment.
