The Commanders had several young contributors step up on Sunday to help ease the criticism of recent draft classes

The Commanders roster needs to see these players continue to develop.

Josh Taylor — Washington Commanders News Writer
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The roster has been under a magnifying glass by Washington Commanders fans recently, and the oldest team in the league needs its younger core of the roster to step up.

Sunday was off to a rough start when 2024 third-round pick Brandon Coleman was listed as a healthy inactive before kickoff against the Las Vegas Raiders. Fans went to social media, and the conversation about the recent draft classes really heated up.

Once the game started, though, a lot of young players made big-time plays when their number got called. With the injuries and roster construction, these players need to build off of Sunday and continue to develop.

Luke McCaffrey

The pressure has been on for Luke McCaffrey going into his second season, and Sunday was huge for him. McCaffrey was a huge talking point this offseason, and there were a lot of debates calling him a waste of a pick. Last season, he was so close to finding the endzone on a couple of plays, and he finally got his first touchdown against the Raiders, which might just break the door open for him to continue producing. He also finished second on the team in receiving with three catches for 56 yards, with Noah Brown out with an injury.

Ben Sinnott

It’s not easy at all to fill in for tight end John Bates, who is one of the best blocking tight ends in the league, but that’s what Ben Sinnott had to do on Sunday. The Commanders leaned on the run game again and fished with over 200 yards on the ground. Quinn pointed out how impressed he was with Sinnott and said, “It was the most he’s played and also the best he’s played” on Sunday. He’s got his hands full filling in for Bates, but he was very effective in his 33 snaps against the Raiders.

Trey Amos

Since the season started, second-round gem Trey Amos has been the best player in the Commanders’ secondary by a wide margin, and he’s shown why he should’ve been drafted in the first round. There has been a lot of hype around rookie running back Bill Croskey-Merritt on offense, but Amos was quietly the guy on defense all offseason, and he’s lived up to it on the field.

So far this season, Amos has only allowed four catches on nine targets for 41 yards, with four forced incompletions and a 58.1 passer rating when targeted as a rookie. Amos was only targeted once on Sunday, and it resulted in a pass breakup that was nearly his first interception. The sky is the limit for Amos being a lockdown corner for the Commanders.

Jaylin Lane

Fourth-round pick Jaylin Lane is another wide receiver people have been wanting to break out, and he almost had his first touchdown on a back shoulder throw by Marcus Mariota, but he made a big difference, and still found the endzone in another way. Adam Peters said Lane was the top punt returner on their board, and it only took three weeks for Lane to take a 90-yard punt to the crib.

Many more recent draft picks contributed on Sunday, like Javontae Jean-Baptiste getting a sack, and hopefully this trend continues. No team will ever have a flawless draft class and be all hits, but these players coming through on Sunday have really helped Adam Peters’ case for his picks since he took over as general manager. The Commanders are also the oldest team in the league, and desperately need young players to join Jayden Daniels as foundational pieces of the roster moving forward.

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