Commanders’ new veteran addition is already making plays in training camp and he’s pushing a young player down the depth chart
The cornerback position is a major question mark and that’s why Rasul Douglas is in town. He’s already making plays just two days into Commanders training camp.
The Washington Commanders signed Rasul Douglas a few weeks ago with the intention his strong play would carry over from 2025 and into both training camp and the 2026 season.
So far, that’s exactly what’s happened.
Rasul Douglas picked off a Marcus Mariota pass to end training camp on day 2, and it was probably more the result of a miscommunication or a timing issue, but that doesn’t matter. Miscommunications and timing issues happen all the time in games, and players are around to take advantage of those mistakes when they happen. And that’s exactly what Douglas did, and that’s more of a sign of his veteran savvy than anything.
“(I’m) a player who’s gonna give it his all. I’m gonna be passionate about the game,” Douglas told reporters after Day 1 of Commanders training camp. “I like celebrating. I just like making plays. Honestly, that’s just that’s all I think about is making plays and trying to help the team win as best as I can.”
But hey, guys like Mike Sainristil and Trey Amos don’t have that veteran savvy because they haven’t been in the league for as near as long, and they don’t have anywhere near the kind of eye for NFL offenses that Rasul Douglas has.
It’s key for a Commanders cornerback group that faces a lot of questions heading into the 2026 season, and fortunately Douglas is helping calm some of those questions down with his play in training camp so far. Douglas mentioned he wasn’t in training camp last year when he spoke with reporters after Day 1, and yet still found a way to have a positive impact for the Dolphins.
Well, just imagine what he’s going to be able to do for the Commanders if he’s having a positive impact in training camp. In this case, common sense and just simple math says he could be even better than what he was last year. And that would be an absolute boon for the Commanders secondary.
Rasul Douglas will force a decision with Trey Amos if he continues to make plays in Commanders training camp
With that being said, this furthers my belief that Rasul Douglas’s presence won’t bench Trey Amos, but it’s going to make him more of a rotational corner in Year 2. And that’s fine. But with Mike Sainristil, Amik Robertson, and Rasul Douglas currently your top 3 corners in Commanders training camp, there’s a lot you can do with those guys. And it kind of leaves Trey Amos out in the cold.
But again, that’s fine. He needs to focus on getting healthy. Adam Peters said he was dealing with soft tissue injuries over the offseason, so that’s why he’s on PUP. He also just needs to work on his game in general because while he has a lot of potential, he was an average to below-average corner before he got hurt last year.
And honestly, having Amos as more of a depth player isn’t bad, at all. It only deepens the cornerback room, which in turn helps the defensive back end as a whole.
So with all that being said, Douglas is making plays and that’s exactly what the Commanders need right now. The hope is he can continue to do that in both the rest of camp and through the regular season.