Breaking Down the ESPN Top 10 Rankings

Laremy Tunsil Rising

When Adam Peters traded 4 picks (one of those picks was a swap with the Texan’s so it was a net of 3) for Laremy Tunsil the expectation was that they were adding one of the best tackles in the league. Tunsil becomes the first and likely only Commander to appear in the top 10 of one of these lists, rising from number 7 to number 5. 

• Cleaning Up the Laundry:  Tunsil was praised as being “bullet proof” in both the run and pass game by an NFC executive, but was knocked for his consistency by a veteran NFC defensive coach. One area of improvement, Tunsil dramatically cut down his flags, committing just 5 penalties last season, compared to a staggering 17 the year prior. Keeping those numbers low will be key this year as the Commanders transition to a new offensive coaching staff. 

• Age is Just a Number: Tunsil will be 32 at the start of the season and isn’t the oldest anchor on the list. There are three players ahead of him in age, led by a player we know well, Trent Williams at 37. If Williams is the blueprint, Tunsil could easily be performing at this elite level for a long time. He signed a 2 year extension this offseason so Washington now has him locked up through his age 34 season. 

• Alone on the Line: Tunsil’s only chance for company on these lists from his line mates, Sam Cosmi didn’t make the cut for the top interior offensive line rankings. ESPN combined interior linemen by featuring centers on this list as well, tightening the competition and leaving Cosmi on the outside looking in for now.

Quarterbacks: Jayden Knocking on the Door

The quarterback rankings are always the most fiercely debated, and this year Jayden slipped from the top 10 down to 2nd on the honorable mention list. Jayden was in a thin race for the 10 spot with Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, and Sam Darnold. Caleb ultimately took the spot, but that didn’t stop an NFL personnel evaluator from saying about Daniels “I would still take him over the other quarterbacks [from the 2024 draft class] from a pure quarterback, decision-making standpoint." 

While it’s easy for fans to get worked up about him not making the official top 10 this year, being firmly in this conversation is a win for a franchise that’s been on the QB carousel as long as this one. He is still sharing space with the best in the league, and if he stays healthy in 2026 he’ll be back in the top 10 this time next year.

Additional Notes

This “top 10” series finished on Friday with the release of their safety rankings. No Commanders safety was listed so that leaves Washington with just four players featured in this series, and just one in the top 10: 

• Laremy Tunsil - 5th ranked tackle

• Jayden Daniels - 12th ranked QB (honorable mention)

• Frankie Luvu - 16th ranked LB (others receiving votes)

• Terry McLaurin - 20th ranked WR (others receiving votes)

It’s clear that the Commanders don’t have a lot of players who are considered among the league’s best at this moment, but if we want to take a glass half full view of their current state I think we can look at a couple things: 

• Younger and faster: Adam Peters said in his postseason press conference that their aim was to make this roster younger and faster, and they’ve done that. With that, they brought in players who are just now signing their second contract. Guys like Chig Okonkwo, Nick Cross, Leo Chenal, and Odafe Oweh who aren’t currently featured on these lists have time to ascend to another level. 

• The top 10 (or 20) isn’t everything: At many of these positions there’s many players to rank. Sam Cosmi for example is a good player, but was not featured on the interior offensive lineman list. I think the Commanders have a lot of players who could show up on a top 30 list, and a team of top 30 players with a Quarterback like Jayden Daniels could still win a lot of games. 
  

The Receiver Room: YouTube, Reality Checks, and Workout Hype

A Perfect Match

First of all, YouTube was practically made for wide receivers. While athletes across every position are jumping into the content space, wide receivers have completely taken over, and it should be no surprise that this position in particular has gravitated to content creation. We’re seeing many of the remaining free agents take to YouTube, posting what essentially amounts to personal commercials for prospective teams, and of course we’ve all seen how Brandon Aiyuk has used social media to destroy his chances of finding a new team this offseason. 

Stefon Diggs Makes Headlines

Stefon Diggs made waves by claiming in a recent YouTube video that he is better than any team's number-two wide receiver. While that might not hold up against a few elite duos across the league, it is definitely true for Washington.

But the reaction to his comments highlights a weird disconnect in sports media:

• The Headline: Diggs claims he’s better than any number WR2.

• The Overlooked Reality: In the very same breath, Diggs mentioned he struggled with suicidal thoughts last season.

Maybe it’s understood that he’s just saying “what if” but it’s interesting that a standard piece of athlete bravado completely overshadowed him pondering that “what if”.

As for his potential fit in Washington, Diggs makes a compelling case for not only another strong season but maybe an improved one. He was dealing with a lot last season, and was returning from an ACL tear in 2024. The injury feels forgotten about because he had such a good season in NE last season (85 catches, 1,013 yards, 4 TDs) but maybe he can get even better now with another year removed from injury and his legal troubles behind him. 

Dyami Brown Conundrum

If you've been watching Dyami Brown’s recent YouTube features, they offer a fascinating look at the levels of professional football.

In videos alongside elite college talent, and NFL rookies like KC Concepcion and Carnell Tate, he looks incredibly crisp, he's a great mover, and he commands the respect of the younger guys. He seems deferred to as the veteran, which of course he is, this will be his 5th NFL season, but here is the reality check on his production:

• Best Career Season: 30 catches for 308 yards.

• Second Best Stretch: His 2024 playoff performance (14 catches for 229 yards).

Offseason tapes are highly produced illusions, they only show you what the creator wants you to see.Watching how Dyami looks among his “peers” in these videos leaves me with two conclusions for the upcoming season: Either Dyami is about to have a career-defining year (even 500 yards would be a massive win for this team), or we can never trust an offseason workout video ever again.

The latest from Dyami: As we talked about on the show on Monday, the Commanders had a big crew in LA with many from the offense joining Jayden Daniels for another round of workouts at UCLA. Dyami’s production crew got this video turned around pretty quickly and gave us a glimpse of what that looked like on Tuesday. 

Quick Hits:

• Uniform schedule: The Commanders 2026 uniform schedule was released this week. We still don’t know what pants they’ll be wearing in these games so we don’t know what the full ensemble will be, but we do know that they’ll debut the black “Hail Raiser” in week 11 against the Bengals on Monday Night Football. 

• Player interviews: Commanders linebacker Leo Chenal joined The Insiders this week and talked about why he chose to sign with Washington this offseason, his fit in the new defense, and Sonny Styles joining the linebacker room. 

• Coaching staff interviews: David Blough joined Ari Meirov’s NFL Spotlight show this week to talk about his NFL journey and the path to becoming an offensive coordinator with just two seasons of coaching experience under his belt. 

• Pimp your ride: According to NBC 4 in Washington, The D.C. Council gave initial approval for the Washington Commanders Motor Vehicle Identification Tags Amendment Act of 2025 after a legislative meeting Tuesday.  This means that Commanders license plates should be available around the end of the year. Fingers crossed that the Commanders are in the midst of a season that makes fans want to show some team pride at the time these become available.