WFN Week of 8/3/2026: Diggs (yay!), Tunsil (oh no!)

Stefon Diggs signed

The conversation around if the Commanders would add a WR, and if so, which one it would be is finally over. What once was a conversation around when they'd have the opportunity to add Brandon Aiyuk morphed throughout the offseason into a conversation about their other options, and eventually led to them adding Maryland native Stefon Diggs. 

Diggs was drafted in the 5th round of the 2015 draft, 41 picks after Washington selected Jamison Crowder. It's hard to say what his impact would've been at that time, the team probably wasn't ready to make good use of a talent like his, but maybe now at 32 years old, with a quarterback that has the abilities that Jayden does, having a running mate like Terry McLaurin, the team will be ready to make use of Diggs' home grown talents.

So far Diggs has only had a couple practices with Washington but in his opening press conference he talked a lot about how he wants to lead and support Jayden through his play, and Jayden has already confirmed that the two of them are communicating without words on the field.

Last year the team only had 5 WRs on the initial 53 man roster, we can expect that number to go up this year, but could it go up to 7? Tentatively, I think the WR keepers are Terry McLaurin, Stefon Diggs, Antonio Williams, Luke McCaffrey, Jaylin Lane, Treylon Burks, and Dyami Brown. That would leave Van Jefferson as the odd man out. McCaffrey and Lane are still young and have great special teams upside, if Treylon Burks stays healthy, could Dyami Brown end up being cut? This team preaches competition, there is now a serious one happening in the WR room.

Good news on the injury front

Trey Amos returned to practice this week. He'll still need to ramp up and they'll be taking it slow but Dan Quinn expects that he'll be ready for week one. I'm leaving this in the good news category but I was surprised that we're talking about him "probably" having a normal week leading up to week 1, and to further complicate things, he left practice early on Saturday. Until we know exactly what his current issue is this is still good news.

Dorance Armstrong returned to practice. He'll still be working individually as he returns from the torn ACL but this is a step in the right direction. He'll probably need some time to return to his 2025 form, but he's got a teammates that can deliver production while he works his way back.

Tress Way returned to practice. Sporting a temporary mustache, the 36 year old punter was shy about what actually caused his injury but seemed excited to get his 2026 season started.

Bad news on the injury front

Laremy Tunsil has a torn triceps that will require surgery and cause him to miss a large portion of the regular season. The return to play will likely fall somewhere between  4-7 months, so best case is that Tunsil returns just as the team is making a push for the postseason. Worst case is that the NFL's highest paid tackle (by AAV) is done for the season before it even started.

This is a very interesting situation. He is the team's best player but it feels like they're in a position to absorb this loss. Brandon Coleman will return to the position where he started 15 games (including postseason) in 2024 and the team also has Andrew Wylie and Trent Scott who could help fill a role if additional shifting is required. These players are not Laremy Tunsil, and they're continuing to suffer losses in their ability to block with Tunsil joining Nick Allegretti and John Bates on the sidelines, but I'm confident this won't feel like a team without their best player in 2026. And if all goes well, this will be the season that we confirm that their best player is Jayden Daniels.

Roster moves

Akhello Witherspoon and D.J. Davidson retired. For a team that is no longer the oldest team in the league they sure have had a lot of players who've called it quits during training camp. That's 3 retired Commanders in the last two weeks.

Fabian Moreau was added the Cornerback room. A 3rd round pick by Washington in 2017, Moreau has played for the Redskins and the Washington Football Team, but this is his first time in Washington as a Commander. He's bounced around since he left Washington after the 2020 season, spending the last two seasons with Minnesota in the same DB room that Daronte Jones was leading.

 The team is also looking to ramp up the competition along the offensive line. This week they added Centers Trey Hill and Daniel Brinskill, Tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere, and Guard Max Scarping. To accommodate for these additions along with the Diggs signing, the team has released WR Chris Hilton, and Tackle Timothy McKay.

Looking ahead

On Wednesday Washington will have their first joint practice. The Commanders will play host to the Dolphins at their practice facility in Virginia, and then the teams will play their first preseason game on Friday night in Landover. This will be our first real insight into how the team looks against an opponent, and Dan Quinn said Saturday that this will be a time for him to see if the team is on track.