Washington

Commanders

McLaurin was also wide open down the sideline for what would have been a 75-yard touchdown pass but Jayden Daniels overthrew him. There was some thought that McLaurin would have fantasy appeal because there were no receiving options in Washington and Daniels would pepper him with targets, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The Bucs were down to only one healthy cornerback for three-quarters of this game, and McLaurin still couldn’t get anything going, which doesn’t inspire much confidence for his season-long value.

The good news is that McCaffrey seems to be the number two wide receiver in Washington. The bad news is that doesn’t really mean much. Most of McCaffrey’s usage was near the line of scrimmage and his biggest play came with the Commanders down 37-13, so he remains off the fantasy radar in most leagues right now.

Believe it or not, that was the most receiving yards of any non-running back on the Commanders. Ertz is the top tight end in Washington and is on the field enough to warrant fantasy appeal, but this passing attack doesn’t seem like one that is going to generate a lot of fantasy value early in the season. Ertz can be left on wires in most formats.

Ekeler is the passing down back in Washington and that comes with some value since Jayden Daniels struggled to push the ball down the field against a defense with one starting cornerback. If Ekeler is going to continue to be this involved in the passing game, he’ll carry some deep-league FLEX appeal in PPR formats, but he remains a distant third option in the rushing attack.

Well, Robinson Jr. is clearly the lead back in Washington, but he’s also clearly not going to be the primary rushing threat. Jayden Daniels rushed 16 times compared to Robinson Jr.'s 12 times, and the Commanders dialed up designed runs for their quarterback all game long. Robinson did see plenty of goal line work and had got another carry from the one-yard line where he was stopped short of the end zone in the fourth quarter. The receiving work was nice to see as well, and Daniels’ limitations as a downfield passer will likely make that consistent for Robinson, which can keep him on the RB2 radar.

The fantasy numbers are tremendous, and you have no complaint about them if you’re rostering Daniels, other than the fact that he doesn’t seem to know how to slide, preferring to take hits or barrel roll into defenders. However, from a real-life football perspective, this was a bit of a troubling game. Despite the Bucs being down to one healthy cornerback (yes, one) Daniels only completed six passes to wide receivers and most of them happened on the final drive. He overthrew Terry McLaurin on a walk-in 75-yard touchdown and appears to have real limitations as a passer. He also fumbled three times on Sunday, but none of them were recovered by the Bucs. You’ll mostly enjoy having Daniels on your team, but there could be some tough weeks ahead.

Brown was just signed to the Commanders roster back on August 28th after being cut by the Texans, so it’s likely that he still hasn’t learned enough of the offense to be active on game days. We would expect him to be back in the lineup soon and he could certainly emerge onto fantasy radars.

The team elevated quarterback Sam Hartman from the practice squad in an associated move, who is likely to serve as the emergency quarterback behind starter Jayden Daniels and backup quarterback Jeff Driskel. Mariota began the offseason in a competition with the first-round rookie before injuring his pectoral, prompting the move to injured reserve. Even so, the 30-year-old journeyman was a long shot to earn the starting job over the promising rookie.

Mariota has a strained pectoral, and the 30-year-old signal-caller won’t be available for the opener against the Bucs. That means Jeff Driskel will operate as the backup QB to Jalen Daniels to begin the year.

Cosmi, the team’s best offensive lineman, was graded by Pro Football Focus as last year’s 12th best pass blocking guard. He was top-5 in run blocking, per PFF. Cosmi’s presence will be important as Jayden Daniels develops into an NFL starter.