ASHBURN, Va. — A festive scene played out in the Washington Commanders’ locker room last month. As Christmas music filled the air, several players sat around a table animatedly playing a game of cards; other players dug into three tins of cookies that were on another table.
It would have been difficult to know this was the locker room of a 4-11 team. In past years, toward the end of bleak seasons — of which there have been many in Washington — key players would be scarce when the media was around, wanting to avoid explaining, again, how another season had gone south. The friction was obvious. In other such locker rooms around the league, players weren’t preparing for practices and games as much as they once did.
But in Washington, players said that was not the case this season.
«I guarantee you our locker room is better than a lot of teams with winning records,» one player said.
Two days before Christmas, receiver Terry McLaurin, who has experienced just one winning season in his seven with the franchise, pointed to a group that continued to enjoy being in the locker room together and hanging out. The offensive linemen, for example, were planning a trip to Florida for the following week.
«I’ve seen when it’s been really, really bad, and it ain’t that,» safety Jeremy Reaves, who has been with Washington since 2018, said two days before the season finale. «It wasn’t close to that. So I never really thought like, «Oh s—, this s— about to fall off the rails.»
But there are no banners hung for good culture. And though the vibes among the players stayed high throughout, everything else seemed to go wrong in a failed 5-12 season. Offseason contract negotiations with McLaurin dragged on longer than expected. Injuries to key players — including three affecting quarterback Jayden Daniels — were too numerous and severe to overcome. And poor and inconsistent play on the field, and a clash of offensive philosophies off it, set the stage for a housecleaning two days into the offseason. Washington coach Dan Quinn parted ways with both of his coordinators (OC Kliff Kingsbury and DC Joe Whitt) and another assistant — coaches he had hired just two years prior.
Now, nearly 12 months after a magical 12-5 season led to grand expectations and optimism entering the fall, the events of 2025 have forced the organization into deep introspection ahead of what has become a higher-stakes offseason than Washington could have anticipated. The franchise must now fill two coordinator positions (it filled one of those on Friday) and restock an old roster with younger, faster talent. It also must more seamlessly negotiate a new deal with another key offensive player. And, finally, it must find a way to keep the team healthier in 2026 than it was in 2025.
«Hard decisions have to be made,» Quinn said, «but if I can tell you how many lessons there are to gain [from this season]? Man, it’s a crazy amount.»
Barnwell predicts the entire bracket
• Guide to wild-card round games
• Keys to wins | First look at the field
• Debunking myths | Three elite defenses
• Bracket and schedule | More content
If any philosophical issues existed last season, they were masked by winning. One team source said this season unmasked the divide. Washington ran the ball more down the stretch and finished the season ranked ninth in number of rushes, but it was 25th in carries by its backs. The Commanders were fifth and 19th, respectively, last season.
The speed with which Quinn moved on Kingsbury was noteworthy to some. The feeling among multiple team and league sources is that if Quinn doesn’t succeed in Washington, he will likely not get a third chance as a head coach. So, waiting until it’s too late to make a move was not an option. Quinn has said as much himself: When he was Atlanta’s head coach, he once said he felt he didn’t make some moves soon enough. He didn’t want to wait in Washington.
Numerous players liked Kingsbury and his offense, including Daniels, who previously said he had developed a special relationship with his former OC. Daniels also is close with assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough, who they hired on Friday to replace Kingsbury. Backup QB Marcus Mariota, who was brought in last season to mentor Daniels, could also leave the team.
The potential rash of departures — including the loss of quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard, who left the team in November to become Stanford’s head coach — could effectively remove much of the infrastructure Washington’s franchise QB has enjoyed in his first two seasons. One person who knows Daniels well told ESPN he has been groomed to handle adverse situations.
«He can play for anyone,» the person said.
People who know the situation, and know Quinn well, said the risk would be in keeping the staff intact when Quinn and Kingsbury did not share the same vision. One team source said the goal is for the staff to be completely aligned — something several others said was not the case this season. Leaning on that Atlanta experience, several people familiar with the situation said Quinn’s quick decision was made to avoid an even deeper schism in 2026.
«You need to do what’s best for your organization. If you feel you need to change and then don’t? A year from now everyone’s fired,» said a source close to the situation.
Welcome to ESPN’s NFL playoff bracket game! $50K+ in prizes. FREE to play
That wasn’t by anyone’s design.
«Both us and Terry would agree that we would’ve liked to get that done a little bit faster,» GM Adam Peters said. «There’s reasons for that, but ultimately you’d like to get those things done before we did. …That’s a good lesson too. Just engaging in those things a little bit earlier and hopefully you get to the end before we did on this one, and certainly, we’ll do that moving forward.»
McLaurin didn’t always watch practice during his hold-in. But one day he watched an intrasquad scrimmage and felt something was missing from the offensive sideline. Then he watched an offensive teammate get leveled at the end of a play. In the past, moments like that could result in McLaurin running over and either picking up his teammate or getting in the face of the defender. Something. But nobody did anything.
«The energy that I bring to the offense and to the team, the competitiveness, that was missing,» he said.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed.
Late in training camp, a frustrated Kingsbury highlighted the difficulty in getting the offense ready for the season when McLaurin — and some other players who were injured — weren’t practicing. And Quinn repeatedly said that McLaurin and Daniels needed more reps together.
Later, during the season, Kingsbury summed up the difficulties the offense faced in McLaurin’s absence.
«The margin for error gets smaller and smaller when Terry’s not out there.»
Washington is hoping to avoid suffering through a similar negotiation this offseason with another one of its top offensive players: left tackle Laremy Tunsil.
Tunsil has one year left on his contract, and Peters & Co. say they want to keep him around long term. Coaches view him as one of the top three tackles in the league. At one point late in the season, Kingsbury joked that Tunsil was «going to get a lot of money.»
Peters said the team and Tunsil, who represents himself, are in «constant communication.»
«We definitely want to get something done with him and sooner rather than later,» Peters said.
When asked, McLaurin said that would be a good thing for all involved, based on how negotiations unfolded for him and the team last season.
«I don’t think regret [is] the right word per se,» he said of how he handled the situation, «but I think it’s disappointing that it didn’t happen in a time that was respectful to the season. And I think both sides could share blame in that. I think both sides would want to do things differently.»
Browns locked in for ‘next 120 days’
• CFP games will have ‘impact’ on draft
• O-line key to Bills beating Jaguars
• What to glean from J.J. McCarthy’s finale
• Cowboys’ DC will need stronger roster to succeed
Washington has six picks in this April’s draft, including the seventh overall selection. The Commanders also have approximately $90 million in cap space but only 36 players signed for next season. They can create $18.5 million in more space by releasing corner Marshon Lattimore, who tore an ACL in November.
They’ve built a strong offensive line, with only one current starter — left guard Chris Paul — a potential free agent. They have Daniels. They have McLaurin. They could use other contributors on offense, but they have a foundation. On defense, they have questions. One offensive assistant, whose team faced Washington in the second half of the season, said the only two players who truly caused concern were tackles Daron Payne and Javon Kinlaw.
The Commanders are encouraged by second-year linebacker Jordan Magee’s growth and like how rookie corner Trey Amos played before breaking his leg in Week 10. But they have only two defensive linemen under 25 years old: Jer’Zhan Newton, a second-round pick in 2024; and Drake Jackson, a second-round pick in 2022 by San Francisco who saw limited time in 2025.
«There’s a lot of spots we can look at,» Peters said. «Certainly another pass rusher would be something we’d definitely be looking for. Whether that’s the draft or free agency, I think we have a lot of good options in both of those areas.»
Whether there’s a bounce-back year in 2026 will depend on numerous factors, from the hiring of the coordinators to the development of previous draft picks and offseason acquisitions.
Another key is being healthier.
Washington had 12 players who were either starters or important backups miss at least seven games in 2025, and four missed at least 10. In 2024, one key regular missed seven or more regular-season games. Daniels, who entered the season touted as an MVP candidate, played four full games. McLaurin, who had played in 72 consecutive games and was coming off a Pro Bowl appearance, played 10.
«That’s something that you can really lean on and say, ‘OK, we can dig into this more and bank on that we’re going to have a little bit better luck with that next year,'» Peters said, «and continue to add healthy pieces and get those guys that we lost back, which is a big deal too. We get a lot of those guys back, which will really make us look a lot different.»
