Life hits you fast in pro football. Last winter, Dan Quinn had a 14-5 team one win from the Super Bowl. Assistant coaches, one by one, praised him as the best culture-builder they’ve ever met. Jayden Daniels was the offensive rookie of the year. The Washington Commanders were here to stay.

Then, everything went haywire.

Daniels suffered multiple injuries. One fumble in the rain proved costly vs. Chicago. More injures struck the roster. Old players looked old. The Commanders stumbled to 5-12 and fired both of their coordinators.

On the podcast, let’s sift through the rumble and look ahead to 2026 with a man who covers this team inside and out on Substack: Ben Standig of Last Man Standig .

Last year went south. Fast. But the good news? Washington has the fifth-most projected cap space ($73.6 million) in the NFL and Daniels could always blow-torch defenses again.

Video and audio is above. You can also check out this episode on our Apple, Spotify and YouTube channels. Be sure to give Ben a follow. As you’ll learn on the pod, he brings incredibly sharp insight to a fascinating team.

Go Long is your forever home for longform.

We’ve got you covered through the entire offseason. We’ll post Part I of the February Mailbag later today.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.golongtd.com/subscribe