The Philadelphia Eagles faced Jayden Daniels three times last season. They will face him zero times this season as they play the Washington Commanders twice within the last three weeks of the 2025 campaign.
In order to preview this Week 16 matchup, I reached out to our enemies over at Hogs Haven. The amiable Andrew Y kindly took the time took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming battle. Let’s take a look at the answers.
[For my answers to Andrew’s questions about the Eagles, stay tuned to HH.]
Did Adam Peters push his chips in ahead of the season? Asking as a genuine question, but I think it’s debatable and I wouldn’t really say he did. He mostly waited out the first day of free agency to the point that fans started to get antsy about how few big-name signings we made. The biggest free agent addition the Commanders made was Javon Kinlaw at 3 years/$45M, which puts him at around the 22nd highest-paid DT by APY. When most people cite Peters as being aggressive, it’s because of the trades he made, but again I think they were both fair, maybe even bargains. Deebo Samuel for a 5th-round pick still seems like good value despite how poorly the season turned out, and the season would have been much worse with no Terry AND no Deebo for most of the year. The cost to trade for Laremy Tunsil was higher (essentially a net 2nd and 3rd round pick), but he’s been one of our best players, plays a premium position, and will likely be the starter there for years to come. I see that move more as a reflection of how important he thought it was to protect Jayden Daniels long term than a desire to go all in this year.
I think faith in Adam Peters has been shaken less by the offseason trades and more by the fact that the Commanders have the oldest roster in the NFL and many of last year’s draft picks are struggling to contribute. 2nd-round pick DT Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton has been at best a rotational player who tends to disappear in games. 2nd-round pick CB Mike Sainristil has had an up and down sophomore year, leading the team in interceptions but allowing a 127 passer rating in his coverage. 2nd-round pick TE Ben Sinnott has been almost invisible, even with the injury to Zach Ertz. 3rd-round pick OL Brandon Coleman has been replaced by Laremy Tunsil at LT, was moved to LG, then got beat out by former 7th-round pick Chris Paul at LG and is now functioning as the swing tackle. 3rd-round pick WR Luke McCaffrey was looking like one of the NFL’s best kick returners before breaking his collarbone week 9, but wasn’t contributing much as a WR despite a clear need at WR on the team. That’s five top-100 picks of whom only one (Sainristil) has earned a starting spot and even he doesn’t look like a sure thing this year. Old roster plus whiffs in the draft is a bad combination, though at least this year’s draft class seems a bit better.
2) The big news this week is that the Commanders are shutting down Jayden Daniels. Smart move to protect him. How much of a downgrade, if at all given how Daniels has struggled, is Marcus Mariota at this moment in time?
I think Mariota is probably a slight downgrade, but is one of the better backup QBs in the NFL. The main difference between him and Jayden Daniels is that Mariota executes the offense well and will get what the playcall allows, whereas Jayden has more ability to improvise, buy time with his legs, and scramble for a big gain even when nothing’s open. Other than that, they have similar traits in that both are mobile QBs with good arms and good ability to read the field, so I don’t think the overall look of the offense will change with him at the helm.
Mostly players from this year’s draft. Consistently the best player from this year’s draft was 2nd-round pick CB Trey Amos, who was looking like a solid starter before breaking his fibula week 10. 1st-round pick RT Josh Conerly Jr started the season looking rough, but was showing good and steady improvement almost every week until having a poor showing last week against the Giants. 7th-round pick RB Jacory “Bill” Crosky-Merritt has flashed tremendous upside as a runner, but keeps getting gamescripted out of games due to his weakness in pass protection and the team frequently ending up in pass-heavy situations.
4) What’s the biggest matchup in the Commanders’ favor and the biggest matchup against their favor?
I would say the biggest matchup in the Commanders favor is the Commanders OL vs the Eagles DL, not because I expect the Commanders OL to dominate so much as I think our other matchups are just worse. Most importantly, the Commanders OL is mostly healthy, though LT Laremy Tunsil is questionable with an oblique injury. Even if Tunsil can’t play and Brandon Coleman takes his place, that would still make the OL one of the healthiest position groups on the team. Also, I think this OL is overall a good group and am hoping it will be the starting OL for years to come so long as Conerly continues to develop.
The biggest matchup against the Commanders is probably the Commanders pass catchers vs the Eagles secondary. Terry McLaurin is by far our best pass catcher, but has been blanked by Quinyon Mitchell before. Deebo Samuel mostly operates out of the slot and probably can’t beat Cooper DeJean consistently. Zach Ertz is done for the season with an ACL. Outside of those guys, the Commanders don’t have many pass catchers they can especially trust, so I’d expect them to have trouble with the passing game.
The Eagles will probably win because Washington is gutted by injury and doesn’t have nearly the roster depth to make up for it. Even at full strength, it would have been an uphill battle. At the same time, Mariota is a decent backup and the Commanders have shown the ability to move the ball some against good defenses this season, so I’d go something like 27-17 in favor of the Eagles.
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