With Terry McLaurin out for the season after tearing the patellar tendon in his left knee, Washington has to rethink how it spreads the ball around. The Commanders can replace some of what he brought with numbers and matchup flexibility, but the player who should see the biggest bump is Antonio Williams.
Williams has already built chemistry with Jayden Daniels through the offseason program and the first six weeks of the regular season, and the case for giving him a larger workload is pretty simple: he gets separation as well as anyone on the roster. His snap share has held steady in the high 60s lately, even in London when McLaurin was out with a hamstring issue, but he has still been far too quiet in David Blough’s offense.
The San Francisco game made that clear. Williams ran 35 routes and saw only four targets, though he did catch three of them for 50 yards.
Every target came on third down in the fourth quarter, and those three catches were Washington’s only successful third-down conversions of the night. When an offense is searching for answers, that kind of usage feels hard to justify.
Daniels has to be sharper here, too. A play only matters if the quarterback actually gets Williams the ball when he’s open. That issue has shown up before, including on a short throw to Bates when Daniels missed a wide-open Williams for a 21-yard touchdown.
The larger body of work points the same way. Through six games, Pro Football Focus says Williams has 12 catches on 12 short targets for 85 yards and five catches on eight intermediate targets for 87 yards. That adds up to 17 receptions on 20 targets for 172 yards, one touchdown, and no drops, along with a 75.2 receiving grade.
Washington’s personnel usage against San Francisco also showed how the offense may shift without McLaurin. Before the injury Monday night, the Commanders were using McLaurin and Treylon Burks in two-receiver/two-tight-end sets.
Once McLaurin left, Burks, Williams, and Diggs became the main three-receiver group. Williams has also logged snaps both in the slot and outside, which only adds to his value.
Dan Quinn has already said the team will spread McLaurin’s work around. “So we do have a deep crew at that position, and we’ll lean in, you know, on a number of the guys to find some of the unique roles that Terry does,” Quinn said Tuesday.
Against San Francisco, Diggs had six catches for 44 yards and a touchdown, Burks finished with four receptions for 66 yards, including a 30-yard gain, and Chig Okonkwo added seven catches for 69 yards from the tight end spot. Quinn also called McLaurin’s contested catches one of his biggest strengths, which is part of why Williams should be used differently rather than simply asked to replace that exact role.
Williams has already shown he can be productive between the numbers. He has caught all 10 of his short and intermediate targets in that area for 104 yards. That feels like the right place to start after the bye: more first- and second-down chances for Williams across the middle, while McLaurin’s downfield and contested-catch work gets spread across the rest of the group.
The numbers also show there’s room for more if Washington wants it. PFF credits Williams with 69 run-blocking snaps and a 51.5 run-blocking grade, which suggests there’s still something to clean up if the Commanders expand his role in two-receiver looks. But the bigger point is obvious: this offense needs playmakers, and Williams has already shown he can handle more of the load.
The bye gives Blough time to build him into the plan from the opening drive. Washington has a lot to replace with McLaurin out, and Williams has earned a larger share of the work.
In Other News...
Dan Quinn Just Opened The Door To A Commanders O-Line Shakeup
The Commanders are still sorting through a stretch that has tested both sides of the ball, and the latest roster churn is a reminder of how quickly depth can get stretched. While Steve Wilks has been brought in to help the defensive staff and veteran lineman Laremy Tunsil continues to offer leadership despite injury, the offense has had its own issues, with receiver Stefon Diggs struggling with multiple drops and the line not playing cleanly enough for Dan Quinns liking.
Quinn made it clear he sees the offensive line as a spot that could change, and he did not shut the door on personnel adjustments as Washington tries to steady things. Elsewhere, receiver Jaylin Lane had surgery for a fractured and dislocated ankle and is expected back before offseason workouts, while the kind of roster movement that always follows a rough stretch has already started to show up around the edges of the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
Jayden Daniels Faces A Tough New Debate After Uneven Monday Night
Jayden Daniels return to the Monday night stage came with the kind of uneven finish that tends to sharpen the conversation around a young quarterback. In Washingtons 23-17 loss to the 49ers, the Commanders saw Daniels complete nearly 73% of his passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns, a line that still offered plenty of evidence of his talent even as he continued working back from a left elbow injury.
The bigger issue for Washington was the way the night ended, and how quickly the outside debate has started to turn toward Daniels long-term development. Stephen A. Smith and Emmanuel Acho both weighed in afterward, comparing his performance and injury history with other quarterbacks and raising questions about where his growth goes from here, a conversation the Commanders would much rather have on their terms than after a frustrating loss. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Next Two Games Could Shape A Painful Deadline Choice
Washingtons next two games loom larger than a normal midseason stretch because they could help decide whether this front office leans into a sell-off or keeps trying to ride out the season with the current group. The Commanders have a losing record, but they are still close enough in the NFC East to make the deadline conversation more complicated than a simple teardown, especially with a roster that includes veterans who would draw real interest on the market.
Stefon Diggs and Daron Payne have already surfaced as the kinds of players rival teams would monitor if Washington decides to shop help for future draft capital. The challenge for the Commanders is balancing short-term competitiveness with the temptation to turn veterans into assets, and the next two games could go a long way toward deciding whether this becomes a push for relevance or a painful reset. [Read more 🡒]