Washington’s choice to keep Athan Kaliakmanis on the 53-man roster wasn’t just about carrying an extra quarterback. It was about what the Commanders saw when the lights came on in the preseason.
After spending the offseason program evaluating Kaliakmanis and Sam Hartman, Washington had a real call to make once preseason ended: hold two quarterbacks or keep three. In the end, the team decided Kaliakmanis was worth protecting, even if the more likely outcome this season is that any emergency help behind Jayden Daniels or Marcus Mariota would come from outside the initial roster.
General manager Adam Peters said Monday the move came down to what Kaliakmanis showed on the field.
"Yeah, I mean, you do see teams keep two, some teams keep three, some keep four," Peters said. "So, I think a lot of it's a function of who you have in that room across the league.
But Athan, we really just loved his arm talent, his moxie, his competitiveness. That's what we saw on tape, and those are a lot of things you saw on the preseason tape.
And just the way he could extend plays and made some plays under pressure, also standing in the pocket, making big-time throws. He made a lot of really big-time throws in the preseason, and that was something that we were really pleased to see.
And he's not afraid to rip it. A lot of times you see that in the preseason where guys get in the game, and they'll go straight to their checkdown because that's more comfortable and you get an easy completion, but he wasn't afraid to make mistakes.
He wasn't afraid to rip it. And certainly it wasn't all perfect.
There's a lot of different things that he's got a lot of room to grow in, a lot of different ways, but really liked his progress. And he's a guy we definitely want to work with in the future.
Really, all four guys that we have are guys we really like and want to work with in the future. But Athan certainly earned that."
Washington had already seen Kaliakmanis’ physical tools on college tape. What the team wanted to find out was how those traits would hold up against NFL speed. The preseason gave them that answer, at least enough to justify using one of the 53 spots on a third quarterback.
Against the Lions, Kaliakmanis put together a clean showing: 11-for-14 passing for 162 yards, with a 114.9 passer rating and a 92.4 PFF grade.
The Commanders are viewing him as a developmental piece behind Daniels, with Peters making clear there’s still plenty for him to sharpen. But Washington liked the progress enough to keep him close rather than expose him to another quarterback-needy team.
That decision says plenty about how the Commanders see him: not as a finished product, but as a quarterback they want to keep building with.
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