Commanders land surprising Power Ranking post-schedule release
After last week's schedule release, one thing is for certain for the Washington Commanders in year 3 of the Jayden Daniels era: 2026 won't be a cake walk, especially in the first half of the season.
The Commanders play division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, on the road to open the season. When they finally do have their home opener in Week 3, they are welcoming the defending champion Seattle Seahawks back to FedEx Field (quarterback Jayden Daniels suffered his catastrophic arm injury at home against the Seahawks last season).
The Seahawks are the start of a three-game home stand where you could consider the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants to be breathers, but the Colts were surprisingly good last year, and the Giants are a division rival, so anything could happen.
Then it's on the road against San Francisco, before it's back home against the Eagles and the Los Angeles Rams.
The Commanders' schedule is brutal through the first week of November. So Jayden Daniels believers and doubters alike will have plenty of opportunity to state their cases about his future in the league.
The murderers' row the team faces early in the season has the Commanders ranked 24th in Fox Sports' offseason power rankings.
"Surviving their first eight games may not be possible," said Fox Sports' Ralph Vacchiano. "They only play three of those on the road, but they're at Philly and Dallas to open the season and then off to San Francisco in Week 6. They also play the Seahawks and Rams. They don't really have a break until they get to Arizona in Week 12."
The Commanders won just 5 games in 2025 as injuries to key players like Daniels and wide receiver Terry McLaurin compounded with some of the worst defense Ive ever seen played. This resulted in a big step back for a team that was one game away from the Super Bowl in 2024. Las Vegas puts the Commanders' Super Bowl odds at +6500.
The Commanders did a lot of work in the offseason to fix the biggest issue in their control, the defense. They signed a bevy of defensive linemen, both on the interior and on the edge, to bolster a pass rush that had just a 30.8% win rate after Week 7.
But the offense still has a ton of questions, starting with quarterback health. Depth at wide receiver is also a big concern. The team also cut Tyler Biadasz, who was considered to be one of the better offensive linemen in the league last year. So there is also a big question mark in the heart of the O-line. With all that in mind, it is easy to understand the Commander's low ranking at Fox.
There is a good chance this team could be buried by November. But on the other hand, the early schedule gives the team a chance to prove that last season was an aberration and the 2024 team is closer to what this team will look like while Jayden Daniels is under center.
And the second half of the schedule gives them momentum for a potential playoff run.
Related: Stefon Diggs or Brandon Aiyuk, who should the Commanders sign?
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This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 7:46 PM.