2026 Washington Commanders Fantasy Preview: Jayden Daniels ready for bounceback season

After exceeding expectations by advancing all the way to the NFC Championship game in 2024, the Commanders bumbled their way to a 5-12 season that was headlined by the multiple injuries to Jayden Daniels . Without their franchise quarterback to lead the way, the Commanders saw their offense finish near the bottom in points per game (20.9), and their defense allowed the sixth-most points per game (26.5) while surrendering the most yards per game (384.3) of any team in the league. After shaking up the coaching staff and making some key additions in free agency and the draft, head coach Dan Quinn is hoping to put his team back in the playoff hunt in 2026.

▶ 2025 Washington Commanders Stats (Rank)

Points per game: 20.9 (22nd)

Total yards per game: 338.8 (22nd)

Plays per game: 58.2 (27th)

Dropbacks per game: 36.7 (26th)

Dropback EPA per play: 0.08 (16th)

Designed rush attempts per game: 25.4 (19th)

Rush EPA per play: -0.04 (11th)

▶ First-year OC David Blough plans to revamp offense

The Kliff Kingsbury experiment lasted two seasons for the Commanders. Last year's offensive collapse, while partly due to injuries to Daniels, could also be blamed on stale offensive concepts and a predictable scheme. We've heard it all before. Now, the Commanders are hoping the pivot to first-year OC David Blough can breathe fresh life into the offense. Blough is expected to add some new elements to the team's offensive attack, with the most notable being the decision to move Daniels under center. How Daniels adapts to the change will be something to monitor both in training camp and throughout the season. Dating back to his time at Arizona State, Daniels, per TruMedia, has played 92.7 percent of his snaps from shotgun. The move to a more under-center approach may take some time to adjust to, but will also allow the team to implement a heavier play-action scheme, which ESPN’s John Keim reports is also in the plans.

▶ Passing Game

QB: Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota WR: Terry McLaurin, Treylon Burks WR: Antonio Williams, Dyami Brown WR: Luke McCaffrey, Jaylin Lane TE: Chig Okonkwo, John Bates

The injury bug bit Jayden Daniels in a big way last season. After playing in all 17 games as a rookie, Daniels was limited to just seven games last season due to a knee sprain, a hamstring strain, and a dislocated left elbow. When he was healthy, Daniels looked like a player who had noticeably regressed from his previous season.

Daniels' noticeable decline in both completion percentage and adjusted completion percentage isn't all too surprising given the throws he was missing. After completing 62.1 percent of his intermediate throws (10-19 air yards) as a rookie, Daniels' completion percentage on those same passes fell to 43.2 percent. Among 29 QBs with at least 300 dropbacks last season, that would have been 27th. On his deep attempts (20-plus air yards), Daniels' completion percentage ranked among the best QBs at 55.6 percent, but the "easy stuff" gave him trouble and often resulted in drives stalling out in pivotal moments. Daniels' 50.8 completion percentage on third and fourth downs last season would have ranked 28th among the same group of previously mentioned QBs.

Fantasy points are hard to come by when your offense isn't on the field, which explains why Daniels, despite his 58-278-2 rushing line in limited action, had only one top-12 fantasy finish last season after posting 12 QB1 performances in 2024. However, he's also one of the few true Konami Code QBs in the game, and Daniels' rushing upside, on top of what we expect to be a bounce-back season for him as a passer in 2026, is what keeps him in the conversation as a high-end QB1. Since entering the league in 2024, Daniels' 8.6 rush attempts per game and 48.7 rushing yards per game lead all players at the position. His propensity to scramble also bodes well for fantasy scoring, assuming he can stay out of harm's way. His 12.5 percent scramble rate in 2024 and 15.7 percent scramble rate in 2025 led the league in both seasons, and his 24.3 percent scramble rate when pressured over that span is nearly six points higher than the next closest QB ( Jaxson Dart , 16.4 percent). Since 2016, QBs who averaged at least 7.0 rush attempts per game (min. 14 games) have averaged 23.6 fantasy points per game, which would have tied Drake Maye for the QB3 in fantasy PPG last season. The best ability is availability, and if Daniels can stay on the field, there's no reason to believe he can't achieve a top-five fantasy season or better at the position.

Daniels' No. 1 pass-catching target, Terry McLaurin , is also hoping for a bounce-back campaign. An extended holdout for a new contract last offseason resulted in a three-year, $97 million contract extension for McLaurin, who followed that up with a slow three-week start (10-149-0 on 17 targets), and wound up missing seven games due to injury. He would eventually return and close out the season with a 38-582-3 line, but fantasy managers who were hoping to see him replicate his 2024 campaign in which he caught 82 passes for 1,096 yards while scoring a career-high 13 touchdowns were sorely disappointed. The Commanders could eventually bring in a notable receiver ( Brandon Aiyuk? Stefon Diggs? ) to threaten McLaurin's workload, but he should remain the top receiver for the Commanders this season.

At this point, we know what we get when it comes to a player like McLaurin. When he's at his best, he is consistently putting up 1,000-yard seasons while hovering somewhere in the range of 120 to 130 targets. While they are far from true alpha numbers, McLaurin was consistently turning in respectable top-36 fantasy production in PPR leagues on a per-game basis from 2020 to 2023, and has produced as a top-24 WR in 59 percent of his games played since 2024. He's more of a solid floor/low-ceiling player, but that's just fine for a guy who is goi...

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →