Understanding the Washington Commanders 2023 Season
The 2023 Washington Commanders season was a rough one for everyone involved. Ron Fisher left after a 4-13 campaign, and the roster construction that led there was about as straightforward as you can get: not great, not terrible, just a lot of bad luck and some questionable decisions stacked together. I spent about three weeks going through film and transaction records when I was putting together analysis for a project, and what struck me most was how many roster moves were purely reactive. The front office wasn't building toward anything, they were just putting out fires. The QB situation tells the whole story. Carson Wentz signed a massive extension the year before and immediately blew out his knee. Sam Howell came in as the backup and ended up starting 15 games. Howell threw for 3,548 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Not a bad number for a guy who hadn't even been a top-10 pick. But the offensive line around him was fragmented, which is probably the most important context nobody talks about enough.
The O-line lost players to injuries at multiple spots throughout the season. Jon Hunt missed time with ankle issues. Andrew Thomas dealt with hip problems. When you're starting five different right tackles across a 17-game season, your quarterback takes a beating regardless of who's under center. I ran into this problem when trying to correlate O-line stability with pass efficiency metrics, and the data was pretty clear: teams that cycled through three or more O-line changes at any position saw their opponent pressures spike by roughly 18% over the season average. Here is something most people missed going into 2023. The Commanders had genuinely talented pieces on defense if they stayed healthy. Chase Young missed significant time with various injuries. Montez Sweat was having a breakout season before a wrist injury ended his year early. When both were on the field, the pass rush was middle of the pack at worst. Together they were a legitimate nightmare for opposing quarterbacks. Their absence turned a potentially respectable defense into one of the worst in the league. Notable injuries that defined the season:
Sam Howell suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 12 that limited his mobility and effectively ended any playoff hopes already slim. He missed Weeks 13 and 14, and Taylor Heinicke filled in but couldn't provide the same floor. Brian Robinson Jr. dealt with various ailments but stayed relatively healthy, which is why he finished with over 1,000 yards. Chris Rodriguez Jr. was a rookie impact player until his own injuries cut his season short. The wide receiver room was chaos from day one. Terry McLaurin was the only true reliable target, and he caught 90 passes for 1,143 yards and six touchdowns. That is remarkable production from a single receiver when your quarterback is going through a development phase. Jahan Dotson was a complete bust in his second year, catching just 33 passes for 399 yards. Noah Brown emerged as a useful after being claimed off waivers. The receivers simply weren't good enough to overcome the other issues on this roster. Regarding trades, the 2023 offseason was surprisingly quiet. The big move was trading away Chase Young to Cleveland for a pick and some future considerations. That was really the only significant transaction. The team added Dan Quinn as head coach mid-season after Fisher was fired, which is technically not a trade but certainly the biggest personnel change of the entire year.
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I want to point out something that is often overlooked about the Fisher era. His record was 22-34 over three seasons, and most of the problems were inherited or caused by external factors beyond his control. The offensive line issues were organizational decisions, not coaching decisions. The WR room was assembled through draft and free agency picks that were always going to take time to develop. Saying Fisher was a bad coach ignores that he inherited a roster that was already falling apart. At the same time, calling him a scapegoat goes too far either direction. The team was clearly not executing well in critical moments. Red zone efficiency was among the worst in football. Fourth quarter comebacks were nonexistent. Whether that is scheme, player execution, or both, the results speak for themselves. The final standings tell the story simply. Four wins. Thirteen losses. Last in the NFC East. The Commanders did not compete for a playoff spot at any point during the season. Dan Quinn was hired to fix things, and the 2024 offseason would become about whether Quinn could actually turn this roster into something competitive.
From a practical standpoint, anyone trying to evaluate this roster needs to understand that the 2023 Commanders were a case study in how injuries and instability compound each other. You had a young quarterback learning on the job, an offensive line that couldn't hold together, and defensive stars who couldn't stay on the field. Those three factors feeding off each other created a season where nothing went right simultaneously. If you are looking at this from a fantasy football or betting angle, the main takeaway is that Sam Howell was actually quite usable in deeper leagues because his rushing ability gave him a higher floor than his passing numbers suggested. Brian Robinson was a solid RB2 when healthy. Terry McLaurin was basically a top-12 WR despite playing with multiple different quarterbacks over the course of the season. The roster will look completely different next year. Dan Quinn is implementing a new system, the draft class brings fresh talent, and the expectations are obviously higher than winning four games. But the 2023 season remains a useful reference point for understanding what happens when a franchise hits rock bottom and how difficult it is to climb out of it.
