Welcome to the twelfth part of a thirty-two-part series: Reading the NFL Offseason Tea Leaves. Fantasy football tasseography is deeply rooted in predicting future fantasy fortunes. Some of the team tea cups we'll be looking into may be larger than others. The smallest of cups may have the most alluring blends of offensive weaponry, or be set to bloom after a long steep. This series will aid in your approach to Redraft and Dynasty leagues by bringing you up to date on:

• Free Agency
  • Re-signings, additions, who signed elsewhere, and what it means for fantasy.
• NFL Draft
  • What can we decipher about the direction a team is headed in based on their draft selections?
• Coaching Changes
  • Who's in, who's out, and how do the coaching philosophies translate to fantasy production?
• Fantasy Fortunes
  • What does this all mean for your fantasy football drafts?

Like tasseography, the arrangement of these four sections will vary as we digest each team's offseasons and see how the offensive pieces settle. Each article will interpret what the NFL team has told us about its future plans based on what it's done since its 2025 season ended.

Reading the Washington Commanders' 2026 Offseason

Free Agency Additions

Washington had a ho-hum offseason. Their biggest move was re-signing their stud LT, Laremy Tunsil, to a 2-year $60M deal. Their other notable deals were bringing in Tampa Bay RB Rachaad White, who signed a one-year prove-it deal with a $2M salary, and veteran TE Chig Okonkwo on a 3-year $27M deal, making him the 15th-highest-paid TE in the NFL.

White will look to win the RB1 role, even though other dart-throw RBs surround him.

Okonkwo will likely be the TE1, as their former second-round pick, TE Ben Sinnott, hasn't played a meaningful role for the Commanders over the past two years.

Marcus Mariota was brought back on a one-year deal to back up QB Jayden Daniels in 2026. WR Treylon Burks returns on a one-year deal, making him the team's second-highest-paid WR, which isn't saying much. 

Draft Day Additions  

The Commanders did make two fun draft picks, taking WR Antonio Williams in round three and RB Kaytron Allen in round six. Williams will likely step in behind veteran Terry McLaurin as the team's WR2. Williams is a strong separator who can work all three levels of the field. He has one of my favorite landing spots for year one WR production in this year's draft class.

Allen left Penn State as their all-time leading rusher. He is one of the best pure rushers in the RB class, but his hands are a work in progress. He attended the Senior Bowl, and his only glaring weakness was his ability to catch the football.

Coaching Changes

The Commanders let go of Kliff Kingsbury and promoted their Assistant Quarterbacks Coach to Offensive Coordinator. That guy is David Blough, a former QB who most recently played for Detroit and Arizona from 2019-2022. Blough is young and unproven, but does have experience in Ben Johnson's offense and has been designing his own playbook since starting in January.

He's involved Jayden Daniels in the design of the playbook, and reports suggest he's planning to put Daniels under center on play action more frequently. News coming out of the Commanders organization paints Blough as well-liked by the players and the rest of the staff.

Fantasy Fortunes

I'd be remiss not to mention the possibility of WR Brandon Aiyuk joining the Commanders if the 49ers were to release or trade him, as we've seen Aiyuk wearing a Commanders cap on his social media this spring.

Aiyuk has not played football in nearly two years, and we can't pencil him in as the WR2 if this were to happen. However, his antics must make it hard for the Commanders to bring him into their locker room, and I'd guess we've seen the end of Aiyuk's career.

The Commanders' offense could fuel a QB1 finish for Daniels, a couple of potential RB3s with whoever wins the starting job having RB2 upside, a WR1-2 and WR3-4, and a TE2. One of White, Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Allen, and UDFA Robert Henry Jr. will be fantasy-relevant every single game. I'd put my money on White since he has the longest track record, but it's a true dart throw until the team announces their RB1 on the depth chart.

McLaurin is poised for another high-end WR season, as the team has done little to address its WR depth beyond bringing in rookie Williams. TE Okonkwo has an opportunity to soak up a substantial target share with no one cemented as the #2 target in this offense.

Fantasy managers have become accustomed to Okonkwo coming alive in the second half of the season, but he has yet to sustain a full season's worth of fantasy production. This could be the year, and he's priced low enough to find out with a late-round draft pick.

Cam White is a Senior Analyst & Host at Optimus Fantasy. You can find more of his work on our YouTube channel, and make sure to follow him on Bluesky.