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Daily Slop – 11 Feb 25 – Commanders tied for 8th-best Super Bowl LX odds; Giants tied for worst odds

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A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders

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Sports Illustrated

Jayden Daniels, Commanders sit high in early 2026 Super Bowl odds

With the completion of the 2024 NFL season, the sports book released odds for every team to win Super Bowl 60, with the Eagles being the favorite at +600, followed by the Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens in second place at +700.

The Commanders slot in at +1900, tied for the eighth-best odds to make it to the big game and secure a title.

With Daniels at the helm and another offseason to build a squad for Dan Quinn to work with, Washington’s potential is limiteless and they could be in a good spot come this time next year.

NFL.com

2025 NFL free agency: Six franchises with the toughest tasks this offseason

Here’s a look at the six franchises with the toughest tasks ahead of them in the 2025 free agency period. Before we get there, though, here are a pair of teams that just missed the top six and earned the honorable mention label.

Honorable mention

Washington Commanders

2024 record: 12-5

The Commanders have an absurd 28 unrestricted free agents heading into March, per Over The Cap, including strong defensive contributors like Bobby Wagner, Jeremy Chinn, Benjamin St-Juste, Noah Igbinoghene and Dante Fowler Jr., tight end Zach Ertz and essentially every WR outside of Terry McLaurin. It will be extremely tough to bring the whole band back. However, Washington has the advantage of a rookie-contract QB and a whopping $78.1 million in cap space (third-most in the league). Even if the team looks much different in 2025, it should be just as competitive if not better with the right offseason moves.

Pro Football Rumors

Commanders Preparing Aggressive Pursuit Of Defensive Additions

Washington can be expected to be aggressive in pursuing upgrades on defense, ESPN’s Dan Graziano writes. That comes as little surprise, given the fact Daniels will be attached to his rookie contract through 2027 (with a fifth-year option possible for the following campaign). Making major financial commitments will be much more feasible now than the period where he will be on an extension as long as he cements his status as a franchise passer.

The Commanders reset on defense midway through [the 2023] season by dealing away edge rushers Montez Sweat and Chase Young at the trade deadline. The arrival of new head coach Dan Quinn brought about several new faces on that side of the ball, many of whom were familiar to him stemming from his time as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. Washington was active ahead of the 2024 deadline by acquiring Pro Bowl corner Marson Lattimore from the Saints.

The Commanders outbid multiple suitors to acquire the 28-year-old, although injuries limited him to only five appearances with his new team. Lattimore struggled in coverage during the playoffs in particular, but well before that point it was clear the team intended to keep him in the fold via a revised deal. The former Defensive Rookie of the Year is set to carry a cap hit of $18MM in 2025 with a projected $18.5MM figure the following year; none of his scheduled base salaries are guaranteed for that stretch. An extension could lower his cap charges while providing a new round of locked in compensation.

Even if Lattimore is retained, the secondary will be an area of focus for Washington this spring. On that note, Matt Barrows of The Athletic writes Commanders general manager Adam Peters was a strong advocate for the 49ers drafting safety Talanoa Hufanga in 2021 (subscription required). Peters was a member of San Francisco’s front office at the time, so Hufanga – one of the 49ers’ top pending free agents – would be a logical target if he were to prioritize familiar players in March.

With respect to the defensive line, Osa Odighizuwa could be a name to watch. The 26-year-old has spent his first four years as a Cowboy, so he has experience playing under Quinn in Dallas.

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Big Blue View

Super Bowl 60 odds: New York Giants are the longest of long shots

Can a team go from three victories, which was the New York Giants’ total in 2024, to Super Bowl champions the next season. Theoretically, of course, it is possible. Oddsmakers, though, think a Super Bowl LX championship for the Giants is the unlikeliest outcome of the 2025 NFL season.

With the Philadelphia Eagles still celebrating their Super Bowl 59 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, FanDuel Sportsbook has released its odds for the Super Bowl 60 winner. The Giants are one of three teams with odds of +15000. The others are the New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans.

How can the Giants turn things around?

Fast turnarounds are possible in the NFL, though not commonplace. The 2024 Washington Commanders proved that, going from 4-13 in 2023 to 12-5 and reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2024.

The Commanders, of course, landed a transformational quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft as Jayden Daniels won AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The Giants find themselves hoping they can land a transformational quarterback of their own in the 2025 NFL Draft. If not, they are at least aiming to find a veteran quarterback who can improve the quality of play they have gotten from the position the past two seasons.

The championship the Eagles just won, though, shows clearly that the path to improvement for the Giants has to run through the trenches.

Philadelphia made the league’s best quarterback fidgety and uncomfortable, forcing two interceptions and a fumble from Mahomes.

The Eagles did all of that despite not blitzing a single time.

If the Giants are going to climb from the bottom tier of NFL teams, the right quarterback is essential. So, too, is paying proper attention to and doing a better job evaluating talent in the trenches.

NFL. com

Who could Super Bowl champion Eagles face to kick off 2025 season?

For the 2025 season, Philly will host the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Washington Commanders, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Rams.

Let’s take a look at our top four potential matchups to kick off 2025:

Washington Commanders

We know the NFL likes to save division matchups for later in the season, but given the dearth of great options, perhaps the league would make an exception for the upstart Jayden Daniels-led Commanders. Washington is far ahead in its rebuild, thanks to the burgeoning quarterback. Giving Daniels the opening night spotlight would cement the NFL’s confidence he’ll continue to grow into the next superstar signal-caller. It’d also speak to the league’s faith that the Commanders weren’t a one-off. Placing the division game in the opener would help the rivalry with Philly continue to grow. The ugliness of the NFC Championship Game, however, could provide pause. Washington adding ancillary pieces to the puzzle this offseason — Myles Garrett, anyone? — could deliver even more spice to the NFC East bout.

Detroit Lions

The NFC matchup we didn’t get to see in the 2024 postseason after the Lions’ disastrous loss to the Washington Commanders. Even losing offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Detroit should still boast an explosive offense led by Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Facing the Eagles’ No. 1 passing defense would make for an intriguing opening-game matchup. We saw how Vic Fangio suffocated the Chiefs. Could Philly do the same to the high-powered Lions, who have a better offensive line? Detroit’s deteriorated defense should be getting back several key starters, including star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, which would make a dynamite clash against the best offensive line in football. Dan Campbell’s Lions have done big numbers viewership-wise, including two years ago in the Kickoff Game versus Kansas City. Does the NFL want Detroit in the opener twice in three years, or would it instead save a matchup between the top two teams in the conference for a late-season prime-time bout?

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Front Office Sports

Super Bowl LIX Defies Trends, Sets U.S. TV Viewership Record

Even after Philadelphia jumped out to a 34-0 lead en route to a decisive victory, Super Bowl LIX defied expectations to become the television industry’s new standard bearer.

The game, won by Philadelphia over Kansas City 40-22, drew an average audience of 126 million on Fox, according to initial projections. The figure beat last year’s Super Bowl by 2% and set a new mark as the most-watched event ever on U.S. television.

The unprecedented figure defied normal viewership trends in a blowout game such as this, which typically would show a sizable reduction in viewers in the latter portion of the competition. Super Bowl LIX, however, featured two popular teams (the Eagles and Chiefs), numerous pop culture intersections highlighted by music superstars Taylor Swift and halftime entertainment Kendrick Lamar, and an appearance by U.S. President Donald Trump that was the first to the NFL title game by a sitting commander-in-chief.

Additionally, the game was an early debut of a newly expanded measurement methodology from Nielsen that included betting counting of out-of-home audiences critical to an event such as this.

The game audience peaked in the second quarter with a figure of 135.7 million.

Pro Football Talk

ESPN, NFL resume talks over NFL Media assets

Ourand reports that the pair has “discussed the parameters” of a deal that would give ESPN control of NFL Network and NFL RedZone. The move, as Ourand explains, could boost ESPN’s talks with distributors. It also will be useful to ESPN in the next wave of broadcast negotiations, which are likely coming in 2029 — and possibly sooner. With the very real possibility of more suitors than rights packages, it becomes hard to imagine Disney/ESPN/ABC being frozen out if ESPN has purchased NFLN and RedZone.

The league has been trying to sell NFLN, RedZone, NFL.com, and its fantasy-football operations for four years. Last year, as the league stripped the original programming on NFL Network to a skeleton crew, it seemed that it was putting the final pieces in place to dump the asset.

The overriding takeaway continues to be that, more than 20 years after the league thought that starting its own TV network would have an if-you-build-it-they-will-come impact on cable and satellite providers, the league continues to search in vain for a way to declare victory and retreat.

ESPN

Saquon Barkley, the Eagles and a win for NFL running backs

The most important, high-visibility part of the Eagles’ run to Super Bowl LIX played a position that has seen its value plummet around the NFL, with a franchise tag figure that surpasses only that of kickers and punters. Barkley’s acquisition raised a lot of questions for the team that let him walk, for the team that gave him more than $12 million per year in an out-of-character move and potentially for the league’s view of the running back position moving forward.

Barkley answered the questions about his value with one of the finest seasons by a running back in NFL history, and now comes the debate about whether his mesmerizing 2024 performance has changed anything in the NFL — and Barkley’s own future.

when Barkley signed for three years and $37 million on the first day of 2024 free agency, the move carried some risk for the Eagles. Barkley had logged a heavy workload with 1,900 carries dating to his days at Penn State and had also sat out 25 NFL games over six seasons, with a right ACL tear and multiple ankle injuries compromising his availability.

His performances this season will forever live in Philly folklore, echoing through Birds-obsessed living rooms from Morristown to Drexel Hill. A sampling from a season in which Barkley would win the NFL rushing crown and league Offensive Player of the Year with a franchise record 2,005 yards in 16 games:

  • 147 yards and two touchdowns on 17 rushes in a Week 3 win over a Saints team that had been one of the league’s biggest surprises up to that point.
  • 176 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in his first career matchup against the Giants in Week 7
  • A jaw-dropping 26-carry, 255-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Rams in Week 12, followed by a similarly jaw-dropping 26-carry, 205-yard, two-TD outing against those same Rams in an NFC divisional round playoff game seven weeks later.

Then, a Barkley-authored scene in the NFC Championship Game offered strong evidence it was over on the first carry.

Barkley had been the emphasis for the Washington Commanders entering the NFC title game. The Commanders were seeing Barkley for the third time this season and were saying all the right things. Defenders would prevent home runs by working in sync. They would avoid overconfident tackling angles, embrace the mundane and keep Barkley contained. They would fill gaps when he cut back into another lane. The script had been written meticulously, until Barkley ripped it up.

On the first play from scrimmage, Hurts pitched it as Barkley moved to his left, in what Barkley later revealed was a dummy call based on a formation shown in a previous matchup with Washington. Left tackle Jordan Mailata was on the move to swallow a defender. Tight end Dallas Goedert moved his man 15 yards downfield. Commanders pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr. was tripped up during his pursuit, slowing linebacker Bobby Wagner in the process. Stoutland noted that Eagles players want to block extra hard for Barkley because of how much he credits his teammates for good plays, which was the case here.

Barkley handled the rest, with a hesitation move, a spin and a cutback to dodge three defenders as if he were back in grade school recess. A 60-yard touchdown as a delirious Lincoln Financial Field crowd rejoiced and Commanders coach Dan Quinn’s eyes widened.

BARKLEY IS VIEWED not as a one-hit wonder but a player the Eagles can build around … at least in the short term. He turned 28 on Super Bowl Sunday and is due a $1.17 million base salary in 2025, along with a $9.843 million option bonus, which the Eagles will almost surely pay. He’s due $14 million in 2026, the final year of his current deal. Philadelphia can decide well before then whether to extend his contract or let him play it out, setting the stage for free agency at age 30 — largely considered the danger zone for backs.

His legacy and contract aside, Barkley has strengthened the running back’s status in the game at a time when many teams have devalued the position.

One veteran AFC assistant said the emphasis on big-money passers over the past decade caused defenses to increasingly drop into coverage, with more two-deep-safety looks. This reality in turn inspired offenses such as Philadelphia’s to return to the run more heavily over the past two seasons. While few backs boast Barkley’s ability, the trend he helped exemplify could change the calculus for teams who might seek to move running backs up draft boards and free agent wish lists.

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