Commanders NEXT MOVE Revealed...

ESPN just named one player the commanders should call before the Tuesday deadline. Not a star and not a first round pick. A 5-8 sixth round pick that fits this team like a glove. And here's why ESPN thinks he fixes it. Washington's running backs have combined for minus 69 rushing yards over expected this season. Minus 69. And deadline is on Tuesday and you're gonna know exactly why at the end of this video that they need to make this move. Start with what is broken. The Commanders are 2-4-1 to start this season. They tied versus the Giants. They lost to San Francisco. And they just beat the Eagles. This season is not out of reach yet. Their leading rusher this season, Ja'Cory Croskett-Merritt, has 239 yards. And he just went on injured reserves with a groin injury. Jeremy McNichols is reported out for the season and may need surgery. And ESPN lists Washington as a team that wants to get better long-term. And of course, they could use some. help on the offensive line, but the running backs is where the numbers are truly the worst. And a quick explainer, because this number runs a lot of this video. Rush yards over expected compares what a back actually gains with what next gen stats say an average back would get from the same blocking and the same defenders. So minus 69 yards means that this room has left 69 yards on the field that an average back would have got. And that's almost a full game worth of yards. So who's left? Rashard White with 200 yards and Austin Eckler, who has 67. And they just claimed Robert Henry Jr. off waivers from Seattle. That's how thin this room is. And look who is almost leading the team in rushing yards. Jaden Daniels, who has 236, just three short of the top of the running backs, which a quarterback should not have to do. So when ESPN was asked who Washington should target going in, it wasn't a wide receiver and it wasn't a quarterback. And if you guys want to quickly stay up to date with everything to do around the Commanders, especially with deadline coming up on Tuesday, make sure to hit that free subscribe button and I'll keep you up to date on everything to do around this team from trades, reports, rumors, game previews, and even post games. You can catch all that right here on Commanders Digest Plus. It's completely free. It was Kamani Vidal and ESPN wrote that the position that this team needs to upgrade is the running back. And I'm going to be straight with you. This is not a done deal. This team is not 100% adding him to this team. But when looking at the positions, there's no better add to a team that desperately needs those rushing yards. And why does this make the most sense? Because it's the cleanest name on the board. This is a team that desperately needs to add more rushing yards when it comes to their running backs. And time is starting to tick with Tuesday's deadline coming up. Chargers are 0-7. They were beaten 24-9 by the Rams last Sunday, and ESPN says they are built-for-the-future mode. ESPN didn't stop at Vidal either. Its preview also floated Jaguars receiver Brian Thomas Jr. as a fit and said tackle Andrew Wiley could move. And Thomas would cost real draft capital, but Vidal would cost a Day 3 pick, and that's why this move will get done. A 0-7 team doesn't need a 5-8 running back on their team, but a team that desperately needs rushing yards could use him tomorrow. So who is he? Let's start with Troy Alabama. Kamani Vidal is Troy's all-time leading rusher. In his senior year alone, he ran 297 times for 1,661 yards and 14 touchdowns. At the combine, he measured 5'8", 213 pounds, and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds. That is a bowling ball with real speed. The Chargers took him in the sixth round, 181st overall in the 2024 draft. Draft Network said his strengths are vision, lateral agility, contact balance, and catching the ball. This is a back that sees the hole before it opens and gets the yards as it closes. And a lot of players run wild in the Sun Belt and the real test is when he gets into the NFL and faces that talent. But college is college. Does it hold up in the NFL? Last season, Vidal carried the ball 155 times for 643 yards, 4.1 yards a carry with three touchdowns. In week 6 against Miami, he ran 15 times for 122 yards, 8.1 a carry, and said afterwards, quote, it just means the world. This season, he is averaging 4.6 yards a carry on 29 carries for 132 yards and a touchdown. Walder's number back it up. Walder's number backs it up. Vidal is at minus 2 rushing yards over expected this season, in a 3-man backfield, after 58 last year. Now put that next to the Commanders backs, minus 69 as a group. Minus 2 for one guy who barely gets the ball. And every year that role grew. 43 carries in 2024, 155 in 2025. Same player, more than 3 times the carries, and he did not fall apart. He also catches the ball too. 9 catches for 50 yards and a touchdown this year. And seven kick returns for 179 yards. And here's the part no one is talking about. Because when you break down each game individually, it looks so much better. Week one and two, nothing. Zero carries, zero catches. He did not touch the ball. Week three at Buffalo, one carry. Week four at Seattle, five carries for 25 yards and a touchdown catch. Then in Denver, eight carries, 57 yards, a touchdown. 7.1 a carry. That is the game that put him on the map. Every week since, he has 7-8 carries on a team that continuously trails by double digit points and are unable to run the ball at that point. And his receiving is climbing too. Over his last 5 games, he is averaging 16.8 receiving yards a game, up from 7.4 before that. And that is not a back that's fading out. That is a back that continued to get the touches and now put his coaching staff in the position to Force him the ball even more. Now imagine that exact same player, with a quarterback who not only likes to throw, but run the ball, with a defense that holds up, and an offense that has to respect him. And you might ask, why is a player like this sitting on the market? And it's because where he sits. Hampton leads the Chargers with 309 rushing yards. Vidal has 132, and he did not touch the ball once in the first two games. Bleacher Report has said that Vidal could drop to number three on the depth chart if Keaton Mitchell shows his old quickness from before the knee injury. The Chargers also could be moving on from Cleo Mack on his $8 million deal as they tear it down. But Vidal's contract is the cheap one that teams want to move on from. So he's a starter putting up great numbers that is stuck behind two other guys on a team that is 0-7 and will not make the playoffs. And his contract makes it almost too easy. One year, $1,085,000. And after this season, he is a restricted free agent. So the team that gets him gets to keep him. So you might ask, what is the price going to call? And no one has reportedly said the exact price, but from what others are starting to talk, a fourth or fifth round pick. And Washington has its own picks in all seven rounds of the 2027 draft and has traded none of them. And one more thing. There's another team that has been linked to Vidal, and that is the Eagles. The last thing you want to do is have this guy show up in the same division on a team that you just beat. And the Commanders have all of their seven picks, like I said. So going out and moving a fifth or sixth round pick is not a gamble. It's housekeeping. Now the other side. Draft Network said his speed tops out, and he bounces too many runs outside. A minus 2 yards over expected is not a star player, and I'm not going to sit here and say that he is Saquon Barkley. But that is the whole point. The Commanders don't need a star running back. They need a guy that is not minus 69 to be the backup. He is cheap, he is available, and at the very worst, you're getting a guy that can step into a position to not only run the ball, Catch the ball, but also return it. In the best case, this guy comes in and does what he did to Miami in week 6 every single week, which is 122 yards on 15 carries. So what's my answer on going out to acquire Vidal? Yes, and it's not even close. The Rams come to Washington on Sunday, and two days later, the deadline hits at 4 p.m. Eastern. Washington gets one more game with this backfield before it can fix it. Think about what happens if they go into Tuesday and they don't pick up a running back. You go into the remainder of the season with inspiration to still make the playoffs with White, Eckler, and Robert Henry Jr. as whatever he returns to be as your main group. One running back's out for four weeks. And of course, McNichols is out for the season, so every week they wait is another week of dealing with this group. And it's the same logic that every smart front office does. You do not chase the shiny name that is going to cost you everything. You go out to get a guy that fills a void, adds better positional power to your team, and fills the stats for a day three draft pick. And the Commanders have not only found the player and the hole, but the exact Price, and that is why they just need to pick up that phone and make this deal. I want to know who you guys think should be the lead back for this team moving forward. Should they even make this trade or what position do you think they need to fill in before heading in past the deadline? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. I've been your host, Mark. Hope you guys enjoyed. Take care of Commanders fans. See you in the next one. And let's get that win Sunday.