Commanders select architect for their new roofed stadium in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Commanders have appointed HKS, the global architectural and design firm, as the lead architect of their $3.8 billion roofed stadium on the site of the former RFK Stadium.
Dallas-based HKS has created some of the most iconic venues in the NFL, including the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; the Rams’ and Chargers’ SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., and the Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
“Selecting HKS as the lead architect marks a major step forward in our journey to bring the Washington Commanders home to the District,” Commanders president Mark Clouse said in a statement. “HKS has a proven track record of delivering world-class stadiums that balance design, functionality and community impact.”
Commanders owners and executives toured numerous stadiums in the U.S. and abroad in recent years to learn what could work for them, what won’t and which elements they’d like to build on as they envision the new venue.
The Commanders’ 65,000-seat stadium is slated to open in 2030 and will anchor a sprawling mixed-use development with retail, office space and affordable housing. The team is the master developer of the project and is responsible for all costs of the stadium design and construction, including any overruns. The District will own the stadium and lease it to the team for $1 a year for its initial 30-year term.
The Commanders interviewed a handful of architectural and design firms before narrowing their list to a final two, according to league sources: HKS and HNTB, the designer of the team’s renovated locker room at its Ashburn, Va., training facility.
HKS sports stadiums are noted for, among other things, elements that connect them to their team’s history and local communities, a theme the Commanders have emphasized since Harris purchased the team for $6.05 billion in 2023.
The next phase of the Commanders’ stadium design is to map out the concept and design principles with HKS and to host community engagement meetings to gather feedback from local leaders and community members. Meetings are currently scheduled for November and December.
According to an email received by a Commanders season-ticket holder and shared with The Athletic, the team is working with the Minneapolis-based consulting firm CSL International to host focus groups and gather feedback on potential features and amenities for the new stadium.
Construction of the stadium’s vertical structure is expected to begin in the spring of 2027.
Commanders start searching for a spark, 3,600 miles away from Washington
The Washington Commanders traveled nearly 3,600 miles in search of normalcy. They need it after five weeks of chaos — blowout losses, a slew of injuries and now a coaching staff change.
The team arrived in Madrid around 8 a.m. Tuesday, a day they mainly used to adjust to the time change and enjoy some downtime (Tuesdays are typically players’ off days). However, starting Wednesday, business resumed and mirrored the team’s usual schedule at its facility in Ashburn, Va.
“I think the time together is the biggest thing,” Quinn said Wednesday at Real Madrid City, the training complex for Real Madrid CF, where the Commanders are practicing before their Sunday game against the Miami Dolphins. “… In the evenings, we’re watching the film together, we’re doing all of our film together and not splitting as much in groups. So sometimes the tightest, smallest meeting rooms are the best, because everybody’s hearing the same words the same way.”
Correcting all of Washington’s errors won’t be easy, not even against a Miami team with the same 3-7 record. The Dolphins are coming off a convincing win over the Buffalo Bills. The Commanders are coming off two of their most disastrous losses in years and are now even more depleted than before. Cornerback Trey Amos suffered a season-ending ankle injury (fractured fibula) against the Lions, and defensive tackle Daron Payne was suspended one game for throwing a punch.
All told, Washington’s defense is without six starters while its offense is still missing its starting quarterback (Jayden Daniels), starting running back (Austin Ekeler) and top two receivers (Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown).
Quinn has insisted that the team’s issues are primarily about performance, not injuries or the roster as a whole. Yet, his biggest swing at correcting the problems was aimed at the coaching staff. Quinn demoted defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and will take over his role, including play calling.
“I think whenever you have a move like that, it means that the players are not executing at a level they need to be,” linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “So, we just got to be better. We’ve got to perform better.”
‘I’m sure it’s a beautiful city, but who cares?‘; Commanders eyeing win, not vacation
They thought, after a 12-5 season in 2024, they’d at least be playoff contenders. They had quarterback Jayden Daniels, one of the most exciting — and marketable — players in the game. And because of him, one of the league’s most dynamic offenses.
That’s why the NFL wanted Washington to play in one of its international games. Only two years after Dan Snyder sold the franchise to Josh Harris, the team had become popular again.
Now the Commanders are without Daniels — who sustained a dislocated left elbow on Nov. 2 — and are playing their way into a top-10 pick, maybe even a top-five pick if they can’t turn it around.
Once more, Mariota, who has stepped in to replace Daniels, opted not to duck the state of the team. After Sunday’s 44-22 loss to Detroit, Mariota was asked how far they were from being the team they anticipated.
“It’s a great question,” he said. “I don’t feel we’re close.”
Washington linebacker Bobby Wagner said, “It’s frustrating. We don’t want to be in this situation. It’s on us to get ourselves out. We can’t look back on the past and talk about what should have been or what could have been.”
Don’t expect Wagner to turn a trip to Madrid into a sightseeing tour.
“We’ve got to get a win,” he said. “That should be all of our focus. We’re going to Madrid; I’m sure it’s a beautiful city, but who cares? We play a football game there, and we have to win. That’s my thing: Don’t get caught up in where we’re at because it will affect where we’re at.”
Will Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown be disciplined after Daron Payne posts video?
A video of Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown striking Commanders DT Daron Payne, before Payne’s ejection for punching St. Brown two plays later, surfaced on social media Tuesday — adding a new wrinkle to the situation.
The video, shared by Payne on Instagram on Tuesday and others on X, comes on the heels of Payne’s ejection — and subsequent one-game suspension — for punching St. Brown in the second quarter of the Commanders’ 44-22 loss to the Lions on Sunday. It shows St. Brown and Payne shoving one another after a play, before St. Brown appears to strike Payne right in front of an official. After the game, Commanders DT Javon Kinlaw told reporters that St. Brown swung first, calling the way it was handled, “bulls–––.”
St. Brown commented on the sequence of events on his podcast Wednesday and admitted hitting Payne.
And at that point I was like ‘Damn, I shouldn’t have done that.’ Probably a flag, whatever. Ref was standing right there. He didn’t throw the flag, so that’s that.”
When reached for comment, an NFL spokesperson stated that every play of every game is reviewed. If a violation of health and safety-related rules is found, even if no foul was called on the field, a player would be subject to discipline. All fines are posted on the NFL Football Operations website Saturday afternoons at 4 p.m. ET.
At this point in the week, it seems unlikely St. Brown would face a suspension — like Payne. It’s possible he could be fined Saturday, but outside of that, he’s likely to avoid further discipline.
Pro Football Focus (Premium content)
Grading all 32 first-round rookies after Week 10
Pick No. 29: Washington Commanders: T Josh Conerly Jr.
- Overall Rookie Grade: 50.9 (Rank: 7/7)
- Principal Opponent: Aidan Hutchinson
- Week 10 Snaps: 54
- Week 10 Grade: 63.0
Conerly earned a season-high 76.8 PFF run-blocking grade, tallying four positive grades in that department. He displayed his strength and athleticism on multiple occasions and seems to be gaining momentum as he gets more reps. Conerly also allowed just one pressure on a missed blitz pickup. He did not allow any pressure across 14 matchups with superstar edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson.
Commanders designate DE Drake Jackson to return to practice
The Washington Commanders have designated defensive end Drake Jackson to return to practice and opened his 21-day window to be placed on the active roster.
Jackson, a second-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2022, has appeared in 23 games, recording 21 tackles with nine pass breakups and six sacks. He was placed on the Reserve/Injured list eight games into the 2023 season and did not return for the rest of the year. He also missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing patellar tendon surgery in August of that year. The 49ers waived him in May.
The Commanders have also opened the 21-day practice window for cornerback Jonathan Jones, who suffered a hamstring injury against the Green Bay Packers in Week 2.
Practice notes | Commanders excited for Jer’Zhan Newton’s opportunity
Newton, who missed part of his rookie season with a foot injury, has recorded 22 tackles and two sacks this season, the latter equaling the total he had in 2024. While it’s not the first time in Newton’s NFL career that he started an NFL game — he stepped in for Jonathan Allen when he went down with an injury in Week 5 — it is the first time he has stepped into the role in 2025, as Payne and Kinlaw were tapped as the starting defensive linemen during training camp.
Quinn has been impressed with how Newton has developed since his rookie season, and the stats show how much he has grown. Per Pro Football Focus, his tackle grade is up 13 points (76.4) compared to the 63.2 he posted as a rookie. He is five pressures away from equaling the 18 he had last season, and his pass rush grade ranks fifth among other defensive tackles in his draft class.
“We’re pleased with the development that Johnny is taking, especially on the pass rush side,” Quinn said.
Jartavius Martin : Tending to shoulder issue
Martin (shoulder) was a limited participant at practice Wednesday. Martin tied for a team lead in tackles (nine) over 69 defensive snaps in Week 10 versus the Lions, and it’s not immediately clear when he suffered the shoulder injury. He will get two more shots to manage a full practice prior to the Commanders’ last practice report of the week being published Friday.
Pro Football Focus (Premium content)
NFL season-long statistical review ahead of Week 11: Team tiers, pass rates and more
[T]eam [tiers] account for opponents faced and recent performances count more toward the estimated team strength than performances earlier in the season.
The following chart shows how often teams move the sticks — that is, convert a series of downs to a new series of downs. For example, the Buffalo Bills have moved the sticks on first down 24% of the time. They have moved the sticks on the first two downs 54% of the time. After three downs, they have converted to a new series of downs 75% of the time. In total (using all four downs), they are moving the sticks 77% of the time.
Note that these numbers are adjusted for field position and opponent, so one could consider this to be the rate of moving the sticks when facing a league-average field position against an average defense.
Here is the same chart for the other side of the ball, which is also adjusted for field position and opposing offenses:
With passing targets being the most efficient outcome of a dropback on average, just throwing more often than other teams can already be an important indicator of a good offense. There are notable exceptions for offenses with mobile quarterbacks, but teams mostly want to have a large green bar (targets) and a small purple bar (sacks) in the chart below:
The chart below looks at punts and kickoffs, displaying how many net points teams gained through receiving them (X-axis) and kicking them (Y-axis):
Breaking down the Commanders’ defensive numbers: they’re ugly
- Points Allowed 280 (31). Only the Bengals have allowed more points (300) than the Commanders in 2025.
- Yards Allowed 3,946 (32). The Commanders are dead last here, giving up the most yards in the NFL.
- Yards Per Play (31). The Commanders and the Bengals are tied for last, both giving up 6.4 yards per play.
- Takeaways 6. Three teams (Commanders, Giants, Packers) are tied for next to lowest with only 6 takeaways.
- First Downs Allowed (30). The Commanders and Bengals are next to last. Only the Giants have given up more.
- Passing Yards Allowed (32). Dead last here; they can’t pressure a quarterback nor cover receivers.
- Passing Touchdowns Allowed (31). The Bengals have surrendered one more.
- Net Yards Surrendered per Pass Attempt (32). The Commanders are last here allowing 7.9 per attempt.
- First Downs Surrendered Passing (32). No one has surrendered as much.
- Rushing Yards Allowed (29) At least here, three defenses are worse.
- Rushing Yards per Attempt (22).
- Defensive Penalty Yards (29)
- Percentage of Drives ending in offensive score (30): 49 percent of drives the Commanders are giving up points.
7 Commanders on the chopping block before massive bye week changes
Preston Smith – Commanders DE
The Washington Commanders are desperately lacking in legitimate edge-rushing weapons. Adam Peters neglected this critical area during the offseason, and their complete lack of depth was exposed once Deatrich Wise Jr. and Dorance Armstrong Jr. were ruled out for the campaign.
Washington has tried everything. Several new faces have arrived, and almost none have made an impact. Preston Smith was one of the more intriguing, especially considering he was returning to the team that drafted him in the second round once upon a time.
Smith’s previous production needs no introduction. However, he is way past the peak of his powers.
It wasn’t an easy situation to come into, but he’s had more than enough time to get up to speed, and the performances haven’t improved. With DeMarcus Walker being signed to the practice squad this week, Smith’s time with the club could be running out if he transitions smoothly.
Chris Moore – Commanders WR
The Commanders are ramping up the recoveries of Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown. Both have been long-term absences to the team’s detriment, so having them available after so long could be enough to provide an injection of energy to Washington’s offense, which has been lacking more often than not this season.
That’s a significant boost for the Commanders, especially with quarterback Jayden Daniels on the shelf with a dislocated elbow. However, this is unlikely to be good news for everybody.
This brings Chris Moore into the spotlight. The veteran has had countless opportunities to impress, but has done little with them. Others have come into the squad and shone a lot more, so he could be on the chopping block without a strong performance before the bye week.
Moore was perhaps fortunate to stick around after an indifferent summer. But he can have few complaints if the Commanders prefer others at this stage.
Mike McDaniel ‘forever indebted’ to Dan Quinn over sobriety fight
“Dan Quinn holds a special place in my heart and my career,” McDaniel said Wednesday. “I think he was there at ground zero when I became sober and supported me and gave me the opportunity to continue what I love to do. So for that, I’ll be forever indebted to him.
On Jan. 4, 2016, then-Atlanta Falcons coaches Quinn, Kyle Shanahan and Raheem Morris all sat McDaniel down and told him they believed he was drinking too often — an assessment McDaniel said he agrees with.
The conversations came after he was fired from his job as an offensive assistant with the Houston Texans, in part because of his drinking and how it was impacting his performance. He spent 865 days out of the NFL before Shanahan brought him onto his offensive staff with Washington in 2011.
McDaniel said he had to relay the coaches’ message to his wife, Katie, whose look of disappointment drove him to change his life.
10 Things to Know About Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
5. Europe’s third-largest stadium
Currently, the Bernabéu has a capacity of 83,186, making it Europe’s third-largest stadium behind the Camp Nou in Barcelona and Wembley Stadium in London. Before the stadium’s various renovations and capacity changes, the Bernabéu once featured a gameday attendance of staggering proportions. On April 19, 1956, 129,690 fans poured into the arena to watch a European Cup match between A.C. Milan and Real Madrid!
6. First American football game took place in 1958
Yes, this Week 11 game is the first official NFL game to take place in the Spanish capital. However, it’s not the first American football game to be played at the Bernabéu. On November 16, 1958, (67 years to the day from when this NFL game will kick off), football teams representing two US Air Force bases in Europe played a game at the stadium. The Tigers from Toul, France faced off against the Tacooners from Giebelstadt, Germany after a La Liga match between Real Madrid and Valencia.
10. A greenhouse…below the stadium?!
As part of the last renovation wave a few years ago, Real Madrid implemented revolutionary technology to ensure its playing surface stays in pristine condition. The Bernabéu has a greenhouse located four stories underground which stores the natural grass pitch, complete with UV growth lights, humidity and temperature control and remote sensors to track grass health. If a concert or other event is coming to town, the retractable trays built into the underground system allow the turf to be flipped in and out in around six hours.
Midweek Report: Is An Overseas Trip and a New DC Enough? | John Keim Report
Former Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy betting favorite to be next Giants coach
Early odds are out for who will be the next coach to lead the Giants, and the betting favorite is man who preceded Brian Schottenheimer as the Cowboys head coach in Mike McCarthy. Wouldn’t that be something?
McCarthy defeated Daboll’s Giants in six of the seven games that the latter lost to Dallas (the Giants lost to the Cowboys early this year with Schotty in charge) and the Cowboys at large have owned their division rivals for about a decade now. It is often noted how quarterback Dak Prescott has not lost to them personally, he has missed a couple of games, since his rookie season of 2016.
As far as McCarthy is concerned, it would make sense for him to re-enter the coaching circuit after a year away from the game. This is what he did before getting the Cowboys job in the first place as he sat out 2019 following his firing from the Green Bay Packers midway through the 2018 season.
Five Things I Think I Think About the Miami Dolphins – Week 10
When the smoke cleared [in the Miami-Bufflo game], the Fins had…dominated. A final score of 30-13, 197 team rushing yards (with 174 coming by way of De’Von Achane), and a total suppression of James Cook, who had amassed over 300 yards the previous two weeks combined and yet, against the Dolphins’ dreadful run D, was held to 53.
How are you going to come out and bash the Bills while sitting at 2-7? This is the same as rolling a critical hit against an enemy with 1 HP left. Sure; it feels good, but it’s ultimately meaningless.
It almost makes me madder than if they just stayed bad.
The benefits of a win, especially against a frankly superior in-Division opponent, always outweigh a loss. The big question is: will the staff sustain the success of such a showing? There are lessons to be learned from how the team went about winning if the staff is willing to welcome them:
Limitations on offense are forcing changes
Miami’s ‘Greatest Show on Surf’ offense of the long forgotten past of 2023 was predicated on force feeding the ball to one Tyreek ‘Now a DJ, apparently’ Hill. It was helmed by a version of Tua Tagovailoa that hasn’t shown itself this season and it relied on a lot of timing plays plus some pre-snap motion that has been since outlawed.
The point is: this current version of the Miami offense is hamstrung in a few ways. Reek isn’t coming back, Tua doesn’t appear to be reverting to his older, better ways, and injuries are cropping up throughout the ranks (in the tight end room particularly).
As a result, Mike McDaniel has had to make adjustments, something he is historically violently opposed to.
But, to his credit, he’s making them.
The offense has been more reliant on the running game, working extra O-lineman Daniel Brunskill in as a tight end surrogate, using OGII and Jaylen Wright to spell De’Von Achane, particularly in short yardage situations, and even giving Alec Ingold a rep here and there.
The playcalling has been more balanced and the offense isn’t forcing its way through one player (though there’s still a little more reliance on Achane than I’d prefer, based only on the horrifying possibility that he gets hurt).
If the staff is being honest with themselves, they should look at this win and the offensive shift that enabled it and realize that this is quite possibly a good blueprint for a successful team. More physicality, better balance, less eye candy, and more points. Crazy, right?
Kicker Justin Tucker had his suspension lifted.
Tucker agreed to a 10-week ban to cap a Personal Conduct Policy investigation regarding numerous allegations of misconduct during massage-therapy sessions. A free agent following his release by the Ravens, Tucker was able to serve the time without being on a team.
A five-time first-team All-Pro, Tucker spent 13 seasons in Baltimore. Last year was the worst of his career, with a field-goal success rate of 73.3 percent. (His previous low had been 82.5 percent, in 2015.)
Plenty of teams have kicker issues. On the surface, the question is whether any of them will give him a tryout.
Flag football will be played at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and as soon as the NFL voted to let its players participate, the pros crowed with great interest. Fans and media wasted no time cobbling together their Dream Team lineups, never mind that the current roster of amateurs has been untouchable.
When discussing NFL players diving into flag football, one main topic is whether they can transition to a different game on a smaller field with no contact allowed.
Doucette made international headlines a year ago when he told TMZ, “At the end of the day, I feel like I’m better than Patrick Mahomes because of my IQ of the game.” The interview was a follow-up to an article in The Guardian, where Doucette defended his flag brothers against the incoming NFL invasion.
Doucette was referring to flag football, but even those who understood that cackled at the audacity. Better than the three-time Super Bowl MVP at anything that involves throwing or running with a football?
“I think he said the correct thing,” Smith said across the lobby table. “I’m one of them guys that came from tackle football and had to adjust. It didn’t happen overnight. He’s better than Pat Mahomes at flag football. That’s correct.”
And then there’s Team USA’s pristine record. The Americans haven’t lost an International Federation of American Football tournament since 2018. The U.S. has won eight consecutive IFAF events, five world championships, three continental championships and the 2022 World Games. (This year’s World Games excluded men’s flag football.) Over those 31 victories, America’s average score was 50-17.
“If you’ve never stepped on a flag football field,” Doucette said, “why should I feel like you’re better than the quarterback representing my country? We’ve won gold every single year. If we step on the flag football field today, who would be more victorious? I feel like I would. I’m not afraid to say it.”
NFL players will face sobering realities about Olympic participation. The idea of standing on the gold-medal platform sounds wonderful, but they’ll need to surrender sweet freedoms and luxuries.
The flag football competition at the 2028 Olympics will be held from July 15-22, which would run up against the start of NFL training camps. Team USA will hold a two-week training camp before the Games begin, further occupying the NFL’s precious offseason free time. NFL front offices and coaches — whether they verbalize it or not — will fret about missed workouts (agents will warn about missed bonus payments) and injuries. Contracts and workout bonuses might be impacted. Olympians must also submit to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s strict demands.
All of that would happen after going through a series of clinics, tryouts, camps and exhibitions that also will further eat into their personal time and possibly conflict with NFL offseason programs.
NFL players must learn and incorporate unusual rules — many of them counterintuitive to their honed instincts — essentially on the fly.
No contact is allowed. No stiff-arms. No hand checks. No leaping over defenders. No blocks. No screens. The quarterback faces an unblocked blitzer and cannot cross the line of scrimmage unless he hands the ball to a teammate. Ball carriers cannot leave their feet to avoid being tackled.
“People say, ‘Darrelle Revis will lock them up,’ or ‘Tyreek Hill can do this or that.’ Nothing against Micah Parsons, but I don’t see him at 240 pounds rushing me or Housh,” Smith said. “We don’t have shoulder pads he can grab. One little move, we’re gone.”
Pulling the flag is among the game’s most difficult tasks to learn. Runners spin and dip with gymnastic flair that mixes Barry Sanders with Misty Copeland with Simone Biles.
“I struggled pulling flags. I struggled with the contact rules,” said Team USA cornerback Mike Daniels, who played at West Virginia University and took up flag in 2022. “I struggled with the spacing. I struggled with the speed of the game. I still struggle with the IQ of the game.
“To an outsider, they just see us killing guys. Bro, it’s not as easy as you think. We work hard. We train. We study. We don’t just roll out the bed and do this.”
[T]here’s a more practical reason flag pioneers are feeling territorial of VIPs encroaching on their smaller field. The planet already knows Team USA will dominate, without professional help. They probably can’t get appreciably better, yet could get worse with the wrong mix of newly acquainted teammates. And if a reconstituted American flag football squad doesn’t claim the first flag football gold medal, and on its home soil, then it would be a global embarrassment.
Smith asserted nobody’s spot on the Olympic roster should be locked right now, not even his. But he noted the current players deserve more respect than they’ve gotten from media and fans who want to play fantasy GM.
“We don’t want everything stripped from us and just handed to them because they’re in the NFL,” Smith said. “We worked hard to get the game where it is today. So why don’t we get a chance just like everyone else? Go through the same steps we go through. That’s all we’re asking for.
“I really want to go against them. I’d love to go against them and show them this game is not what they think it is.”
