Do Washington Commanders Deserve More Respect in NFL Rankings?

Pro Football Focus released its power rankings ahead of the 2022 season

The NFL Draft is over and for the most part, free agents have picked their new homes for 2022. It's the time of the NFL offseason to speculate wildly on things like schedule predictions and team power rankings.

Pro Football Focus recently ranked every team and categorized them into tiers, and the Washington Commanders were mentioned near the bottom in the "stuck in limbo" tier.

23. WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

Hitching your wagon to a player that is being thrown out of his previous employer's building after just one year as the answer at quarterback is a risky strategy, but that was Washington’s answer to a disappointing season in 2021.

Carson Wentz ranked 23rd in the NFL last season in overall PFF grade and was at his worst in the crunch period of the season with the playoffs on the line. Washington will be hoping he is enough of an upgrade over Taylor Heinicke that it can return to the playoffs, but that may just be optimism at this point.

The Commanders have plenty of distractions to deal with this offseason, from legal matters surrounding owner Daniel Snyder, to assistant coaches being fined for political views, to an uncertain stadium future.

There are some positives heading into 2022 in the form of some young talent returning. Wideout Terry McLaurin is one of the bright young stars in the league, but with his current contract situation, even his future in D.C. is up in the air. 

Running back Antonio Gibson looks to build off a strong season and improve in 2022, providing the organization with some stability at the position.

This might be a team "stuck in limbo" right now, but it's certainly not difficult to see a bright future sooner than later once they have the chance to earn some respect back during the regular season.

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You can follow Timm Hamm on Twitter at @IndyCarTim

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