Dorance Armstrong’s Long Road Back Ends Where It Began

Commanders Daily — Almost a year after suffering a season-ending knee injury at AT&T Stadium, Commanders defensive end Dorance Armstrong is making his highly anticipated return to Dallas. | Philip Hughes | HTTR4LIFE LLC

On Sunday, everything will come full circle for defensive end Dorance Armstrong. The former Dallas Cowboys player will be making his 2026 debut Sunday against his old team after serving a one-game suspension to start the season. To further complicate things, Armstrong will return to Dallas for the first time since suffering a torn ACL that caused him to miss most of the year after starting the season off with 5.5 sacks through seven games. Armstrong is pumped to finally be back: "I'm blessed to be back in this position," Armstrong said. "I'm thankful for everything that I've been through. It's been almost a year now, so, yeah, I'm super excited."

Armstrong's road back hasn't been an easy one, but he believes he's physically ready to pick up where he left off last season. "I feel like I'm the same person, if not better," Armstrong said. Quinn seems to agree, pointing directly to the traits Washington had been waiting to see again. "To see his speed back, his explosion back, that's a big deal," Quinn said.

This time around, though, Washington doesn't need Armstrong to carry the pass rush the way it did before he was injured. Odafe Oweh, K'Lavon Chaisson, Charles Omenihu, Joshua Josephs, and Sonny Styles give Daronte Jones several different ways to create pressure, and that should make Armstrong's job easier. "That just makes us stronger," Armstrong said. "I guess the better the pass rushers, the better our team's gonna be. We didn't have a lot of help last year, but now we got guys that are young, fresh, and ready to go."

That depth also means Washington doesn't have to throw Armstrong back into a massive workload immediately.

Quinn has already talked about wanting Armstrong, Oweh, and Chaisson working together in the rotation, which gives the Commanders a chance to keep everyone fresh while showing Dallas different looks throughout the afternoon. Armstrong can work outside, kick inside in certain situations, and simply become another problem an offensive line has to account for. After what Washington showed up front against Philadelphia without him, adding another proven rusher should only make that group tougher to deal with.

There's no need to turn Sunday into some 'forced revenge game' storyline. Armstrong spent the first six years of his career in Dallas, saw his 2025 season end there, and will now walk back into the same stadium for his first game in almost a year. That's enough.

After months of rehab and then another week of waiting because of the suspension, Armstrong's long road back will end exactly where it started.

A name that is not talked about a lot: #Commanders DE Dorance Armstrong

Through 7 weeks in 2025, Armstrong led the NFL in pressures and posted a 15.4% pressure rate. Armstrong generated 22 total pressures including 5.5 sacks.

He suffered a torn ACL vs the Cowboys. pic.twitter.com/dnx5hKQUzc
— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) June 6, 2026

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