The Junkies try to figure out the Commanders' biggest offseason needs

Quite a few key players are free agents this spring for the Commanders, and there were already some holes or deficiencies that needed to be upgraded as it was – so what are the biggest offseason needs going to be, and where can they allocate resources best?

“Looking at the top five salaries and cap hits, it’s Daron Payne at $26.1 million, Terry McLaurin at 25.5, Jon Allen at 22.4, Marshon Lattimore at $18 million, and then Frankie Luvu at 12.5,” JP said. “So, the top five highest cap hits are defense, and while defense was an issue, is that the biggest need? I’m an offense guy, and I kind of want that No. 2 receiver.”

“If you look at what the Eagles have, they've got a home run hitter, Hall of Fame running back, Washington does not. They've got maybe the best offensive line in football, Washington does not. They've got two really good defensive tackles, including one who might be the best in the league, Washington does not,” Bish laid out. “They have two shutdown corners, and it’s not like they just overhauled it in one year. They've been building this for the last few years. Now, they made some huge additions this past year, but I think it starts with the interior, on both lines. Yes, they do need more outside help and and receivers, but they didn't have really a problem scoring points. I think they need to be able to control the ball even more and make stops.”

“I think they need to be younger and more explosive all over the place on offense,” Cakes replied. “They need a No. 2 wideout, they need some youth in the tight end room, and they need to completely revamp the running back room. Adam Peters needs to find the young version of Austin Ekeler in his prime. He needs to add that element to this offense to help out Jayden.”

“They do need that, but we scored 30 points a game – we need a Jalen Carter that changes everything,” was EB’s take. “I don’t care (about huge cap hits), but they need to figure it out and go find their version of Jalen Carter. Johnny Newton is a step in the right direction, but he's a third of the player Jaylen Carter is. That’s their No. 1 need; they scored 30 points a game with talent that most people disrespect outside of Terry and Jayden, so they need that and a high-end corner who’s not gonna get a penalty every time it’s thrown their way.”

That led to a discussion of how much Payne and Allen are underachieving based on their contract, and how to really evaluate Marshon Lattimore – which, perhaps could just be a Josh Norman type player that just doesn’t work?

Either way, Cakes is still all in on offense.

“I know they scored a lot of points, and that's great, it’s great to score 29 points per game, but I can't do another year of the No. 2 wideout being Noah Brown, Dyami Brown, or Olamide Zacchaeus,” Cakes said. “They're gonna have to elevate that spot, because Terry’s doing an amazing job, but he can't do it all on his own. And, you look at the really good teams in the league, outside of the Chiefs who do it with Travis Kelce, they do it with multiple weapons on offense. They don't just have a guy and then a bunch of castoffs; they’ve layered talent around their quarterbacks, it's not just Terry McLaurin and castoffs from off the street. You need some more explosive pieces, especially in the tight end room.”

Take a listen to the Junks’ entire convo, and some callers’ thoughts on it, as well!