The Washington Commanders and Baltimore Ravens will come together for one final joint practice and preseason game before the 2025 NFL season gets underway.
Before that, however, the Commanders will head north to hold a joint practice and preseason opening game against the New England Patriots.
While teams will keep things rather "vanilla" in the preseason, as Washington defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. put it last year, joint practices are anything but. While the Ravens will present the Commanders a championship-level challenge late in the preseason, the Patriots will come from the opposite end of the spectrum as an up-and-coming team looking to hurdle expectations in 2025.
"The vibes are different this year with Mike Vrabel returning to the franchise as head coach," Bucky Brooks of NFL.com says about New England. "The former Patriots All-Pro linebacker is turning back the clock with an old-school approach and an updated roster that could make opponents miserable, forcing them to play “Fight Club” in Gillette Stadium. The addition of grizzled veterans on defense like Milton Williams, Harold Landry III, Robert Spillane and Carlton Davis III adds toughness and playmaking to a unit that lost its way in 2024."
Physicality is the calling card of Washington head coach Dan Quinn's squad, so while getting good work and staying healthy is going to be the focus, this first exposure of the preseason is going to be about as close to a fist fight as they can get outside of an octogon or boxing ring.
For the Commanders, getting that early test against a rebuilt offensive line that will be without guard Sam Cosmi while folding in new members like rookie tackle Josh Conerly Jr. and left tackle Laremy Tunsil will be extremely valuable.
Getting to run the ball against a defensive front that prides itself on toughness will be valuable as well. As will going up against young quarterback Drake Maye, who some thought Washington should have drafted No. 2 in last year's NFL Draft.
"Offensively, the Patriots have upgraded the talent around Drake Maye to help the quarterback make a jump in Year 2. From solidifying the offensive line with Will Campbell, Morgan Moses and Garrett Bradbury coming on board to adding a WR1 (Stefon Diggs) and RB2 (TreVeyon Henderson) with big-play potential, New England has surrounded its QB1 with a much-improved supporting cast that should make the game easier for him," says Brooks. "With offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels building clever game plans to accentuate Maye’s strengths as a mobile playmaker, the Patriots offense could light up scoreboards by season’s end."
McDaniels is going to try and test some of his clever offense against a Commanders defense that looks different, but in two ways is familiar to the Patriots' quarterback who spent his entire first season practicing against defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. and cornerback Jonathan Jones who are now playing for the good guys.
The amount of motion expected from McDaniels will test the communication on the Washington side of things, and the variance in the offense will give Whitt a good opportunity to rotate through his players in search of the right combinations.
As launch points go, you can't get much better. Wrapping it up with a contest against the Ravens, with the Cincinnati Bengals (game only, no practice), gives Washington almost the ideal preseason run.
The Patriots are looking to be the Commanders of 2025, and Washington meanwhile is looking to become the next champion. Both sides will clearly benefit from their joint ventures this preseason, as the two come together for competition, growth, and the opportunity to learn more about themselves than they possibly could without each other.
