Cornerback was a major weakness last year for the Washington Commanders. With training camp underway, it remains a question mark ahead of the 2026 season.
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In 2025, the defense gave up 7.1 yards per attempt (second-worst in the NFL) and 33 passing touchdowns, which was tied for the third-most in the league. The porous pass rush, poor safety play and exploitable linebackers share some of the blame there, but the cornerbacks didn’t do Washington any favors.
Instead of making a big splash in the offseason, however, general Manager Adam Peters parted ways with Marshon Lattimore and signed a handful of veterans to short-term deals. The latest is cornerback Fabian Moreau, whom the team signed Tuesday to account for the loss of Ahkello Witherspoon, who suddenly decided to retire despite earning starting snaps Monday.
Peters spent the bulk of his resources on beefing up the defensive front. While that should help the pass coverage, the corners still need to be able to hold up to give the rush time to get home.
Throughout training camp, cornerback has been a rotational spot for the Commanders. Amik Robertson and Mike Sainristil have taken the most snaps on the outside, but the coaching staff also has begun to work Rasul Douglas in with the starting lineup. At times, they’ve rotated the cornerbacks during the same drive.
“Dan Quinn always preaches” being competitive, Robertson said last week. “And that’s what we want.”
Moreau played all 17 games under defensive coordinator Daronte Jones last season, but he hasn’t logged a start since 2023. He was limited to individual drills Tuesday but will start to work into team drills moving forward.
The secondary has played well, collectively, throughout camp. The pass rush has done a good job of speeding up the quarterbacks, but they’ve also been sticky in coverage.
Robertson has been the most consistent among the group. He’s undersized at 5-foot-9, 183 pounds, but he’s athletic, physical, sound in his technique and has a knack for making plays on the ball. He’s performing how the Commanders envisioned he would when they signed him to a two-year, $15 million contract this offseason.
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“With Amik, the thing that just absolutely impressed me before he was a Commander was this relentless, competitive play style. He’s an absolute dog,” Quinn said in March. “He has a chip on his shoulder, and he’s ready to go battle for it. I thought, ‘That’s us,’ in terms of an attitude and an edge.
“Players like Amik have the type of resilience and attitude to battle that I really like. … He doesn’t just make the cornerbacks better: It’s also the receivers and the way that you practice. All of that, when you’re put into this competitive arena, just elevates [everyone].”
When Washington has gone to their nickelback package, Sainristil has typically slid over into that role. The Commanders have also occasionally used a three-safety package where safety Nick Cross or Quan Martin has lined up as the slot defender.
If Sainristil doesn’t win a starting job on the outside, it looks as if he’ll find his home at nickel. It didn’t go well when the Commanders started him there last season, but they’re hoping he’ll be able to provide better results in Jones’s scheme.
Essentially, the Commanders have a four-way competition for one outside cornerback spot between Robertson, Sainristil, Douglas and Moreau. That’s because second-year corner Trey Amos will slide in as a starter whenever he’s ready to return to action. He’s on the physically-unable-to-perform list as he continues to rehab from the broken fibula that ended his rookie season. He has had some lingering soft tissue soreness that has kept him out, but he’ll be reevaluated Thursday.
Amos had a solid rookie season. He had six pass deflections and yielded just one touchdown but allowed a completion rate of 71.1 percent (177th among qualifying players) and 8.3 yards per target (189th) according to Pro Football Reference. While he has the size and athletic traits that coaches fawn over, he still needs to show he’s capable of putting it all together.
In the meantime, the focus lies on the position battle to decide who’ll start on the opposite side of the field. That probably won’t be decided until closer to Week 1.
“It’s a lot of competition at that spot,” Quinn said, “and it’ll take a little bit for that selection to take place.”
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