Eagles vs. Commanders: Predictions, odds, injury updates, and what everyone is talking about heading into Week 1

There is always a feeling of a fresh start at the beginning of every NFL season, but this week there was an extra sense of newness mixed with intrigue at the Eagles’ Jefferson Health Training Complex — a name that is still taking some getting used to.

The Eagles have a new offense under a new offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion. They are beginning life without A.J. Brown. And for Lane Johnson, the team’s future Hall of Fame right tackle, this Week 1 is new, too, after he announced during training camp that this season probably would be his last.

Emotional week? Johnson said in August that he wanted to take time to appreciate all of the little things.

“I try not to get too emotional with it,” Johnson said this week.

Any emotional moments, though?

“We got some new restrooms installed,” he quipped. “I got pretty emotional seeing that, not having to go in that crowded stalls. Thank you, Mr. Lurie, for your contributions. We’re all very happy.”

Ah, nothing like some new showers.

New season, new-look locker room. When the locker room doors opened to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since the Eagles cleaned the room out in January, gone were the center locker stalls given to practice squad players that made the narrow room look cramped. Gone was the back wall, which now opens up to an area where some practice squad lockers live along with a few couches and, most importantly to Johnson, more showers and bathrooms.

Johnson, a New Jerseyan, thanked Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, but he also can thank his teammates with Pennsylvania addresses. The Eagles, in an effort to upgrade facilities their players have been critical of in recent years, received a $4 million grant from the state of Pennsylvania to help fund their renovation project.

The remodel extends beyond the locker room — including work on the training room and upgrades to the cafeteria — but Johnson, it seems, is content with the extra showers.

The changes aren’t just happening at the NovaCare Jefferson Health Training Complex. You might have also noticed something new at The Inquirer as well — in addition to our mid-week Eagles preview show and live postgame show. Each week throughout the football season, we’ll be sending a special edition of Sports Daily the day before the Eagles play to get you prepared with anything you may have missed leading up to the game.

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The Eagles and Commanders kick off at 4:25 p.m. Sunday on Fox29, which will send its top broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt doing play-by-play and analyst Tom Brady. Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi are the sideline reporters.

You can listen to longtime radio play-by-play voice Merrill Reese call the game on 94 WIP alongside Mike Quick. Reese is entering his 50th season calling Eagles games, and in case you missed it this week, The Inquirer’s Matt Breen wrote about Reese and his wife, Cindy, who has helped the 84-year-old broadcaster stay sharp through all of these years.

The Eagles’ biggest offseason acquisition will miss the opener. On Friday, the team ruled out edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, who missed all of training camp with a pectoral injury but returned to the practice field this week.

“I feel good, though. I will say, I feel I’m in a good spot,” Greenard said Thursday. “Just know that. I know that I’m working every day to continue to try to get this thing stronger. We’re close, I know that.”

With Greenard out, the Eagles will need a lot from Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith, as well as significant contributions from Arnold Ebiketie and A.J. Epenesa. The Eagles have three edge rushers on the practice squad if they decide to elevate one and dress a fifth body on game day: Keyshawn James-Newby, Mason Reiger, and Joshua Weru.

Stowers said Friday that he expects to be available for the game.

Washington did not rule anyone out for Sunday’s game, and no one on the team’s active roster carries a game designation into the weekend, but that injury report does not tell the full story.

Washington will be without many key players.

Most notably, left tackle Laremy Tunsil (triceps), the team’s best offensive lineman, is on injured reserve. Edge rushers Dorance Armstrong (suspended) and Deatrich Wise (physically unable to perform list) also will miss the game, as will other key defensive players like cornerback Trey Amos — who is on IR with an ankle injury — and defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton (pectoral).

Backup running back Jeremy McNichols also is on IR with a quadriceps injury.

All eyes are on Mannion. His predecessor, Kevin Patullo, oversaw an offense that took a major step back in 2025, and he was fired after his first season on the job.

Mannion is just 34 and calling plays in the NFL for the first time, but he’s been preparing for this moment since his days playing high school football under his father, John, in California. And maybe even before that. (Spoiler alert on that link: Mannion has a Delco connection because, well, of course he does.)

It’s not just Mannion under the microscope, though. There’s also Jalen Hurts, who regressed in 2025 and has a murky contract situation beyond this season. Hurts’ latest effort to evolve could determine his future.

Here are a few more storylines to follow:

The Eagles, as of Friday, were six-point favorites over Washington at DraftKings and favored by 5½ at FanDuel. Both sportsbooks listed the over/under at 44½.

Jeff McLane: Eagles 27, Commanders 20

Jeff Neiburg: Eagles 27, Commanders 13

Olivia Reiner: Eagles 29, Commanders 18

Ryan Novozinsky: Eagles 35, Commanders 10

Check out the reasoning behind our writers’ picks and McLane’s keys to the game. As for the rest of the country, here’s a look at the national media predictions for Sunday.

Here’s what our columnists are saying this week, starting with Mike Sielski, who wrote about the dominant defense the Eagles are poised to have:

Mike Sielski: “Will the 2026 Eagles’ defense be as great as the 1991 Eagles’? No. Will it have to be? Probably not. … The most important questions the Eagles have to answer this season don’t have much to do with their defense, if any of them have anything to do with the defense at all.” Read more.

Marcus Hayes: “Is this the make-or-break year for Jalen Hurts? Or is it a make-or-break year for Nick Sirianni? Both? Neither? … An offseason of communications with various NFL sources indicated two things:

David Murphy: “23rd. That’s the average ranking from last season of the 14 pass defenses the Eagles will face in 2026. It is the softest schedule in the league by a wide, wide margin. The Eagles couldn’t have handpicked a better setup for Jalen Hurts and first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. Right out of the gate, they’ll face a Commanders defense that finished tied for 30th in yards per pass attempt allowed.” Read more.

The Commanders have two new coordinators to start the 2026 season. David Blough is taking over the offense after Kliff Kingsbury and the Commanders parted ways. Blough, like Mannion, was a quarterback in the NFL as recently as 2023 and has been a coach since 2024, when he joined Washington as an assistant.

On the other side, Daronte Jones, a longtime defensive coach who most recently was with the Vikings, steps in for Joe Whitt.

There was a bit of uncertainty in both buildings this week. The Eagles didn’t know what exactly to expect from both of Washington’s units, while the Commanders were preparing for a new offense.

They are, however, familiar with what the Eagles will be doing on defense.

Blough on Vic Fangio’s defense: “They’re so sound as a defense, how they attack you, where they try to stress you as an offense and they got a lot of really good players who have been there for a long time. We’ve seen matchups with some of our familiar players. We’ve seen things that Jayden [Daniels] does well. We’ve seen ways that they’ve tried to attack us. So, all of those data points for us kind of go into how we build the plan to to get after him this week.”

Jones on Saquon Barkley: “Saquon is special. It’s not a one-man job. It’s a it’s a team effort, and even with that, I mean, his explosiveness, his playmaking ability, he’s very dynamic and they’ve done a great job of using him in that way and finding different spaces to get him touches. And so, you take your hat off to the organization how they utilize their personnel over there.”

But that’s not all the Commanders are saying ahead of Sunday’s game here.

ESPN polled more than 60 writers and analysts to predict the big winners for the 2026 NFL season. How many of them have the Eagles playing in the Super Bowl in Los Angeles come February? Just four. And two of those four, national reporters Kevin Clark and Cameron Wolfe, have the Eagles hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Meanwhile, none of our beat writers have them reaching the Super Bowl — but you’ll be happy to know I picked them to win the division.

As for this week’s matchup, are the Commanders wasting Daniels’ rookie contract? That’s the view here, and also from The Athletic’s Nick Kostos.

“I feel bad for Jayden Daniels. Less than two years ago, he had the Commanders in the NFC Championship Game as a rookie (coincidentally in Philly against the Eagles),” Kostos wrote. “And it feels like the Commanders are wasting the years on his rookie deal. I love Daniels, but the Eagles might have the best defense in the NFL — and I’m a Jalen Hurts believer.”

NFL.com editor Gennaro Filice on Sunday’s game: “I have serious doubts about Daniels’ supporting cast, especially the Laremy Tunsil-less offensive line,” Filice wrote. “That’s a recipe for disaster against Vic Fangio’s defense.”

You can read more takes from the national media here.

After the game, be sure to tune into our live postgame show, hosted by Ryan Novozinsky. We’ll be back in your inboxes Monday with a regular edition of Sports Daily — and keep an eye out for another special Eagles edition next weekend.