Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders were the single biggest surprise in football last season, making it all the way to the NFC Championship Game with a rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels.
It remains to be seen if the Dallas Cowboys have closed the gap, but what’s undeniable is the overlap between these two rosters. With Dorance Armstrong, Tyler Biadasz, Michael Gallup and Noah Igbinoghene all now repping the burgundy and gold, there’s no shortage of former Cowboys in Washington.
However, that number shrunk by one this week after the Commanders released defensive lineman Viliami Fehoko, who was a fourth-round pick by Dallas in 2023.
Commanders release former Cowboys draft pick Viliami Fehoko
The Commanders actually waived/ injured Fehoko with an undisclosed injury. Fehoko cleared waivers, so he'll now go on Washington's injured reserve list and miss the entire 2025 season unless he and the team agree to an injury settlement.
The Cowboys executed this exact move with wide receiver Parris Campbell, who suffered a sprained MCL in training camp. They placed him on season-ending IR before reaching an injury settlement.
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While it says a lot that not a single team put in a waiver for Fehoko, it's not all that surprising. The San Jose State product didn't appear in a game as a rookie under Quinn. The Cowboys waived him with an injury designation last September after the two sides failed to reach an injury settlement, but he wasn't going to have a role in Mike Zimmer's system regardless.
The Commanders signed Fehoko to their practice squad in November. He didn't appear in a game, but he got signed to a futures contract for the 2025 season to fight for a roster spot.
On top of spending a lot of money on Javon Kinlaw in free agency, Washington also brought in veteran Eddie Goldman, who's started 83 games in his career.
Fehoko always faced long odds to make the team, but it says a lot that Quinn has now washed his hands of the 25-year-old on two separate occasions. At 6'4" and 267 pounds, he's a little too big to play the edge and undersized to be a full-time defensive tackle.
Without a true position, he might have trouble finding a stable NFL home, which makes you question why Quinn and the Cowboys drafted him in the fourth round to begin with.