The Washington Commanders
entered training camp needing real answers from Quan Martin's play. The team yearns for Martin to turn his athletic ability and experience into something bigger than they've seen so far. Back at the end of June, I wrote an article about Quan Martin's uncertain future in the burgundy and gold titled " Running Out of Time to Answer Commanders' Biggest Safety Question
." Since that time, Martin has looked the part, getting two interceptions in as many preseason contests, with the latest coming off Lions quarterback Josh Dobbs
after ending 2025 without a pick.
Martin is productive overall; his 2025 season included 99 tackles, a forced fumble, and three passes defensed, but his lack of interceptions and inconsistent tackling have raised concerns.
Quinn sounded extremely confident in Martin's skills
after the Lions game: "He's always somebody that has good ball skills, and he's got the speed to get to the locations for that. So, I'm not surprised," Quinn said. "He's usually at his best when he's got, as a high safety, to come and make some plays." Quinn ended the conversation by saying, "He's off to a great start," which shows he's still paying close attention to Martin's progress.
When the team added Nick Cross
to the room, the bar was raised for Martin to come in and give more than he had before. The types of things Martin has been doing this preseason are exactly what the previous article spoke about: ranging from the back end, ball production, and making plays capable of changing possessions. None of this frees Martin from his tackling issues from a year ago, as we haven't seen enough evidence to confirm or deny an improvement in that situation.
The team's next checkpoint is Baltimore and this week's joint practice session, followed by one more preseason opportunity
before the results start counting. At the end of the day, Martin entered camp this year running out of time to show whether he was a reliable answer at safety, and after two preseason games, he is finally beginning to make that answer easier to see.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/commanders/onsi as Quan Martin Is Starting to Answer Commanders' Biggest Safety Question .
