2026 Position Group Breakdown: Special Teams
July 22, 2026
by Alex Zeese
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the final installment of our annual Position Group Breakdown series. We’ll return with this series again next offseason.]
Punter/Holder:
Tress Way, the chosen one, hath returned. The longest tenured player on the roster returns for his 13th season in DC. The 35 year old Way shows no signs of slowing down on the field. While there was some talk a few years ago that he may be regressing, last year was arguably his second-strongest year punting in his career. As the president of the Tress Way Fan Club, I will just say, you were all so WRONG!
Last season, he had 56 punts for an average of 47.3 yards, with 29 of 56 being downed inside the 20, for a solid 51.8%. This was 2nd best in the league last year and just .1% under his personal high of 51.9%. He accomplished all that with just 4 touchbacks, which is just 7.1%.
Kickers:
Last year Adam Peters only ended up needing to use 3 kickers on the season, Matt Gay, Matthew Wright and Jake Moody. The Matts combined to go 23/30 on 3 point attempts, which is a pathetic 68.4. Okay, fine: that was all Matt Gay. Wright only played in one game and attempted just a single extra point. So just like that, no more Matt.
But Washington is bringing back Jake Moody, the 26 year old 4 year player out of Michigan. He played in 6 games for Washington last season and was rock solid, going 10 for 11 on field goals and 10 for 11 on extra points, which is 90.9%. His only missed 3 pointer was a shorter kick in the 20-29 range, while he was 2 for 2 outside the 50.
Wisely this time, the team has brought in competition this year, so we will see a real kicking battle in the preseason. Washington added Drew Stevens, the rookie out of Iowa with a big leg. Stevens had lacked consistency in his college career, just looking at his completion percentages by season: 89%, 69%, 87%, 79%. If he can find his rhythm year in and year out, he has the type of leg that NFL teams love now. He hit a 72 yard field goal in practice already with Washington. This looks to be a legit kicking competition and probably one of the best things to keep an eye on in the pre-season.
Long Snapper:
Tyler Ott returns as long snapper. He went to Harvard. He’s wicked smart.
Key Contributors last season:
I think we could see some serious moves on the back part of the roster once cut down day happens. One thing to keep an eye on this year will be the back of the roster guys and their impact on special teams.
Last year the following guys all played more than 50% of teams snaps:
Tyler Owens- S
Jordan Magee- LB
Nick Bellore- LB
Percy Butler- S
Colson Yankoff -TE
Jeremy Reaves- S
With Washington having made many additions to the roster on defense I would not be shocked if a few of these older players found themselves in a bad situation where there’s simply no room for them on the roster.
KR/PR
Jaylin Lane – Lane was a solid punt returner last season. He ended up averaging an impressive 13.7 yards per return with two touchdowns. The one thing that I didn’t expect was that he wasn’t used much at all on kickoff returns, and he didn’t put up great numbers in the 3 attempts he did have.
Luke McCaffrey- showed that he is a legit threat meanwhile as a kick returner. He had an impressive 29.2 yards per return, but it remains to be seen how he plays after coming back from a serious injury.