The Washington Commanders thought they had their tight end of the future when they drafted Kansas State’s Ben Sinnott in the 2nd round of the 2024 NFL draft.
For 2 seasons, Sinnott has mostly just watched and waited as Zach Ertz and John Bates gave him little chance to crawl off the bench — a role further cemented in 2025 when Ertz went down with a season-ending knee injury and the Commanders still wouldn’t use Sinnott.
Now, in 2026, with a new offensive coordinator in David Blough, The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala put Sinnott on the list of the Commanders who will benefit the most from the new offensive scheme.
“Washington drafted Sinnott in the second round in 2024, though he struggled to produce consistently in his two seasons behind Ertz,” Jhabvala wrote. “But Blough’s system provides him with a prime opportunity to be a key contributor. Blough’s offense will be an amalgamation of his own football influences, from Kliff Kingsbury to Kevin O’Connell to Ben Johnson, which means Washington could use a heavy dose of multiple tight end sets. Johnson’s Chicago Bears ranked sixth in the NFL last season with 45.4 percent of plays featuring two or more tight ends, and ninth with 27.5 percent of the team’s catches coming from tight ends.”
Commanders Signed Pricey Free Agent Tight End
The biggest hurdle for Sinnott to getting on the field now is free agent tight end Chig Okonkwo, whom the Commanders made a huge investment in with a 3-year, $27 million contract.
Okonkwo topped the list of “Breakout Candidates” in 2026 from Covering the Commanders’ Josh Taylor.
“I think Chig has been great so far in his career, but there’s that untapped ceiling that just hasn’t been hit yet,” Taylor said on June 8. “I think with Washington, you see exactly why he wanted to come here. He looked at the tight end room and saw John Bates and Ben Sinnott, and those are tight ends that really don’t catch the ball and really just block. (Okonkwo) is going to go in the slot, he’s going to go into motion … we saw him run a whip route at OTAs. I’m excited to see what Chig can do in this offense, and they’re going to use him as a weapon. I also think he’s underrated as a blocker. Chig will demand targets.”
Okonkwo has been 1 of the NFL’s most underrated tight ends the last 4 seasons playing for a truly terrible team, the Tennessee Titans, and looks like he’ll command most of the targets at the position in 2026 — but if the Commanders truly feature 2 tight ends or more on offense, Sinnott might have a role.
Ben Sinnot Might Benefit From Trade
Another option for Sinnott might be to find a new role on another team via a trade.
There are plenty of teams who might want to still invest in Sinnott as a TE2 option in exchange for a Day 3 pick — think a 6th or 7th rounder — which would allow Sinnott to start over and also let the Commanders get some return on a failed investment.
Sinnott’s 2024 preseason seemed especially promising, making fans and his own team think he was ready to contribute.
Sinnott looked especially good in a 20-17 preseason win over the New York Jets in which he caught 3 passes for 57 yards, including a 44-yard catch-and-run in which the Jets needed multiple players to take him down at the end.
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