Commanders TE Colson Yankoff Flashes Potential, Room to Grow

All camp long, the name Colson Yankoff kept coming up. Coaches were splitting him out wide to see what he could do with space. Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was mentioning him in press conferences. Zach Ertz once called Yankoff one of the fastest players on the team, which is an extraordinary thing to say about a 6-foot-4 tight end. The camp hype around Washington's third-year UDFA out of UCLA was louder than anyone expected. Friday night against Miami, Yankoff got his first real chance to justify it. He didn't disappoint — mostly. What the Box Score Says Two catches on three targets for 24 yards — with a long of 17. Those aren't eye-popping numbers, but in a preseason opener where Jayden Daniels didn't dress, the playbook was barely cracked open, and the whole offensive philosophy was kept deliberately conservative, they're more meaningful than they look at first glance. Yankoff found space in coverage and showed clean hands. For a tight end who entered the game with just two career NFL receptions, catching two cleanly is the kind of night that earns more looks in preseason games two and three. The 17-yard reception was the highlight of his evening on offense. It wasn't a simple underneath check-down — he got into space, tracked the ball cleanly, and got two feet down. When Yankoff is operating in open field, he carries a mismatch threat that most teams' fourth tight ends simply don't offer. That's the ceiling play the Commanders are trying to develop. The Run Game  Here's the part of Yankoff's night that won't show up in any stat line — his best play of the game came as a blocker. On a first-half run in which Kaytron Allen burst through for a substantial gain, Yankoff was the tight end who sealed the edge. He got into his assignment cleanly, drove his defender out of the lane, and Allen ran through a hole that wouldn't have existed without that block. For a tight end still finding his footing as a legitimate in-line blocker, that's a meaningful rep. It's the kind of play that tells a coaching staff a player is paying attention to the details — setting his feet, engaging at the right angle, and finishing through the whistle. Now for the honest part. On another run play in the second half, Yankoff had a bad whiff on a block assignment — the kind of miss that blows up a play before it can get started. His man got into the backfield cleanly, and the run went nowhere. It's the clearest illustration of where Yankoff's run blocking still sits relative to a polished in-line blocker like John Bates. Bates is a four-year veteran who has refined his technique over hundreds of NFL reps and is one of the best blockers at his position. Yankoff is still learning the angles, still processing faster than he can execute, and still capable of a momentum-killing miss when his assignment gets away from him. One good block and one bad miss in the same game captures his run-blocking profile exactly — promising, inconsistent, and still a work in progress. Where He Fits and What Comes Next He did enough to justify the hype, but not enough to cement a 53-man roster spot...yet. Washington's tight end room is built around Chig Okonkwo as the primary receiving weapon, Ben Sinnott as the developmental piece, and John Bates as the blocking anchor. Yankoff isn't threatening any of those three spots right now. What he is doing is making a very strong case for the practice squad — and potentially for a four-tight-end game-day roster in specific offensive packages where his speed and receiving ability can create a matchup problem. David Blough's offense will use two-tight-end sets as a foundational concept, and the more Washington can stress defenses with multiple receiving threats at the position, the more difficult those sets become to defend. Yankoff splitting out wide next to Okonkwo on the same play creates a coverage problem that most base defenses aren't equipped to handle. That's not a role for every week — but it's a contribution.  Two more preseason games to go. If Yankoff keeps building on Friday's performance — cleans up the inconsistent blocking, keeps converting when targeted, and shows his speed in space, he's worthy of a practice squad role. Now let's see what he does with more opportunities.