Both Laremy Tunsil and Jer'Zhan Newton land on injured reserve, and the Commanders' Week 1 math gets very ugly
Washington's two most significant camp injuries became official Monday, with Tunsil and Newton placed on IR - leaving a banged-up team eight days to patch an offensive line and a defensive interior before Philadelphia.
In brief
Both Laremy Tunsil and Jer'Zhan Newton land on injured reserve, and the Commanders' Week 1 math gets very ugly
The paperwork finally made it official. On Monday, September 1, the Washington Commanders formally placed left tackle Laremy Tunsil and defensive tackle Jer'Zhan Newton on injured reserve, converting two of their most painful training camp injuries into cold, hard roster reality. Eight days from now, Jayden Daniels lines up at Lincoln Financial Field. Without his best pass protector, and without the defensive tackle who was supposed to carry the interior rotation next to Daron Payne. That's the situation.
The team also re-signed defensive tackle Shy Tuttle on Monday - Tuttle had been among the Commanders' final roster cuts Sunday but was brought back after the Tunsil IR placement freed up a spot. A similar shuffle happened with cornerback Quinton Moreau: the Commanders re-signed Moreau on Monday, reopening a spot by placing Newton on IR. That is how close to the margins this franchise is operating right now.
Tunsil: $30 million a year, zero regular-season snaps
The Commanders were dealt the Tunsil blow back in early August, when the star left tackle suffered a torn triceps in practice, requiring surgery and forcing him to miss most, if not all, of the 2026 season. The timing was brutal. Just five months ago, Washington made Tunsil the first $30 million-per-year offensive lineman, signing a two-year, $60.2 million extension that reset the left-tackle market - the second time in his career he became the highest-paid player at his position.
He was the only Commander named in the top 10 heading into the 2026 season in ESPN's recent survey of coaches and executives. Now he's watching from the sideline in a walking boot.
The recovery time for a torn triceps is typically at least four months and as long as six or seven. That math puts any Tunsil return sometime in December at the earliest, and only if everything heals on schedule.
Dan Quinn named Brandon Coleman as the starter at left tackle. Coleman has 18 left-tackle starts to his credit but had been competing with Chris Paul to be the starting left guard in 2026. Quinn offered a blunt endorsement: 'He has played a lot of winning football at left tackle here, and we know he's ready for it.' He had better be.
Newton out, too - and the defensive line is thinner than it looks
If Tunsil's injury was the gut-punch, Newton going down shortly after was the second hit. In August 2026, Newton received surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle. The Commanders placed Newton on injured reserve Monday. He underwent surgery on August 20. The defensive tackle will be required to miss the first four games of the regular season at minimum before he's eligible for activation.
Newton will likely take longer to return, but has a good chance of participating in the tail end of the regular season if his recovery stays on schedule. That's some optimism, but a torn pectoral that requires surgery is not a four-week fix. Surgery for this type of injury typically requires about three to four months of recovery time, and can take up to six months to return to full strength.
Without Newton, the Commanders are looking to Shy Tuttle to offer relief for Daron Payne. Tuttle is 30 years old and previously appeared in 12 games while logging 15 tackles in his most recent Commanders stint. Payne is a proven commodity. Everything behind him is considerably thinner.
The rest of the body count
Tunsil and Newton are the headliners, but they are not alone. Cornerback Trey Amos was placed on injured reserve Sunday with a designation to return, and will not be available until Week 5. The secondary was already a concern. Now Washington opens the year without its top corner and its top offensive lineman at the same time.
The offensive line depth is genuinely thin. Washington has three offensive linemen on the 2026 practice squad - Julian Good-Jones, Trent Scott, and Esa Pole - a center and two tackles. Good-Jones is the only interior line depth if any injuries occur, which is significant given that Nick Allegretti only returned to practice recently and has been banged up for all of training camp.
Tight end Ben Sinnott, who figures to be part of new coordinator David Blough's scheme, is also dealing with an oblique. Sinnott has been dealing with an oblique injury but was back at practice doing limited work. Quinn didn't indicate Sinnott's availability for the September 13 opener is in peril, but the third-year tight end will need to return to full practice to put himself on a path to play.
What Jayden Daniels is walking into
All of this lands squarely on Daniels. Washington was hoping a healthy Tunsil would help keep Daniels upright this season. Daniels, the 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, missed 10 games last season because of three separate injuries. After going 12-5 in 2024 with an NFC Championship appearance, Washington went 5-12 when several key players were sidelined. The Commanders built this offseason around not letting that happen again. They signed Tunsil to the richest O-line deal in NFL history. They expected Newton to anchor alongside Payne.
None of that is there for Week 1 in Philadelphia.
Daniels proved during camp that the injuries that plagued him in 2025 are behind him, and Quinn said at one point he was further along than expected. 'I love that he's decisive as a quarterback,' Quinn said, pointing to Daniels' improved ability to process at the line of scrimmage as the biggest difference from prior seasons. That decisiveness will get tested immediately. Brandon Coleman is a capable player. But on September 13, he'll be asked to protect an elite, injury-prone quarterback against Philly's defensive front, with one hand tied behind his back.
The Commanders added Esa Pole - a 6-foot-7, 320-pound tackle who started four games for the Chiefs in 2025 as a rookie - to the practice squad Wednesday. He's available to be elevated. That is the depth chart.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
