Commanders make roster moves before Week 18 finale vs. Eagles

Saturday brought some final declarations by the Washington Commanders for the 2025 season.

First, the Commanders elevated two players for Sunday's season finale in Philadelphia. The Commanders elevated DT Ricky Barber and WR River Cracraft from the practice squad, as they did in their most recent game when they hosted the Cowboys.

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QB Marcus Mariota and LT Laremy Tunsil are also now officially declared as "out" for the final game against the Eagles. 39-year-old third quarterback Josh Johnson will get his second start for Washington in 2025 after starting for them in 2018 under then-head coach Jay Gruden.

Barber was a pleasant surprise, making some fine plays against the Cowboys, including his first NFL quarterback sack. Barber is undoubtedly the right choice for someone to be elevated for the final game. He is 6-3, 295, a 24-year-old rookie out of UCF. He flashed some ability to earn another look this week, against the Eagles.

Cracraft (age 31) is in his seventh season out of Washington State. Receiver Treylon Burks had been sick earlier in the week but returned to practice on Friday. Perhaps the Commanders' coaches fear Burks may not be fully recovered, and thus want to make sure they have enough receivers, so they elevating Cracraft? Noah Brown and Luke McCaffrey both played earlier in the season but were injured and were then placed on injured reserve.

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This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Two roster moves before Week 18 vs. Eagles