Washington Commanders players expressed delight and awe on training camp report day upon stepping into arguably the hottest new space at OrthoVirginia Training Center.
"It's like the Four Seasons up in here! This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy," safety Will Harris said.
"We've got everything now. Finally, bro. It's been a long time coming," Brian Robinson Jr. said while opening compartment after compartment. "This is a blessing, bro. They went crazy."
After a "Holy smokes, are these both my cup holders?!" at his spot, Tress Way took a lap around with a smile plastered on his face.
"He's the one that's going to be the most excited out of all of us," Bobby Wagner said while pointing at Way.
The source of the emotion was the Commanders' revamped locker room, which underwent a complete overhaul in the last several months. With a player-centered focus, the locker room offers both a fresh (or "fire," to use the words of the guys) aesthetic while making sure to cater to the most important football needs.
The plans for a new locker room sat at the top of the priority list for ownership and the front office. The relevant teams wasted little time getting to work and partnering with Longhorn Lockers to develop a unit that would meet the new standard in Washington. The sample was completed in January, and, after a tweaking and revision process, full-scale implementation of the units began in the offseason.
A cushioned chair appears as the primary feature of each locker. That visual itself stands out in stark contrast to the old lockers, which 1. Didn't have a designated sitting spot for players (free-standing stools around the locker room were used instead) and 2. Had hanging clothes taking up the majority of space.
Check out the best photos of the Washington Commanders' new locker room.













In the new lockers, the chair and its surrounding components have sliding doors and the ability to be lifted, revealing tons of places to put stuff.
"The apparel is hidden, which gives everything a cleaner look," co-equipment manager Drew Curls explained. "There's also more storage underneath because it's a deeper locker. It can hold more."
Storage space and easy access to personal items are just a couple of several elements implemented with players in mind. Drying gear was a concern that the equipment team brought to Longhorn Lockers. Before, a cluttered and crowded ventilation system was set up outside in a hallway. All of the players' gear couldn't even fit in this area. Now, there's a new way, which ensures every item of each player, from shoulders pads to helmets to cleats, is dried within two hours.
"The dryers within each locker make sure the players aren't going out to practice with wet or damp gear," said co-equipment manager Justin Brooks. "Everything is about player comfort."
Outside of the individual lockers themselves, the space features a new sound system, a new, bigger sauna (that changes colors!), a new steam room, more private showers, more toilets and one cohesive sitting area with sofa chairs.
All in all, the new locker room shows itself as a kind of sanctuary rather than a mere pit stop. And when players don't mind staying a while, they might just spend more time together in an environment very different than a meeting room or practice field. For a culture all about brotherhood, that might just be as valuable as the many state-of-the-art amenities.
The locker room is one of the most significant but far from the only element of OrthoVirginia Training Center that has undergone a makeover in the offseason.
"We've made a lot of improvements to really everything here," general manager Adam Peters said in his pre-training camp press conference. "We have new meeting rooms, we have a new nutrition center…new bubble. It just goes on and on in terms of the things that we've been able to do, tons of new recovery stuff for our players. So, we're really proud of all that and really thankful to [Managing Partner] Josh [Harris] and [Team President] Mark Clouse and his crew for making this all happen."
Stay tuned during training camp as Commanders.com dives deeper into these other upgrades.