Laremy Tunsil’s reworked contract is a win for him and the Commanders, and could also mean more moves are on the way
Adam Peters is always thinking ahead with the roster.
The Washington Commanders are focused on the football season, but general manager Adam Peters is a businessman, and he’s always looking to make the team better in the background.
Peters quietly made a move on Thursday that could signal a lot of future moves, including taking care of their own for the long haul, or possibly adding even more help if the opportunity arises. The team could lock in newly acquired left tackle Laremy Tunsil for a few more years after adjusting his contract on Thursday.
Adam Peters is prepared for anything
Football is a game of checkers for a lot of teams, but Peters is always in chess mode, thinking about not just his next move, but the ones that come after and what needs to happen for the dominoes to fall a certain way. The Commanders converted $18 million of Tunsil’s salary into a bonus and added three void years, creating $14.4 million in extra cap space for the 2025 season. This makes it a lot easier to extend Tunsil to keep him around, while making him happy now.
I reached out to A to Z Sports NFL editor Evan Winter for his thoughts on the strategy behind this move, and why it’s so impactful for Tunsil and possibly the rest of the roster as well.
“On the surface and in the short term, the benefits produced from the Laremy Tunsil deal are obvious: The Commanders create a bunch of cap room for 2025 and Tunsil’s bonus is now guaranteed opposed to being earned through paychecks.
I have a feeling there’s more to come, possibly as soon as after the 2025 season. When looking at Tunsil’s reworked deal, especially the new void years, he’s set up perfectly for an extension as soon as next March. He’s due to make more than $21 million in cash and represents a $24.950 million cap hit. Extending Tunsil, as long as he’s healthy and plays well, allows the Commanders to drastically alter those numbers in a positive way while locking up a key piece of the team for the long term.
The only question is his age, but that won’t matter as long as he’s still playing at a high level. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the long term.” – Evan Winter, A to Z Sports Tampa Bay
The Commanders’ next moves
Now, as mentioned, the Commanders could lock in Tunsil for the long haul, which has always been the move to make. You don’t trade all of that draft capital for a premier player just to lose him after his existing contract. We saw how the Terry McLaurin contract negotiations went, and this makes it easier and gives Tunsil more money now to make him happy.
Spotrac and Over The Cap have the Commanders at just about $30-$31 million of cap space after this move, and they could always keep that cushion in case they have the opportunity to trade for someone at the deadline, like Peters has already done with corner Marshon Lattimore.
The team also has a handful of players outside of Tunsil who could be getting new contracts after the season, like Lattimore, Deebo Samuel, Daron Payne, and Frankie Luvu. Regardless of what Peters decides to do next, this was a smart business move, and a move that well-run football organizations make. The Commanders have the flexibility to lock in Tunsil, trade for a player, and take care of their own as well.