The Commanders will have opportunities to hit big in free agency with their salary cap, but only if they can clear one hurdle
Adam Peters needs to change his approach this offseason, and figure out this roster puzzle.
The Washington Commanders’ season hasn’t gone as planned with a 3-8 record so far, and a lot of roster flaws have shown themselves along the way.
The Commanders need help on both sides of the ball, but especially the defense, which should see major changes this offseason. Head coach Dan Quinn already made major changes after taking over as defensive coordinator, but that’s just the beginning. Quarterback Jayden Daniels needs help on offense as well, whether that’s signing Brandon Aiyuk if he’s released or another free agent.
General manager Adam Peters needs to learn from his mistakes last offseason and take a different approach, but he has one hurdle to get over, and that’s his own roster.
The Commanders are set to be a top salary cap team this offseason
The one positive about the roster Peters has built over the last two offseasons is that he hasn’t invested a lot of money in any players other than Terry McLaurin and Sam Cosmi. He went budget spending in free agency, but this season was a wake-up call to be more aggressive and take advantage of having a franchise quarterback on a rookie contract.
As of now, the Commanders have roughly $60 million in effective cap space for 2026, which will go up to around $80 million once they move on from Marshon Lattimore. The salary cap can also go up for the entire league once again in the offseason.
Regardless of the exact number they end up with, Peters needs to take advantage and fill the roster with legit talent, not just stopgap veterans on one-year deals. The one issue, however, is that the Commanders have many free agents next season, and they will need to fill the roster once again amid more turnover.
The Commanders don’t have many players on contract next season
Peters took over an awful roster, had to wipe it clean, and start building his own. That kind of situation led to a lot of one and three-year deals with an out after the second season, and now it’s catching up to them.
Starters like Austin Ekeler, Bobby Wagner, and Zach Ertz might not return next season, and those are just a few of many to replace on a bad team. The Commanders have only 34 players under contract next season, the second-lowest in the league behind only the Las Vegas Raiders.
They need to re-sign Chris Paul, who has played extremely well at left guard this season, and also give a new contract to Laremy Tunsil, who has been a stonewall for Daniels.
That’s not even including deciding on what to do with Deebo Samuel, Marcus Mariota, Andrew Wylie, Ekeler, Wagner, and Ertz. Peters has a lot of decisions to make, but the opportunities will be there, and he needs to make the most of them with only six picks for the NFL draft.
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