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Commanders Free Agent Fits: Linebacker
The linebacker position is an interesting spot for the Commanders to consider this offseason. On one hand, they have a young, athletic and talented linebacker in Jordan Magee and a productive veteran in Frankie Luvu pencilled in as starters, with young guys like Kain Medrano and Ale Kaho as back up options behind them. On the other hand, Magee is very inexperienced in terms of calling a defense from the Mike linebacker position because Bobby Wagner took all the reps last year, and Frankie Luvu is coming off a down season.
With Wagner a free agent and potentially considering retirement, the Commanders could well look to find a new Mike (middle) linebacker this year. They also have the question of what roles do they want from their linebackers under new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones, who could be switching from a base 4-3 front to a 3-4. With all of that in mind, the Commanders could look to dip into the free agent market, which is full of interesting linebacker options this year. Here are a few players they could be considering.
High Profile: Devin Lloyd, Jaguars, 27
The top free agent linebacker on the market is Jacksonville’s Devin Lloyd. Lloyd was a first round pick of the Jaguars in 2022 and had a hot start to his career before falling off a bit. The Jaguars opted against picking up his fifth-year option, but in 2025, he bounced back and was one of the top linebackers in the NFL this season. The 6-foot-3, 235 pound linebacker is a terrific athlete freak and looks like the profile of the modern NFL linebacker – big enough to hold up in the run game but agile enough to be good in coverage too.
Good Value: Leo Chenal, Chiefs, 25
Chenal is one of the more intriguing free agents of this entire class. He’s 6-foot-3, 250 pounds but posted absurd athletic testing numbers prior to being drafted. His relative athletic score, which takes note of all combine testing and ranks it compared to all other players at his position, was a 9.99 out of 10. He ranked as the third best athlete at the linebacker position out of the 2406 linebackers tested from 1987 to 2022. He went in the third round to the Chiefs in 2022 and has flashed his potential but never really settled into a role there. He’s a ball of clay full of potential waiting to be tapped into.
When you watch Chenal, you immediately notice how the Chiefs put him in a lot of different positions. They probably were a bit over the top with it and he could probably use with a more defined role going forward, but some of the plays he makes in those different spots show the raw athletic ability he has, and why the Chiefs were willing to put him in those spots in the first place.
Commanders Roundtable
Commanders May Have a Hidden Weapon at Safety in Tyler Owens
[T]he numbers he put up leading into the draft read like something you’d see pinned to the wall of an NFL scouting department, circled in red ink. A 4.30 forty. A 41-inch vertical tops among all safeties. A broad jump of 12 feet, 2 inches, which ranks second in the entire history of the NFL Scouting Combine. He was the fastest player clocked at the 2024 Shrine Bowl, topping out at 21.55mph. At 6’2″ and 215 pounds, he has the frame to match that elite athleticism.
The honest caveat is that Owens is raw. He’s a developmental player in the truest sense of the phrase. The film doesn’t yet match the stopwatch, and that gap is something Washington’s coaching staff will need to close with deliberate, individualized attention. This isn’t a plug-and-play situation. Owens needs reps, refinement in his reads and angles, and a coaching staff willing to invest the kind of personalized one-on-one development that separates players who test well from players who actually play well on Sundays.
That’s where new defensive coordinator Dorante Jones enters the picture. A modern defensive system that deploys a rangy, sideline-to-sideline safety — dropping him into coverage, walking him up as a disguised blitzer, using his speed to take away the middle of the field — is precisely the environment where a player like Owens can grow into something dangerous. The scheme can create structure around his athleticism while the technical refinement catches up.
Commanders Roundtable
2026 NFL Combine: 5 First-Round “Freaks” for Commanders Fans to Watch in Indy
4. Kenyon Sadiq (TE, Oregon)
Height/Weight: 6-3, 255 lbs
2025 Stats: 14 GP, 51 REC, 560 YDS, 8 TD.
Profile: Sadiq is a matchup nightmare used as a “move” tight end in Oregon’s pass-happy scheme. Deployed as a jumbo slot receiver, he thrives in YAC. With the ball in his hands, he oddly reminds me of Kenneth Walker in the way he runs with the ball, seeks contact, and falls forward. In addition to his run-after-catch skills, he can contort his body in the air to make extremely difficult catches.
Why He’s a Freak: Ranked No. 11 on the Freaks List, Sadiq boasts a 41.5-inch vertical and a 435-lb bench press. He arrived at Oregon at 220 lbs and is now a shredded 255. He was much leaner this season due to a stricter diet, dropping from 13% body fat to about 10%. This Saturday, pay close attention to his gauntlet drill and vertical jump. Since he lacks the towering height of a traditional tight end, scouts need to see that his ‘bounce’ and catching radius allow him to play much bigger than his 6-foot-3 frame.
Draft Projection: Late First / Early Second Round
The Athletic (paywall)
Commanders combine preview: Scouting, deal-making top Adam Peters’ to-do list
The Commanders…have two of the most important positions filled, with quarterback Jayden Daniels and a mostly set offensive line that played well last season. However, they’ve had a glaring need for an elite pass rusher for years now, and they can’t wait any longer. They know that.
It’s why they retooled their coaching staff to bring in [Daronte] Jones, who learned behind longtime defensive coordinators Vance Joseph, Mike Zimmer and Brian Flores, and added Eric Henderson to oversee the defensive line and the Commanders’ defensive run game.
Lucky for Washington, the class of 2026 is stacked with quality edge rushers.
Lay the groundwork for free agency
The combine is one of the few league events attended by everyone — executives, coaches, scouts and agents — splitting the focus between the incoming rookie class and veterans looking for new deals.
Peters has plenty to do with his own free agents, assuming there are at least a few he would like to re-sign. Marcus Mariota should be one of them.
Make progress on a new deal for Laremy Tunsil
Tunsil will get paid, and handsomely. The Commanders knew this when they gave up multiple draft picks to acquire the left tackle from the Houston Texans last year, and it was only reinforced when he had one of his finest seasons.
After last year’s dragged-out negotiations with receiver Terry McLaurin, Peters has said he wants to get a deal done with Tunsil quickly. The 31-year-old has a year remaining on his current contract, which includes a $16.95 million salary and a $24.95 million cap hit. The contracts website Spotrac believes Tunsil’s market value is $29.2 million per year in average salary, which would make him the highest-paid tackle in the NFL (Rashawn Slater is currently No. 1, with a $28.5 million average per year.)
Riggo’s Rag
Commanders were well-represented on The Bleacher Report’s all-time quarterback ranking (with one big blunder)
Jurgensen is No. 38. He had almost no postseason success, but he did lead the league in passing five times and has three first- or second-team All-Pro selections to his name. I would certainly place him ahead of Joe Namath, who comes in at no. 33, and perhaps a few others, but I can’t get too worked up.
Baugh coming in at No. 26 for the man who invented downfield passing seems extremely low. He played 16 seasons, led his team to the postseason five times, and won two championships.
The franchise legend also led the league in passing four times, was selected to the first-team All-Pro four times, and to the second-team All-Pro four other times. Guess how many quarterbacks in the history of the league have more first or second-team All-Pro honors than Baugh.
The answer is four. Peyton Manning, Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, and Sid Luckman.
A couple of the quarterbacks rated ahead of him actually won the Sammy Baugh Trophy for college quarterback play.
Baugh comes in two spots behind Eli Manning. He was never an All-Pro, either first- or second-team, and had just one lonely season in his 16-year career when he placed in the top 10 in overall quarterback rating.
Podcasts & videos
Logan Paulsen Talks Draft and Fits With Bram
ISLAND PILLAR: Commanders Draft Mansoor Delane To PERFECTLY REPLACE Star Marshon Lattimore
NFC East links
Bleeding Green Nation
NFL teams aren’t concerned about the safety of the tush push anymore
Despite so much noise the past few seasons, the NFL doesn’t expect a new proposal to ban the tush push in 2026
Once an inevitably, the tush push became less effective and less frequently used by the Eagles in 2025, and as a result, all the people on the NFL’s competition committee who argued the play should be banned because of the danger, no longer have a problem with it.
NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay announced on Sunday ahead of the NFL Combine, that they don’t anticipate any team bringing up another proposal to ban the tush push this offseason.
“There’s no team proposal that I’ve seen from it,” McKay said, according to ESPN. “So, I wouldn’t envision it. But you never know.”
The move to ban the play didn’t receive enough support last offseason to alter the rule book, but the expectation was that it was something that would be revisited in the future. Now that the Eagles aren’t executing it at a rate of over 90 percent, there isn’t much of a need to revisit banning it, apparently.
Interesting.
Bleeding Green Nation
A Deep Dive Into the NFL Salary Cap and Howie Roseman’s Eagles Philosophy
Every NFL player must receive a base salary that meets the league minimum, which varies by years of experience and currently ranges from $885,000 to $1.3 million. This seems straightforward until you realize that the Eagles structure virtually every contract so that players’ base salaries are exactly at the league minimum. Not a dollar more.
That includes Jalen Hurts. That includes A.J. Brown. It includes everyone from the superstar on a mega-deal down to a reserve tight end. In terms of the weekly game checks players receive over the course of a season, nearly every Eagle is paid the league minimum. Everything else takes a very different form.
Say a player has an $11 million base salary. You leave the league minimum in place (call it $1 million, and convert the remaining $10 million into a bonus). That $10 million gets spread over five years at $2 million per year. The player’s cap hit for the current year drops from $11 million to $3 million ($1 million base salary plus $2 million of the prorated bonus). You have created $8 million in space.
So why does Howie restructure less than he used to? Because he no longer needs to. In his earlier years as GM, he gave players base salaries, then converted them to bonuses when he needed space. Now, he simply never gives players meaningful base salaries to begin with. Everyone is already at league minimum. There is nothing to restructure. The foundation of every contract is already structured for maximum cap flexibility.
Howie Roseman’s entire approach rests on a simple insight. A dollar of cap space today is worth more than a dollar of cap space in the future, because the cap keeps growing. If you push a $10 million cap hit three years into the future, it will represent a smaller percentage of the cap in that future year than it would today. It’s inflation!
Combined with the rollover rule, this creates a powerful incentive to never pay the bills early. If you create $20 million of extra cap space this year by pushing costs into the future, and you don’t spend it, it rolls over. You have not wasted it. But if you ever need it, you have the flexibility to act.
The cash spending numbers illustrate how extreme this has gotten. In 2019, the Eagles paid out $370 million in actual cash to players despite operating under a $188 million salary cap. They nearly doubled the cap in real-money terms by paying future obligations in the present. In 2022, they did it again: $371 million in cash against a $208 million cap. Projected for 2026, the Eagles are expected to lead the league in cash spending at $302 million, even as their on-paper cap situation looks tight.
This is not cheating. It is entirely legal. But it does allow the Eagles to field a roster that, by any cash measure, is more expensive than the salary cap alone would suggest. They are buying a better team. The delayed bill is the price of that advantage.
Lurie’s willingness to let Roseman operate this aggressively is not just strategic. It is a reflection of a trust that has been earned over decades. If Howie Roseman were the Cincinnati Bengals’ general manager, most people would never have heard of him. The strategy requires an owner who understands it, believes in it, and has the liquidity to fund it.
Cap websites show the Eagles with manageable space heading into 2026. But those numbers exclude things that absolutely will exist: projected draft-pick salaries, practice-squad spending, and dead-cap acceleration from players whose void years are approaching. With that included, the Eagles are approximately $6 million over the cap before making a single move.
That is not a crisis, but it is a hole that needs to be filled before anything else can happen.
[T]he idea that Howie can “just move money around” whenever he wants is something of a myth. Because he has structured virtually every contract to already be at the league minimum for base salary, there is almost nothing left to restructure.
Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Tyler Steen, and Nolan Smith are the only ones with meaningful base salaries to convert. Everyone else is already [fully leveraged and without any flexibility].
In [our hypothetical example], Howie signs nearly everyone. Jaelan Phillips gets a three-year, $60 million extension. Goedert comes back on a one-year, $14 million deal. Reed Blankenship gets three years at $30 million. Fred Johnson, Adoree’ Jackson, Braden Mann, Marcus Epps, Josh Uche, Brett Toth, Sam Howell, and Ben VanSumeren all return. Jordan Davis gets a three-year, $54 million extension. Several low-cost free agents are added from around the league at low-cost deals. The Eagles even trade for Raiders tight end Michael Mayer and sign eight undrafted free agents.
After all that, the Eagles still have $12.8 million remaining in 2026. However, keep in mind this is without the Eagles adding a high-profile free-agent signing outside the current roster.
That is the Howie Roseman [problem] in its clearest form.
What Jimbo’s analysis actually shows is that the Eagles are operating…within real constraints. [Basically, Roseman is stuck with the roster he has built, with no ability to re-structure or terminate players, and with insufficient cap space to both extend current players and pursue high-dollar players from other teams in free agency].
Blogging the Boys
Does Jerry negotiate bigger contracts on purpose?
Hear me out. We have all seen this FO sign good players to great deals…their PFF scores dont keep up with their paychecks.
But they do tend to look like better players than they are after the deal they sign, and the Jerry juiced presser to follow, and ALL the news and buzz this creates in the media. Being re-signed by the Cowboys is a testament to your greatness.
I believe Jerry would prefer to think of his chosen players as “great” and deserving of great contracts. “We like our guys.” Stephen on the other hand, thinks about pie. Stephen thinks the pie should be 53 much smaller pieces because you cant just field a team with the money five positions.
Jerry likes to think of the pie as a few big pieces that are publicly visible and generate attention and talk. Especially on offense. He thinks those guys, and especially Dak, make the team money by lighting up the scoreboard. They are a simple representation of greatness that the team’s actual accomplishments dont show.
So Jerry, after he writes the check, basks in the idea that he’s got great players as shown by their contracts. It’s a savvy media play.
ESPN
Q&A with Cowboys’ Will McClay on draft and free agency plans
“There’s a lot of planning and it’s not just about the combine,” vice president of player personnel Will McClay said. “It’s a ton of work.”
ESPN spoke to McClay about the draft, coaching changes and free agency:
How does this draft match up with the needs of the roster?
McClay: If the thought is you’ve got to improve on defense, there are some defensive players that that can come in and contribute, and there’s some explosive offensive players that are ball carriers, receivers and probably eight to 10 offensive linemen that can start in some capacity. You go through all the positions, but I think it’s more probably a middle-heavy draft.
That’s been a theme lately — middle heavy — why is that?
McClay: You’ve got players going back to school and you’re used to getting juniors that come out. Now those juniors tend to go back to school, and you don’t have the numbers as high as you’ve had in the past. That’s all part of it. Then you’ve got the transfers, too. There’s a lot of research that has to go into a new environment.
Does production matter more than measurables?
McClay: That’s why you go to the combine. You measure everything, height, weight. You see them run and do all that stuff and get the measurables, but how do they play the game of football? That’s what you’re looking for. It’s a combination of the two, but you don’t want to be too small of a team, you don’t want to also be too big of a team where you’ve got to find guys that fit specific roles.
Blogging the Boys
Cowboys 2026 free agent profile: DE Sam Williams
The former second-round pick is set to hit the open market
2025 was a big year for 26-year-old Sam Williams. After showing some promise during his first two seasons in Dallas, Williams tore his ACL during 2024 training camp, forcing him to miss the entirety of the season.
Back healthy, expectations were high for the former second-round pick, and the Cowboys were hoping Williams could be a key contributor in their pass rush group. Unfortunately, Williams put together an extremely disappointing 2025 campaign, totaling career lows in quarterback hits and sacks.
Despite playing the most pass-rush snaps (270) of his career, Williams totaled just 24 pressures, the same amount he recorded in 77 fewer snaps back in 2023.
Consistency has always been an issue for the former Ole Miss Rebel, and that remained true in 2025. After starting the year off hot, recording 15 total pressures in Dallas’ first six games, the 26-year-old recorded just 9 in the final 11 games of the regular season.
By season’s end, Williams poor performance resulted in a decreased role in Dallas’ defense. In four of Dallas’ final six games, Williams recorded 23 or fewer defensive snaps, including recording fewer than 10 pass rush snaps three times.
Williams will hit the open market at just 27 years old (he turns 27 on March 31st), which means teams could still be optimistic about his long-term future. While he never lived up to the hype he had as a second-round pick, Williams is still a talented athlete who showed some serious promise during his first two years in the league.
Spotrac projects the pass-rusher to earn a one-year, $2.3M deal, which seems like fair value considering how many question marks surround him. It would be shocking if a team were willing to offer Williams a multi-year deal, so the 27-year-old will most likely have to bet on himself and attempt to rebuild his value next season.
Prediction: Sam Williams signs a one-year $2.5M deal with the Washington Commanders.
Big Blue View
NY Giants 2026 NFL Draft scouting report: Elijah Sarratt, WR, Indiana
Elijah Sarratt projects as a starting outside receiver at the NFL level, likely as a reliable possession receiver with vertical upside.
Because Sarratt is more of a “build-up” than “sudden” athlete, he would likely fit best as a “Z” or “Flanker” across from the X receiver. He can release against tight coverage, however lining up off the line of scrimmage would allow him an extra stride or two to get up to speed and more free releases. Sarratt likely won’t be a terribly exciting option through the draft process, however his route running and reliability at the catch point could allow him to be productive early in his career. Barring developments we aren’t privy to on the outside, he should hear his name called by the end of the second day of the draft.
Final Word: A Day 2 pick
NFL league links
Articles
Essentially Sports
NFLPA pressure forces multiple teams toward aggressive offseason spending
The NFLPA told members (agents) that they expect the salary cap to be $303.5 million this league year, though it could reach as high as $305 million. Several teams, including the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, as well as the Tennessee Titans, must spend an additional $50 million on player contracts this year to meet their three-year requirement [of cash spending being at least 90% of salary cap], according to the CBA.
This means many of the free agents signed by these teams or contract extensions handed out to players already on the roster will be frontloaded with a lot of cash for the 2026 season.
The latest on Trey Hendrickson
While there have been several predictions where Hendrickson could sign in free agency, people with knowledge of the situation tell me that it’s not out of the question that Cincinnati will attempt to tag and trade the nine-year veteran. Hendrickson will have to agree to a new contract with any team that attempts to trade for him if the Bengals move ahead on this strategy.
Other than the tag and trade, the conversation from the Bengals on Hendrickson’s future in 2026 has been very quiet.
Over the Cap
NFL Free Agent Spending 2020-2025
The data set that I looked at were players signed in the months of March and April between the years of 2020 and 2025. In order to qualify a player had to sign a contract for at least $2 million as I felt that would better eliminate the players who are signing veteran minimum contracts and not really being counted on to fill roster positions. The player had to be a new addition to the team from the prior season. I looked at both UFAs and SFAs that fit this category. Here are the numbers:
Not surprisingly the Texans ranked number 1 with 59 players signed. Houston has had a tendency to sign a number of 1 year deals in free agency and then have to continuously replace those players the next year. They led the NFL with 33 one year contracts with the next closest team at just 21. This has been a consistent trend for them each year and hasn’t changed even as the team has gotten better since the selection of CJ Stroud. This has not really been a long term viable strategy followed by most winning teams so it will be interesting to see if they try to break this or not.
In 5th place we had a tie between the Patriots and Jets. New England has been a bit all over with the spending as most of their spending came in 2021 and 2025 while the rest of the years didn’t see that kind of heavy spending. The Jets have been one of the worst teams in the NFL for a long time with no real long term answers coming via the draft. The Jets have ranked to 10 in signings in four of the six seasons. Expect them to add another year in 2026 to the mix.
Most of the teams at the bottom of the list are the perennial playoff teams who are being a bit more targeted with their free agent signings.
For a teams like Green Bay and Baltimore who haven’t had the great playoff success maybe it should at least be more of a discussion point.
That then brings me to the Dallas Cowboys. Their use of free agency is pretty absurd. They haven’t had any type of playoff success and have been very inconsistent from season to season. They rank 25th in the NFL with 16 signings but have under less than $55 million in contracts. That is about $20 million less than the next closes team. They spend just $3.4 million per player which is absurd. That is less than the Texans who basically filled an entire years roster with free agent signings.
Discussion topics
ESPN
2026 NFL free agency: Best players available on offense
Wide receivers
Tier 3: Capable starters
Free agents: Romeo Doubs, Packers; Mike Evans, Buccaneers
Potential cap casualties: Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers; Michael Pittman Jr., Colts
Tier 4: Borderline starters/high-end backups
Free agents: Keenan Allen, Chargers; Tyreek Hill, Dolphins; Christian Kirk, Texans; Rashid Shaheed, Seahawks
Potential cap casualties: Darnell Mooney, Falcons; Calvin Ridley, Titans
Exclusive rights free agents: Jalen Coker, Panthers
Tier 5: Backups likely to net guaranteed money
Free agents: Tutu Atwell, Rams; Calvin Austin III, Steelers; Hollywood Brown, Chiefs; Jahan Dotson, Eagles; Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Broncos; Jalen Nailor, Vikings; Tyquan Thornton, Chiefs; Jalen Tolbert, Cowboys; Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Dolphins; Olamide Zaccheaus, Bears
Tier 6: Backups likely to earn roster spot
Noah Brown, Commanders; Treylon Burks, Commanders
Tight ends
Tier 3: Capable starters
Free agents: Dallas Goedert, Eagles; Travis Kelce, Chiefs; Cade Otton, Buccaneers
Tier 4: Borderline starters/high-end backups
Free agents: Isaiah Likely, Ravens; David Njoku, Browns; Chig Okonkwo, Titans
Potential cap casualties: Dawson Knox, Bills; T.J. Hockenson, Vikings; Cole Kmet, Bears; Jonnu Smith, Steelers
Tier 5: Backups likely to net guaranteed money
Free agents: Daniel Bellinger, Giants; Grant Calcaterra, Eagles; Greg Dulcich, Dolphins; Noah Fant, Bengals; Connor Heyward, Steelers; Tyler Higbee, Rams; Taysom Hill, Saints; Austin Hooper, Patriots; Charlie Kolar, Ravens; Foster Moreau, Saints; Adam Trautman, Broncos; Darren Waller, Dolphins
The Athletic (paywall)
NFL free-agency rankings 2026: Top 10 players at each position
