Cap space implications
All details in this article come from Over the Cap.
Trades and agreements with external free agents will not become final before 4pm on Wednesday, March 12th. Extensions for those who were on the Commanders roster last season or cut by other teams can take effect as soon as they are signed.
LT Laremy Tunsil
Because the Commanders traded for Tunsil in the final years of his deal with the Texans, his contract as it stands is pretty straightforward. He has essentially a $21m base salary for each of the next two seasons, with the potential to earn another $400k in bonuses each year.
$10m of his 2025 salary is guaranteed.
If the contract is not extended, Tunsil will cost $21.35m in cap space each season.
Of course, Adam Peters may want to extend the contract of the 31-year-old Tunsil. If the goal is to lock in the contract at the lowest value possible, Peters could try to negotiate a deal this offseason. Of course, he may choose to take a look at the player in 2025 and risk having to pay him in a higher market a year from now.
WR Deebo Samuel
This is another contract that the Commanders will ‘inherit’ via trade.
The reason you see all those void years in the deal is that they were filled with pro-rated signing bonus before the trade; all of that turned into dead cap that was eaten by the Niners.
The original contract had a low base salary in 2025 with a roster bonus of ~$15m payable on March 22nd. Under that structure, the 2025 cap hit would have been low (around $5.2m) with dead cap loaded into the void years. Spotrac seems to be carrying the contract this way.
Over the Cap has written that they believe the Niners converted the option into base salary prior to the trade to give the structure shown above, which puts a $17.5m cap hit on Washington in a single season (2025).
Like Tunsil, Adam Peters could choose to extend Deebo immediately, next season, or not at all.
LB Bobby Wagner
This contract is simpler than it looks. Basically, Bobby Wagner will get $9m for one season of play. By loading $5m in as a roster bonus, Wagner gets the money sooner and it is effectively guaranteed. I can’t imagine a guy who needs a workout bonus to motivate him less than Bobby Wagner.
DT Javon Kinlaw
The item here that jumps off the page at me is the fully guaranteed 2026 salary. Kinlaw is locked in for 2 years on this deal (unless he plays like absolute dog poop in 2025). While the deal averages $15m per season, it will eat up only $7.5m this season, and the Commanders can exit the contract after 2026 having spent about $16.2m per season for two years.
I also note that the Commanders did not choose to add any void years to this contract to spread the cap hit as they did on their multi-year deals last season.
This runs through Kinlaw’s age 30 season, so if he plays to the team’s expectations, it should be a deal that helps maintain consistency on the DL as Washington likely pivots away from Daron Payne after 2025.
TE Zach Ertz
You can copy & paste my comments about the Bobby Wagner contract here, with lower numbers. His cap hit for the season will be $6.25m.
In his media session today, Ertz said that, at this point in his career, it’s not about the money. He apparently just loves playing in Washington.
K Zane Gonzalez
The “Veteran Salary Benefit” is a part of the CBA that seeks to protect older players from being cut from teams to be replaced by younger players.
Veteran Salary Benefit
Formerly known as the minimum salary benefit, the veteran salary benefit allows teams to offer a “Qualifying Contract” to any player with at least four credited seasons at a reduced salary cap hit. Under this provision, a qualifying contract is a one-year deal worth the minimum base salary applicable to a player with his number of credited seasons, plus $167,500 in additional compensation (i.e., signing bonus, roster bonus, incentive, etc.). These contracts are charged against the salary cap at the rate of a player with two credited seasons that league year (i.e., the same as Chris Rodriguez).
Gonzalez has 7 accrued seasons and qualifies under this provision, which is why his cap number is lower than his base salary.
RB Chris Rodriguez (ERFA)
The Commanders tendered Chris Rodriguez as an Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) last week.
An exclusive rights free agent is a player with two or fewer accrued seasons and an expired contract.
To accrue a season, a player must have been on a team’s roster for six or more regular-season games during that year. However, the player does not need to be active for games to accrue a season. Players on injured reserve and the physically unable to perform list also get credit toward an accrued season.
Conversely, a player on a practice squad, non-football injury list, or the commissioner’s exempt list does not get credit for an accrued season if they are not on the roster for six or more games. Additionally, a player under contract must report to his team’s training camp on his mandatory reporting date to earn an accrued season.
How Do NFL Teams Retain Exclusive Rights Free Agents?
Keeping an ERFA is simple for NFL teams. All they have to do is extend a qualifying offer to the player, and he will be unable to negotiate with other teams.
Rodriguez was drafted by the Commanders, but he was cut and spent time on the practice squad, ending the ‘24 season without being under contract for 2025.
All Washington had to do was offer a contract at an amount set by the CBA, which they did ($1.03m) and Rodriguez has only two choices: accept the offer or sit out the 2025 season. While I haven’t seen a report that Rodriguez has signed the tender, he either has or he will.
Assuming he stays with Washington for the full 2025 season, Rodriguez will be a Restricted Free Agent (RFA) next offseason.
I won’t pretend that Over the Cap can keep up with salary cap updates for 32 teams in real time at this time of year, but for what it’s worth, the website has Washington ranked as having the 17th-most (15th-least) available cap space in the NFL at the moment.
- Estimated current cap space: $34.85m
- Effective Cap Space: $32.53m (estimated available after signing all draft picks)
