The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Discobob]

I doubt it. That contract is not something Peters is likely to want to take on. Aiyuk may be talking with Daniels. He may be talking to the 49ers, but no one is talking trade.

Mind you, I could see the 49ers offering us a second to take Aiyuk off their books. It would be sort of an NBA move. Continuing with that line of thought, if the 49ers offered us their first and second rounders plus Aiyuk for Payne I could see us taking that. But no one's crazy enough to offer that.

I doubt we are there too, but I'd have to assume if we sent them a pick for him we cut him and then resign him to a lesser deal. So we're basically just paying to "spring him from jail."

I might be willing to setup a '26 7th for '27 7th swap, with the condition that if we sign him to a new contract (after a cut), we forfeit the '27 7th.

 

[HTTR]

But if we trade for him and then cut him, don’t we take the dead cap hit? These contracts are way too complicated for my paygrade.

 

[Discobob]

But if we trade for him and then cut him, don’t we take the dead cap hit? These contracts are way too complicated for my paygrade.

I'm hardly a cap expert, but since all his guarantees were voided, I think we could cut him without any penalties.

SF would incur cap penalties if they cut or trade him because any guarantees that were already paid would get accelerated for cap purposes.

 

[Riggo44]

I actually agree with a lot of what this exec said. One year deals abound, Chaisson and Oweh are good players, Settle is underrated and Chenal is solid. Cross is solid.

We improved the roster but it’s still below par with an inexperienced coaching staff. We need Jayden to carry the team.

I get the revolving door viewpoint with several one year deals, still out of necessity for a variety of reasons. But how are they "panic moves?" Panic moves are giving Etienne $30-something-million guaranteed, Mike Evan's three years, or Alijah Vera-Tucker three year--that's the equivalent of giving multiple years to Noah Brown.

Peters focused on getting younger and faster on defense, and accomplished that. He didn't throw wild money just to sign a receiver when they missed out on Pierce and Doubs. I see a plan, not panic.

 

[KDawg]

I get the revolving door viewpoint with several one year deals, still out of necessity for a variety of reasons. But how are they "panic moves?" Panic moves are giving Etienne $30-something-million guaranteed, Mike Evan's three years, or Alijah Vera-Tucker three year--that's the equivalent of giving multiple years to Noah Brown.

Peters focused on getting younger and faster on defense, and accomplished that. He didn't throw wild money just to sign a receiver when they missed out on Pierce and Doubs. I see a plan, not panic.

The panic part is the part I didn’t fully agree with. But at the same time… you give one year deals to people because you aren’t getting guys you want long term. At least in a lot of circumstances. So I see the “panic”. They are a year behind.

But I think “panic” might be too strong of a phrase.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I doubt it. That contract is not something Peters is likely to want to take on. Aiyuk may be talking with Daniels. He may be talking to the 49ers, but no one is talking trade.

Mind you, I could see the 49ers offering us a second to take Aiyuk off their books. It would be sort of an NBA move. Continuing with that line of thought, if the 49ers offered us their first and second rounders plus Aiyuk for Payne I could see us taking that. But no one's crazy enough to offer that.

It could be a sign and trade in reverse. Aiyuk agrees to a massive pay cut, removes bonuses, etc etc, and then the trade happens.

That can only happen because all the guaranteed money is gone. But it’s gone. So now they can rework the deal prior to the trade.

Now, Aiyuk COULD refuse a reworked contract. If that’s the case, then the 49ers will cut him the day before his roster bonus is due in September.

Which will benefit literally nobody.

I’m stating to think we will offer a 2028 7th round pick swap or something like that after the draft to move things along. You can trade picks up to 3 years out.

If that’s the case, and it comes with a reworked deal, I could live with that.

But I’m totally on the “I don’t give a goddamn about a 7th round pick” side. I’d trade it every year for a player who could contribute.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

But if we trade for him and then cut him, don’t we take the dead cap hit? These contracts are way too complicated for my paygrade.

there isn’t any guaranteed money left on the contract, and we wouldn’t accept this contract. So the answer is it would entirely depend on the new contract and if any of it is guaranteed.

And it almost certainly wouldn’t contain any significant guaranteed money.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

The panic part is the part I didn’t fully agree with. But at the same time… you give one year deals to people because you aren’t getting guys you want long term. At least in a lot of circumstances. So I see the “panic”. They are a year behind.

But I think “panic” might be too strong of a phrase.

I think they are a year behind because the 5 picks in the second and third rounds of the 2024 draft have not lived up to their draft position yet.

If they take a step forward, then all of a sudden we’re back on track.

 

[KDawg]

I think they are a year behind because the 5 picks in the second and third rounds of the 2024 draft have not lived up to their draft position yet.

If they take a step forward, then all of a sudden we’re back on track.

Maybe. I think 2024 really, really hurt. We have some co tractor situations coming up this next year and a bunch of one year contracts to clean up.

And that’s already not even mentioning that those guys taking a step forward is far from a sure thing.

If we DON’T take a major step forward this year we risk being further behind than just a year.

No option. We have to forward step. Or we will need to start “over”

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Maybe. I think 2024 really, really hurt. We have some co tractor situations coming up this next year and a bunch of one year contracts to clean up.

And that’s already not even mentioning that those guys taking a step forward is far from a sure thing.

If we DON’T take a major step forward this year we risk being further behind than just a year.

No option. We have to forward step. Or we will need to start “over”

No disagreement.

I don’t think they really swung the bat at all in the 205 off season for long term success. They got a few rotational guys, and I truly think they thought the draft class was going to perform much better than it did in year 2 so they didn’t have to go out and sign big money FA’s.

That didn’t happen.

Now they have to recalibrate and sign more FAs and also hope the draft picks develop.

It would be a real shame if those 2nd and 3rd round picks dont live up to expectations.

 

[ES1974]

No disagreement.

I don’t think they really swung the bat at all in the 205 off season for long term success. They got a few rotational guys, and I truly think they thought the draft class was going to perform much better than it did in year 2 so they didn’t have to go out and sign big money FA’s.

That didn’t happen.

Now they have to recalibrate and sign more FAs and also hope the draft picks develop.

It would be a real shame if those 2nd and 3rd round picks dont live up to expectations.

They absolutely misread the quality of our roster and missed a season. The Jayden injury(s) then completely derailed it. That is part of my frustration with AP and DQ at present.

Lots of good talking, some trust to rebuild from my personal perspective.

 

[Bulldog]

That's my one concern, that Adam Peters as the GM didn't realize 2024 was a dash of luck and a dash of extraordinary play by Jayden Daniels and was not a scenario that was likely to repeat in 2025 given the true deficiencies of talent on the roster.

It's almost as if Peters and Quinn became mesmerized watching Daniels and thought he was going to lead a rag tag roster to an easy Super Bowl.

I don't think you would have seen Roseman or Schneider sit on a team like the 2024 Commanders as GM and make only a couple of moves and go into 2025 expecting to duplicate or better that performance.

I think a lot of older guys would have been shipped out earlier and a more realistic perspective maintained.

 

[Anselmheifer]

If Aiyuk is the actual plan, and there isn’t much plan beyond that, get him to agree to a reworked contract, give up a 7th after the draft, if we don’t get Tate. A 7th round pick is worth almost nothing. We need all of our guys in mini camp, off season workouts, and training camp this year.

It’s a make or break year. That’s part of why I like the idea of Love so much. He will take burden off of Jayden, and should have a huge immediate impact. I’m not sure who else would project to have nearly as much year one impact.

 

[CapsCommies]

That's my one concern, that Adam Peters as the GM didn't realize 2024 was a dash of luck and a dash of extraordinary play by Jayden Daniels and was not a scenario that was likely to repeat in 2025 given the true deficiencies of talent on the roster.

It's almost as if Peters and Quinn became mesmerized watching Daniels and thought he was going to lead a rag tag roster to an easy Super Bowl.

I don't think you would have seen Roseman or Schneider sit on a team like the 2024 Commanders as GM and make only a couple of moves and go into 2025 expecting to duplicate or better that performance.

I think a lot of older guys would have been shipped out earlier and a more realistic perspective maintained.

I don't think they were mesmerized so much as if you see something work, there's pressure to give that same group a chance to do it again.

Could you imagine the narrative if they blew up the NFC championship team in 2025 only to take several steps back? They'd be killed for fixing what wasn't broken. Have to keep that in mind, too. Now we have the benefit of hindsight

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

They absolutely misread the quality of our roster and missed a season. The Jayden injury(s) then completely derailed it. That is part of my frustration with AP and DQ at present.

Lots of good talking, some trust to rebuild from my personal perspective.

I don’t know if they did or did not misread the roster because the roster which was expected never played together.

They clearly expected more from the draft picks than they got. And after week 2, they were losing starters at an alarming rate.

I still think the biggest disappointments roster wise are Newton and Sinnott. They should be a starting DT and TE, and they are not.

McCaffery at least is top 10 level in kick returns. And started to show a little as a WR. Sainristil showed a lot of promise as a rookie and maybe was the victim of very bad coaching last year. And Brandon Coleman, well, he started at LThis rookie year.

But the group of them didn’t contribute virtually anything in year 2. That should be at least 4 starters which I think they were counting on. Newton, Sainristil, Coleman and Sinnott.

If those 4 guys played to their draft position the roster looks insanely different.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

If Aiyuk is the actual plan, and there isn’t much plan beyond that, get him to agree to a reworked contract, give up a 7th after the draft, if we don’t get Tate. A 7th round pick is worth almost nothing. We need all of our guys in mini camp, off season workouts, and training camp this year.

It’s a make or break year. That’s part of why I like the idea of Love so much. He will take burden off of Jayden, and should have a huge immediate impact. I’m not sure who else would project to have nearly as much year one impact.

I think Aiyuk’s side will be willing to rework the deal.

I think at the moment the right thing to do is to do nothing.

I could see a world where we draft a WR, trade for Aiyuk after the draft for a 7th, and sign Jennings if the drafted WR isn’t at 7.

The big question is going to be if Peters loves Tate. And literally nobody is going to know that answer until ~9:00 on draft night.

For all we know, they like but don’t love him and would take a variety of players over him even if he is there. Or they are preparing ritual sacrifices to the football gods so he is there and they can hurdle tables to turn in the card.

It could be either one.

Personally, I don’t think they’re going to be in love with Tate. I think he isn’t the raw athlete which they seem to covet. It’s also why I don’t think they’re going to be super high on Downs.

But it is why I think Love and Styles are very much in play if they are there.

 

[ES1974]

I still think the biggest disappointments roster wise are Newton and Sinnott. They should be a starting DT and TE, and they are not.

McCaffery at least is top 10 level in kick returns. And started to show a little as a WR. Sainristil showed a lot of promise as a rookie and maybe was the victim of very bad coaching last year. And Brandon Coleman, well, he started at LThis rookie year.

But the group of them didn’t contribute virtually anything in year 2. That should be at least 4 starters which I think they were counting on. Newton, Sainristil, Coleman and Sinnott.

Agree here, aside from Coleman, the other 3 arrived with serious hype and the much famed ‘Commander Tag’, might need to rethink the criteria for that particular ‘Tag’ if they fizzle out tamely.

 

[ES1974]

I could see a world where we draft a WR, trade for Aiyuk after the draft for a 7th, and sign Jennings if the drafted WR isn’t at 7.

Yeah there has to be multiple moves ahead at receiver.

If AP does have a good relationship with Aiyuk, the trade thing doesn’t concern me, I would envisage a contract re-do being straightforward and amicable, especially if Aiyuk wants to be here and get his career back in line.

If it ends up taking a notional late rounder or swaps of late picks, so what.

 

[Conn]

Agree here, aside from Coleman, the other 3 arrived with serious hype and the much famed ‘Commander Tag’, might need to rethink the criteria for that particular ‘Tag’ if they fizzle out tamely.

They stopped reporting on the “Commander Tag” players after 2024. My theory is bc of the higher pressure on those picks to hit and the implied reputational hit when they don’t. It created a dynamic between those guys and “regular” draft picks, for observing fans and media, that wasn’t really healthy for anyone. They shut that down quickly and didn’t feature it at all for the 2025 draft stuff,

Instead in 2025 the focus was on the idea of the “Commander Caucus”, guys who were consensus picks after assistant coaches stood on the table for them, etc.

 

[burgold]

I think it was that or they didn't want to suggest that the players without it were "lesser players."

We got COMMANDERS TAG guys!!! Oh yeah, we also got these bums.