The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Conn]

We can absolutely create more cap space, BUT, it's a lot easier with long term high $$$ contracts. We actually don't have that many of those. The new Tunsil contract should create space this year...

We don’t really need space at all the way the Cowboys do, our cap situation is very healthy. I more so meant that our division rivals are pulling out all the stops, so it’s no time to be pussies

Pardon my English

 

[KDawg]

We certainly need more high end talent. My stance is, regardless of position or positional value, if you have a chance at a blue chip player, go get that guy. We have 1 clear one on the roster now in Tunsil. That’s it.

I am also up for taking meaningfuk bets on young guys who have had flashes at premium positions. Think someone like Boye Mafe.

What I don’t want to be doing is paying $15M a year to a guy at a non premium position who is all projection like Likely.

I see the point and mostly agree. But I, myself, don't mind taking a swing on a guy like Likely. Talent is talent. And he has it. But I do agree, I'd prefer a slightly lesser swing at a non-premium position like tight end especially.

 

[Discobob]

We don’t really need space at all the way the Cowboys do, our cap situation is very healthy. I more so meant that our division rivals are pulling out all the stops, so it’s no time to be pussies

Pardon my English

Yo Adam

#Nopussiesallowed

 

[skinsinparadise]

For Voice_of_Reason speaking in Keim speak. Trying to parse his comments from podcasts and espn video segments. Also Peters interviews.

Big swing at edge. Probably a younger one like Mofe, Phillips, Oweh. And probably another edge that's not as expensive. Be surprised if they don't sign 2 and at least one of the two won't be the swing low style of Peters thus far at that spot.

Big swing at WR. This is tricky because who knows who hits the market. But a swing at someone. For me, I'd guess Pierce or Shaheed if they hit the market. If not, Jennings. Maybe Romeo Doubs who is only 25 and runs a 4.47.

Medium swing at TE: My guess is they swing for Likely and Okonkwo and end up with Okonokwo

Medium swing at CB. Maybe in that 10-15 range?

 

[Anselmheifer]

For Voice_of_Reason speaking in Keim speak. Trying to parse his comments from podcasts and espn video segments. Also Peters interviews.

Big swing at edge. Probably a younger one like Mofe, Phillips, Oweh. And probably another edge that's not as expensive. Be surprised if they don't sign 2 and at least one of the two won't be the swing low style of Peters thus far at that spot.

Big swing at WR. This is tricky because who knows who hits the market. But a swing at someone. For me, I'd guess Pierce or Shaheed if they hit the market. If not, Jennings. Maybe Romeo Doubs who is only 25 and runs a 4.47.

Medium swing at TE: My guess is they swing for Likely and Okonkwo and end up with Okonokwo

Medium swing at CB. Maybe in that 10-15 range?

I want it to be 4pm on March 3rd, so we know who will potentially be available.

 

[Primus Porcus]

IF/When Hargrave hits the market, we have a DC who spent a lot of time in Minnesota

 

[Higskin]

Also in the article -

What about the WR market?​

Fowler: Mike Evans will limit his choices to a handful of teams in part because of his criteria. He wants a quarterback he believes in, a chance at a Super Bowl, a top-shelf offensive coordinator and the promise of high-volume touches. Only so many teams fit that mold. The Buccaneers will aggressively pursue re-signing Evans and met with his agent, Deryk Gilmore, on Thursday.

Rival teams expect Buffalo to strongly address wide receiver in the coming weeks. And multiple league executives are linking Rashid Shaheed or Romeo Doubs to the Bills. Alec Pierce will most likely be out of their price range.

• Expect Washington to target offensive help, among a lot of other things. When asking about the top tier of free agent running backs, tight ends and linebackers, the Commanders come up a lot.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Expect Washington to target offensive help, among a lot of other things. When asking about the top tier of free agent running backs, tight ends and linebackers, the Commanders come up a lot.

The fact WR is not in this list is surprising, given that they have 1 NFL caliber WR currently on the roster, and he's over 30 and missed 7 games last season.

If we aren't making offers to every WR in FA (and I get there aren't a ton of top options), that would be bananas.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I'm now really interested in what is going to happen on the OL.

Biadacz being released and Paul being a FA changes the whole complexion of the OL.

I would have thought, in a vacuum, they would try to keep stability on the OL. That's clearly not the case.

Bram said he thought that maybe they thought the replacement center was on the roster, either Allegretti or Coleman. I kindof hope that's not the case. Given both Allegretti and Coleman started 2025 as starters and both were benched because of performance reasons.

I do think there is a chance Coleman could slide in at LG, after a year to learn the position, he might actually be good at that.

But I don't think Allegretti would be an upgrade from Biadacz, and I'm not even sure he would be a lateral move.

So I think they have to go out and get a center. And they have to get at least another couple backups.

I am very interested to know what the plan is here because it is very unclear. Probably intentionally.

The good news is they have what look like 3 players who range from "really good" to "elite" between Tunsil, Cosmi and Connerly Jr. So that's a really good start. But you need your LG/C to not Luavao (I don't remember how to spell his name, but I remember Jay kept saying, "Luavao is good!" and I kept asking if he was 4 whiskeys in when he was watching film. I know jack shit about anything but I know when a guard is pushed backwards like a kid pushing a shopping cart, that's not right. God, Jay was suck at everything) level of suck or else Daniels is going to have a DT in his lap before he completes his drop from under center.

 

[Primus Porcus]

The fact WR is not in this list is surprising, given that they have 1 NFL caliber WR currently on the roster, and he's over 30 and missed 7 games last season.

If we aren't making offers to every WR in FA (and I get there aren't a ton of top options), that would be bananas.

If you read the quote, i don't think its excluded, just that's its been apparent we're involved on the 3 examples he pointed out.

The other thing is he mentioned 'top tier' in the quote... I don't think the 'top tier' WR market is up there with the quality of other position groups. There isn't a no. 1 WR available, so any move you make is going to be supplimental. There are a handful of no. 1 RBs / LBs / Edge players that are going to be out there that can come in and dynamically change the position group.

 

[Bulldog]

What's surprising is for a team with a LOT of holes to fill it has seemingly chosen to add center and left guard to the pile.

At the end of the season we seemed to have at least the makings of a solid offensive line, now we for some reason cut Tyler Biadasz without having a clear or better replacement on the roster and are certainly not considering going after Linderbaum of the Ravens in free agency.

Biadasz had ONE year left on his deal, I get if you want to draft a center somewhere among those picks in April or go after a difference maker at OC NEXT YEAR at this time, and move on from Biadasz that's fine.

But again you can't do everything at once. And this move seems capricious given where we are now.

I can understand more the reluctance to pay Chris Paul a big ticket deal based on one year of work after previous seasons where when he played he ranked among the worst at his position by PFF.

But again, the team's options there if Brandon Coleman doesn't fit at OG are limited.

Beyond Wiley, the depth on the line is poor at best. The center/guards behind the starters were Deiter and Allegretti, neither considered to be the 'answer' at these positions and in their late 20's, and both were discards from their previous teams.

 

[Higskin]

The fact WR is not in this list is surprising, given that they have 1 NFL caliber WR currently on the roster, and he's over 30 and missed 7 games last season.

If we aren't making offers to every WR in FA (and I get there aren't a ton of top options), that would be bananas.

Unless they're hearing Washington has something else up their sleeves i.e. draft, Aiyuk, etc.?

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Unless they're hearing Washington has something else up their sleeves i.e. draft, Aiyuk, etc.?

Draft would be an unknown. Who knows who's going to be there at 7, or any of the other picks. Also, I'm not sure who they would be hearing from.

Aiyuk, I think everybody is going to link him to us fairly or unfairly, which makes sense.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

What's surprising is for a team with a LOT of holes to fill it has seemingly chosen to add center and left guard to the pile.

Well, left guard was on the pile because Paul is a UFA. So they had to handle that.

I thought they would just bit the bullet and sign him to a 3 year deal because it's the easy button. He's good, he's been here, he can compete with Coleman, and at worst he's a backup.

But by releasing Biadacz, they've opened center. And based on the way they were talking, it looks like Paul is at least going to get to FA, and somebody might offer him a deal we don't want to. Should we want to? I mean, that's tough to say. I think Paul played at a better than replacement level last year. But you shouldn't sign better than replacement level players to contracts that are above that threshold, that's also bad roster/cap management.

So now they have to figure it out. We'll see. I would have been happier if they had more of the OL set. But it is what it is. This is not one I'm going to get all frothy about, it's just interesting.

I will say, I like that they are not just content to ride it out and click the easy button even though there are so many other buttons to push. It means they are trying to improve the roster. The question is, will they be able to.

 

[Bulldog]

I am still waiting for this free agent cycle and the draft in April to form a more considered judgment, but so far I am not liking what I am seeing and hearing out of the team since the end of the season.

We cut our starting center to save $8M and yet we are keeping Daron Payne, who we could recoup $22M of cap space with a release.

Worry about finding a replacement? You can't tell me with $22M we can't come up with some credible and realistic ideas for the DT position.

Biadasz? He had one year left on his deal. Center was hardly a flash point for the team on the field in 2025 and yet that was one of the first positions to draw scrutiny from the front office.

You would think that evidently not intending to be aggressive to signing Chris Paul and having an empty tight end room that THOSE would be positions where the flashlight goes first.

Rescue the drowning man first instead of the guy that is already in a lifeboat.

 

[HOF44]

The move will save Washington only about $2.9 million in salary cap space, but $8.3 million in cash, according to the contracts website Spotrac.

Seems saving cash is a high priority.

 

[skinsinparadise]

The fact WR is not in this list is surprising, given that they have 1 NFL caliber WR currently on the roster, and he's over 30 and missed 7 games last season.

If we aren't making offers to every WR in FA (and I get there aren't a ton of top options), that would be bananas.

This won't surprise you but I trust Keim over the national ESPN reporters. Heck it was an ESPN story like that last year saying expect Washington to chase both Josh Sweat and Milton Williams.

Keim thinks they are going hard for Edge, WR and medium at CB, and TE.

The only issue with WR though is its a small crop and there seems to be a lot of competition for that small pool.

But wouldn't surprise me if they chased Jennings or Doubs or Shaheed.

 

[philibusters]

Jennings is an example of a WR that succeeded despite a bad forty time. I think his forty time was 4.72

 

[Commander Wraith]

What's surprising is for a team with a LOT of holes to fill it has seemingly chosen to add center and left guard to the pile.

At the end of the season we seemed to have at least the makings of a solid offensive line, now we for some reason cut Tyler Biadasz without having a clear or better replacement on the roster and are certainly not considering going after Linderbaum of the Ravens in free agency.

Biadasz had ONE year left on his deal, I get if you want to draft a center somewhere among those picks in April or go after a difference maker at OC NEXT YEAR at this time, and move on from Biadasz that's fine.

But again you can't do everything at once. And this move seems capricious given where we are now.

I can understand more the reluctance to pay Chris Paul a big ticket deal based on one year of work after previous seasons where when he played he ranked among the worst at his position by PFF.

But again, the team's options there if Brandon Coleman doesn't fit at OG are limited.

Beyond Wiley, the depth on the line is poor at best. The center/guards behind the starters were Deiter and Allegretti, neither considered to be the 'answer' at these positions and in their late 20's, and both were discards from their previous teams.

It’s a bit surprising to open another hole. I’m not sure I agree on our depth though. Wiley’s decent depth at G/T (I know you said “beyond Wiley”, but he obviously counts), and Coleman is probably (at worst) decent depth at LT considering he was a fairly serviceable starter. Alegretti ain’t great, but helps solidify our interior depth. Would really like to draft a C though. The bigger problem, for now anyway, is the starters - LG, C and needing to get Tunsil’s extension done.

Draft would be an unknown. Who knows who's going to be there at 7, or any of the other picks. Also, I'm not sure who they would be hearing from.

Aiyuk, I think everybody is going to link him to us fairly or unfairly, which makes sense.

I totally agree with the sentiment, though I think it’s worth pointing out that there are a lot of interesting receivers in the draft. No guarantees obviously, but I think it’s pretty likely we can find a guy that can at least be legitimate competition for McCaffrey/Lane/Burks (if we bring him back). Again, you’re absolutely right that we can’t go into the draft expecting to find the needed solution to our receiving corps.

 

[method man]

Paul was a great story for us. You have to admire how he was able to stick around as a 7th round pick and take advantage when he got the shot.

That being said, he is a terrible fit in a zone blocking scheme. If they run such a scheme, Coleman fits much better doing that. If Coleman doesn’t get the job done, then you have Wylie who would also be a plus athlete for guard standards.

At center, if worst came to worst, they would feel comfortable starting Allegretti at center. Keim mentioned they think he may be a better center than guard and this is a guy who started at G in 2024

That being said, I have very little worry we can find a better center than Nick in FA and I am confident we will. Too many options and some teams with veteran QBs will opt for the draft to find one, especially in a draft like this that is so center rich.