Part 2

The Washington Commanders have had a busy offseason to say the least. Last time, I focused on the ownership situation. In this post, I'm focusing on free agency.

The first thing the Commanders did was give Daron Payne an extension. I was extremely worried this wasn’t going to happen because of the uncertainty of the new owner situation, but I was wrong. They signed him to a four-year, $90 million contract with a $28 million signing bonus, $45 million fully guaranteed and $60 million in total guarantees. That was huge for the Commanders but it wasn’t the only thing they did during free agency.

The Commander's main focus was to fix the offensive line. To do that they signed former Chiefs offensive tackle Andrew Wylie, former Giants center Nick Gates, former Steeler offensive tackle Trent Scott, and resigned center Tyler Larsen. Larsen and Scott were signed to be depth pieces for the offensive line in order to improve the overall depth of the offensive line. Wylie is the big piece that they signed to play tackle. The one question that me and several other lesser known reporters (you’re reading this so they must be lesser known) has is how Wylie will fit alongside Sam Cosmi, the other tackle. Wylie seems to be the starting right tackle and Cosmi will be moving to guard. The risk is that Cosmi may be unable to play right guard as well as he does tackle, but he is a terrific run blocker and should do well inside. Gates was signed to be the starting center, but his health is a concern. Gates returned from a bad leg injury in 2021 that took him out for 14 months and required several surgeries. The Commanders can't afford more surgeries or injuries to their starting center as that has been a major problem for the team the past couple of seasons.

The final free agency topic I will talk about is what they did at quarterback. Taylor Heinicke left, meaning the “goat” is no longer in Washington. The Commanders instead signed Jacoby Brissett to compete with the future savior of the Commanders (hopefully) Sam Howell. If Howell plays like he did in Week 18, expect the Commanders to be better than last year and possibly compete for the division. If Howell is bad, the team can put in Brissett, who is a very serviceable backup. Plus if Howell is bad, the team can get a quarterback next draft. Brissett was brought in to mentor Howell and as much as I will miss Heinicke, if they brought him back then anytime Howell made a mistake, fans would be clamoring for Heinicke to go back in. And yes, I would have been one of those fans.

That’s it for the free agency section of this four part series. Next up is the draft.