Commanders' New Look: Deebo Samuel and the Cap Space

The Washington Commanders have a new face on their roster. Deebo Samuel is coming to town. This trade is set to be official on March 12th. This move comes at a time when the team is preparing for the start of veteran free agency. It's a good time to check out the Commanders' depth chart and see how they're doing with their cap space. The Commanders currently have 20 defensive players, 26 offensive players, and one special teams player, Tyler Ott. The numbers you see next to some players' names are their 2025 cap hits. Any cap hits below $1. 5m are not included. The depth chart is a personal interpretation and may not reflect the thoughts of other writers or fans. Backup players are not specifically placed behind the players they backup; the chart is designed for efficiency. The roster has been stripped down to its core. There are 49 players on the roster, but only about 8 proven starting-quality players. This looks more like a roster of 30-35 NFL players in need of a lot of help. Washington can add 9 guys in the draft with their current slate of picks, with maybe 6 of them having potential to have an impact on the ‘24 roster, but Washington will likely need to sign as many as a dozen veteran free agents to build a roster that can be competitive in 2024. The Commanders have their quarterback, Jayden Daniels. This is a big difference from last year. The team has 30 impending free agents, but most of them were brought in on one-year contracts last year. Many of these players can be extended to provide continuity. This is different from last year when Peters and Quinn were shedding players to establish a new identity. The Commanders are in a better position now than they were a year ago. They have a clear identity and expectations have been set. Despite being superficially similar to the 2024 roster situation, the Commanders are much better positioned in March of 2025 than they were a year ago. The Commanders now have $64. 4m in available 2025 cap space after including the not-yet-official trade for Deebo Samuel. This is less than the $91. 5m the team had available last year just before the start of free agency. It is currently the 6th-most of any NFL team, though salary cap positions of all 32 teams will start changing wildly this week as veterans are extended or released ahead of the start of the new league year on March 12th.

The Rule of 51 is important to understand. It states that only the players with the 51 largest cap hits for the season will be counted toward the salary cap during the off-season. This means that whenever a player is signed to a new contract, the cap hit of the player he pushes out of the top 51 must also be accounted for. The Commanders have only 47 players following the Deebo trade. The cap hits for the next four guys they sign will simply be added to those of the current rostered players. Once the roster reaches 51 players, however, the cap space impact isn't as straightforward. Each new player signed is either at or below the current 51-man cut off or above it. If the player is at or below the cutoff, his signing has no impact whatsoever on the 2025 cap space. If the player is above the cutoff, then the team needs to account for both the cap hit of the player signed and that of the player he displaces on the roster. The Commanders will need a NET of about $1. 6m in cap space to sign their 6 draft picks. Any trades will affect these numbers, but there will be very little change in the expected $1. 6m Washington will need to reserve for the rookie pool. The Commanders currently have $64. 4m in available cap space. They need to reserve about $1. 6m for the draft class. They also need a contingency fund for in-season replacements as injuries occur. With rising player salaries, it seems like $5m -$6m needs to be available. Veteran defensive lineman Jonathan Allen has been given permission to seek a trade. While he may eventually accept a salary reduction to stay with the team, a trade or outright release seems more likely. Either trade or release would save Washington $16. 47m in cap space. The Commanders have about $74m in cap space available for veteran free agency, which begins in less than a week. This is in addition to the ~$17. 4m of cap space (already allocated in OTC’s cap estimates) going to Deebo Samuel when his trade is finalized.

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