Commanders 'Healthy?' How Top 10 Rank in NFL Salary Cap Room Helps
The Washington Commanders avoided a losing record in their first season under the new name, but also missed out on a winning one thanks to a disgusting tie against the New York Giants in Week 13.
As the Commanders move toward their second year coach Ron Rivera is hoping his management of the roster and salary cap produces a fiscally responsible, and winning, product.
According to Pro Football Focus and its evaluation of all 32 NFL team finances over the next three years, Washington ranks ninth in cap health.
“Washington’s string of four straight first-round defensive linemen has gone about as well as the franchise could have hoped for,” says PFF. “Daron Payne signed a monster extension…Jonathan Allen put pen to paper on a new deal (in 2021)…Montez Sweat is entering his fifth-year option season…which turns all the attention to Chase Young.”
PFF also points out, as Rivera did earlier this offseason, that starting quarterback Sam Howell’s cheap contract allows the team maximum financial flexibility to build a strong team around him for the next three years.
In previous versions of this exercise, PFF would average out the five ranked criteria (Top 51 Veteran Valuation, Active Draft Capital, Three-Year Cap Space, Prorated Money, and Next Year Free Agent Valuation) and average out the results.
This year, however, the popular grading site decided to use a method that establishes a mean and then evaluates how each team deviates from it in a positive or negative fashion.
And that’s how the Commanders, despite ranking 31st in 2024 Free Agent Valuation, rank ninth overall.
In three of the five categories (Active Draft Capital, 2023-25 Cap Space, and Total Prorated Money), Washington is in the top 10 or better.
In the fifth, Top 51 Veteran Valuation, the team ranks 17th and is almost right on the league average.
What this means in flexibility in the check book for the Commanders as they move into this next era of DMV football.
If Washington chooses to continue forward with the team as it is today it has the money to keep key players while replacing those it deems expendable.
And if the team shifts direction with the arrival of new ownership, it certainly has the resources to remodel the roster in a hurry.
Find David Harrison on the Locked On Commanders podcast or text him directly at (202) 760-2188.
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