March 23, 2026
Geoff Burke/Imagn Images
"Hey Dan, I spent all our money on a bunch guys who have to come off the field a lot because they have glaring holes in their games. We are so gonna get fired lol."
Now that we're almost two weeks into NFL free agency and the list of decent available players has been picked clean, let's grade what each of the NFC East teams did. We started with the Dallas Cowboys on Friday, and reviewed what the New York Giants did on Sunday. Here we'll cover the Washington Commanders, who were very active this year.
• EDGE Odafe Oweh: Oweh was a Ravens first-round pick (31st overall) in 2021 after he absolutely crushed the Combine. His career got off to a slow-ish start for a first-round pick, as he had 13 sacks his first three seasons. He turned it on a bit in 2024 (10 sacks), followed by a 7.5-sack season in 2025.
Oweh's 2025 season was with two teams. He played the first five games of the season with the Ravens, and was then traded to the Chargers for very little:
| Ravens got | Chargers got |
| S Alohi Gilman | Odafe Oweh |
| 6th round pick | 7th round pick |
All of Oweh's 7.5 sacks in 2025 came in his 12 games with the Chargers. He was actually in on 9 sacks. Here they are (he's No. 98):
I count 6 coverage sacks, and the vast majority of the guys he beat are stiffs. Some of them include Julian Hill (TE), Walter Rouse, Dan Moore x2, Esa Pole, Chukwuebuka Godrick, Will Campbell, and Morgan Moses x2. I've never even heard of four of those guys. The one definitively good player he beat was Jordan Mailata, though I would call that a coverage sack.
The Ravens and Chargers did not often play Oweh on run downs. His snaps were limited mostly to passing downs.
The Commanders gave him a four-year deal worth $96 million. Oof. I do understand the Commanders' impulse to do whatever it takes to improve their pass rush since they couldn't get after the quarterback a year ago, but man is that an overpay.
Of course, they weren't alone. A lot of teams wildly overpaid for pass rushers. The Panthers are paying Jaelan Phillips $30 million/year. John Franklin-Myers got $21 million per year from the Titans. Boye Mafe got $20 million per year from the Bengals.
Of course, that doesn't make it good process. The moral of the story here is that you don't want to be desperate for edge rushers heading into free agency.
• EDGE K'Lavon Chaisson: Like Oweh, Chaisson was a first-round pick. He went 20th overall to the Jaguars in 2020, and busted, notching just 6 sacks in 4 seasons in Jacksonville. Thereafter, he has bounced around. He signed with the Panthers in 2024, and was cut following their training camp. The Raiders picked him up, and he had 5 sacks that season. In 2025, he signed with the Patriots for $3 million (plus incentives that he reached), and had 7.5 sacks.
He's getting a big bump in pay in 2026, as the Commanders signed him for $11 million.
Also like Oweh, Chaisson is best used as a situational pass rusher. In other words, the Commanders — who ranked 27th in run defense DVOA in 2025 — are paying over $40 million in cash in 2026 to a couple of guys who should really only be playing on obvious passing downs.
• EDGE Charles Omenihu: Omenihu has great size at 6'5, 280. He's yet another player who played for the 49ers during Adam Peters' tenure in San Francisco. Just a guy. One year, $4 million.
• iDL Tim Settle: Settle was drafted by Washington, and then played a pair of seasons each for the Bills and Texans. He had 15 tackles and 1 sack in 12 starts playing on a stacked Texans D-line in 2025. For some reason, the Commanders felt he was worth a three-year deal worth $24 million. Uh, OK.
Settle made $3 million per year on his last deal with the Texans. He did nothing in 2025, and got a $5 million per year raise. This signing reminds me a little of the Commanders' signing of Javon Kinlaw a year ago. Kinlaw got overpaid on a one-year "prove it" deal worth $8 million with the Jets in 2024, he proved nothing, and the Commanders were like, "Hey, why don't you come play here for three years, $45 million?" (Kinlaw had 0 sacks in 2025, by the way.)
• LB Leo Chenal: I've watched Chenal quite a bit in advance of Eagles' many recent games against the Chiefs. He's an interesting linebacker / edge hybrid who is big, fast, and physical. Steve Spagnuolo didn't often ask Chenal to cover tight ends and running backs, instead allowing him to attack the line of scrimmage from multiple alignments and occasionally spy mobile quarterbacks. Over his career, PFF has Chenal down for 51 receptions allowed on 59 targets (86.4 completion percentage against him). That's not good. #Analysis.
I always felt that he was a nice situational player for the right defensive coordinator. I don't know if the Commanders have that. But it's yet another guy who is not a complete defender who the Commanders are giving good money to. Three years, $24.75 million for a linebacker who has never played more than 500 snaps in any season. Again, that's an overpay. I do think Chenal will make up for some of the toughness that Frankie Luvu lacks.
• DB Amik Robertson: The Commanders signed Robertson to a two-year deal worth $16 million. Robertson was a player I liked coming out of college. He is small (5'8, 183), but feisty, and I thought he had a chance to overcome his size limitations. Unfortunately, bigger players in the NFL have gotten the better of him far too often. He won't help the Commanders' terrible run defense.
• S Nick Cross: Cross is another player who crushed the Combine. He's a good blitzer, but PFF has him down for 10 TDs allowed over the last two seasons. At least with Cross the Commanders are getting a player who didn't sit on the bench for half his team's snaps last season, unlike their other big signings. Two years, $13 million.
• TE Chig Okonkwo: A lot of Philly fans wanted the Eagles to sign Okonkwo, and I understand why. He's a good runner after the catch, and, well, he has a very cool name. Unfortunately, he's a guy who requires manufactured touches and he can't block.
I view Okonkwo as more of a replacement for what the Commanders hoped Deebo Samuel would be for them offensively. I do not view him as a legitimate, well-rounded tight end. He's more flash than substance. And, of course, Samuel was a losing player for the Commanders last season, so I would question the wisdom in trying to find someone to replace what he did.
Okonkwo signed a three-year deal worth $27 million. Another overpay.
• WR Dyami Brown: Brown is back after a one-year hiatus with the Jags.
• WR Van Jefferson: Jefferson is 30 and is on his fifth team since 2023.
• RB Rachaad White: Hey! Finally! A player I like (at least for what the Commanders signed him for). Over his four-year career in Tampa, White caught 89.1 percent of the targets that came his way (205 receptions on 230 targets). Obviously the vast majority of those were little dump downs, but he has been a productive third down player for the Bucs over the years. He signed a one-year deal that only cost $2 million.
• RB Jerome Ford: Ford is depth back who had little pockets of success with the Browns over the last four years. One year, a little over a million.
For the sake of brevity, we'll just list the most noteworthy guys the Commanders re-signed, with brief commentary thereafter:
• The most notable move was signing Tunsil to a two-year extension worth a little over $60 million.
• C Tyler Biadasz: They Commanders didn't really "lose" Biadasz, since they cut him, but Biadasz signed with the Chargers for three years, $30 million. I always thought of Biadasz as just a guy, so it's not as if the Commanders are losing some great player here. But they do have to replace him, and it seems like LG Nick Allegretti will be moving to center. And then I guess Chris Paul will be penciled in at LG for now? Anyway, let's just say I don't love the looks of the Commanders' offensive line at the moment.
• RB Chris Rodriguez Jr.: Rodriguez was a tough runner for the Commanders, and arguably their best back in 2025. He signed with the Jaguars.
• EDGE Jacob Martin: Martin was a replacement level edge who signed with the Titans.
• CB Jonathan Jones: Jones was one of the couple dozen old guys the Commanders employed last season. He'll compete for a roster spot in Philly.
• CB Noah Igbinoghene: Now a Seahawk.
• QB Josh Johnson: Now a Bengal. This guy is going to play until he's like 50.
As we noted when we graded the Giants' free agency, the 2026 free agency class was one of the worst ever, in my opinion, and there were a bunch of teams who paid a lot of ordinary players extraordinary money. One of those teams was the Commanders, who finished 5-12 in 2025 after a fluky 2024 season.
A year ago, the Commanders had an absolutely baffling free agency, when they signed more than a dozen players over 30 years of age. This year, they signed much younger and more athletic players, which I suppose is an improvement over what they did a year ago.
However, the Commanders will be paying almost $70 million in cash in 2026 to five new role players who come off the field a lot in Odafe Oweh, K'Lavon Chaisson, Tim Settle, Leo Chenal, and Chig Okonkwo.
I've peeked around at some sites who graded every teams' free agency, and unsurprisingly the Commanders have fared well, mainly because they signed a bunch of players. But in my view, that's really not the name of the game. The real skill in free agency is finding good value for the players you sign, and if you have to pay a little extra for a star player who is legitimately going to help you win games, then fine.
The Commanders did neither. They added a bunch of players with a trait here or there, but obvious flaws in their games otherwise, and they got them all at bad values. What they did was spend a lot of their available money to marginally improve their roster.
It was beginning to become clear a year ago that Adam Peters doesn't know what he's doing, and in my opinion he didn't do anything this offseason to prove otherwise.
Grade: D.
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