Free Agency 2023 – Defensive Line

Posted on by

February 17, 2023

By NoonefromTampa

As part of The Hog Sty’s offseason free agency reviews, we will look at free agent defensive line in this column. For those who don’t want to read the whole article, a water cooler talking point section is available at the end of the post, just scroll on down.

This position is not a huge need for the Commanders, although they may look for another veteran interior defensive lineman (IDL), especially if they do not re-sign or tag Daron Payne.

Players under contract:

Free Agents:

Edge – Who is available?

We’ll look at two groups, the under 30 years old group, who will be seeking a big payday and the 30 and over group who tend to get signed to shorter, role-based deals:

Player (Under 30) Pos. 2022 Team Sacks
Yannick Ngakoue EDGE Colts 9.5
Charles Omenihu EDGE 49ers 6.5
Samson Ebukam EDGE 49ers 6.0
Anthony Nelson EDGE Buccaneers 5.5
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo EDGE Texans 5.0
Arden Key EDGE Jaguars 4.5
Lorenzo Carter EDGE Falcons 4.0
Rasheem Green EDGE Texans 3.5
Kentavius Street EDGE Saints 3.5
Shaq Lawson EDGE Bills 3.5
Justin Hollins EDGE Packers 3.5
Jihad Ward EDGE Giants 3.0
Oshane Ximines EDGE Giants 2.0
Clelin Ferrell EDGE Raiders 2.0
Marcus Davenport EDGE Saints 0.5

From this group, we can break it further down into two sub-groups, the players who will get the big paydays and player who will get solid multiyear deals.

Big payday guys may include: Ebukam, Key, Okoronkwo, and Ngakoue. Ngakoue will lead the pack with a deal in the $14M to $16M a year range. The rest will see about half of that payday.

Solid Deal guys may include: Omenihu, Carter, Davenport, Lawson, Nelson, Green, and Ximines.

The 49ers, Saints, Giants and Texans all have multiple players on this list, so they have to figure out which players they will try to retain and who they will let move on. The 49ers and their top-rated defense are the most impacted by this challenge. They may lose one of more of their solid contributors.

Player (30 and over) Pos. 2022 Team Sacks
Justin Houston EDGE Ravens 9.5
Melvin Ingram EDGE Dolphins 6.0
Kyle Van Noy EDGE Chargers 5.0
Carlos Dunlap EDGE Chiefs 4.0
Efe Obada EDGE Commanders 4.0
Bruce Irvin EDGE Seahawks 3.5
Carl Nassib EDGE Buccaneers 3.5
Jason Pierre-Paul EDGE Ravens 3.0
Jadeveon Clowney EDGE Browns 2.0
Robert Quinn EDGE Eagles 0.0

What you see from this group will be short-term deals (1 or 2 years) where they will re-sign with the current team or sign with a team who needs a situational pass rusher role filled. The Ravens will probably try and re-sign the very productive Houston to a one or two-year deal. I expect the Commanders to try and re-sign Obada and he was a good role player and he is a Ron Rivera “legacy” type player.

IDL – Who is available?

The under 30-year-old interior defensive lineman are:

Player (Under 30) Pos. 2022 Team Sacks
Daron Payne IDL Commanders 11.5
Dre’Mont Jones IDL Broncos 6.5
Morgan Fox IDL Chargers 6.5
Zach Allen IDL Cardinals 5.5
Greg Gaines IDL Rams 4.0
John Cominsky IDL Lions 4.0
Taven Bryan IDL Browns 3.0
Poona Ford IDL Seahawks 3.0
Sheldon Rankins IDL Jets 3.0
Dalvin Tomlinson IDL Vikings 2.5
Shy Tuttle IDL Saints 2.0
Larry Ogunjobi IDL Steelers 1.5
Teair Tart IDL Titans 1.5
Matt Ioannidis IDL Panthers 1.0
Isaiah Buggs IDL Lions 1.0
Armon Watts IDL Bears 1.0
Andrew Billings IDL Raiders 1.0
Jerry Tillery IDL Raiders 1.0
Dean Lowry IDL Packers 0.5

Daron Payne is either getting tagged (franchise or transition) or is getting paid big money by some team. Most sites are projecting a $17M to $20M a year deal for Payne. Jones, Fox and Allen are the other members of upper tier lineman who will probably see a bigger payday. Tomlinson, Rankins and Ogunjobu will see decent multi-year deals.

The 30 years and older interior defensive lineman are:

Player (30 and over) Pos. 2022 Team Sacks
Javon Hargrave IDL Eagles 11.0
Fletcher Cox IDL Eagles 7.0
David Onyemata IDL Saints 5.0
DeShawn Williams IDL Broncos 4.5
Jarran Reed IDL Packers 2.5
Rakeem Nunez-Roches IDL Buccaneers 2.0
Nathan Shepherd IDL Jets 1.5
William Gholston IDL Buccaneers 0.0
Angelo Blackson IDL Bears 0.0

Hargrave is the exception to the rule 30 and over rule. He just turns 30 this season and been a force on the inside. He will get another big deal, multi-year deal probably in the same ballpark as Payne. Onyemata might also pull another multi-year deal after the good year he had with the Saints in 2022. Williams falls into that category also. Cox will probably sign another one-year deal with the Eagles. The remainder of the players will be getting one-year or short-term deals.

Water Cooler Talking Points

  • Don’t expect the Commanders to be a big player in the free agent defensive line market.
  • The top 3 defensive line free agents are Yannick Ngakoue, Daron Payne, and Javon Hargrave
  • Daron Payne is going to get a big payday from someone if the Commanders do not franchise or transition tag him.

Sources: spottrac.com, overthecap.com, pro-football-reference.com