2025 Roster Preview – Offense
February 3, 2025
by Steve Thomas
Now that the Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington has completed its surprisingly successful season and we’re all waiting on the Super Bowl this coming weekend, it seemed like a great time to do a little preview of next season’s roster and salary cap, sorted by position group. So without further ado, let’s jump right in. I’ll do the offense this week and defense next week.
Summary
Washington currently has approximately $197M in cap space allocated to the roster for 2025, including my guess as to the amount of the dead cap. I haven’t yet directly and specifically accounted for the futures contracts the team has signed yet, but so far, the team has signed 13 players which should equate to a little over approximately $12M. A futures contract essentially means that the team has preserved the players rights and executed a minimum value contract that in not in effect right now, but will take effect at the start of the 2025 league year in March. In the meantime, the players can continue to use the facilities in Ashburn.
This means that Washington is in the range of $210M of allocated salary cap for next season. Please note that the Rule of 51, which is an offseason rule which provides that only the top 51 contracts will count towards the salary cap during the offseason in order to allow teams to get to 90 players without breaching the cap, will apply this offseason.
The base salary cap is projected to be somewhere between $265M – $275M for the 2025 season, which will be an increase of $10M and $20M more than the 2024 cap. Washington will also have around $10M in space that rolls over from 2024. This will likely put Washington’s total salary cap for 2025 at approximately between $275M – $285M.
This means that Washington should have in the neighborhood of $65M to $75M in available cap space. However, the team will look to preserve somewhere around $10M in space in order to account for emergency signings. Also, some of that space will need to be applied to the draft picks. Last year, the combined rookie pool was approximately $9M under the Rule of 51. If we use that number as a rough estimate for 2025, then in practical reality, the team should be able to spend up to, roughly, approximately between $45M to $55M in free agency, if they are so inclined.
Quarterbacks
On the roster:
Jayden Daniels (signed through 2027)
Sam Hartman (2025)
Free agents:
Starter Jayden Daniels is obviously still on his rookie contract and will come with an $8.58M cap hit in 2025. Hartman recently signed a futures contract.
Washington will need to find two more quarterbacks for training camp and decide on the principal backup for Daniels. Since the team currently has only a little more than just $9M in total cap space allocated towards this position group, I suspect that they will make an effort to pay decent money for the veteran Mariota to return. In my view, Mariota is the ideal backup to Daniels, so this would be the smart thing to do. Whether or not that happens depends on whether Mariota gets an offer to start somewhere else.
Running backs
On the roster:
Brian Robinson Jr. (2025)
Austin Ekeler (2025)
Demetric Felton (2025)
Michael Strachan (2025)
Kazmeir Allen (2025)
Free agents:
Chris Rodriguez Jr.
Both Robinson and Ekeler are only signed through next season, with cap hits of $3.2M and $4.96M, respectively, which is $8.1M total. The dead cap numbers assigned to both players will allow them to be easily cut at a savings if the team is able to find better options. Both players would represent savings of more than $3M each if the team wanted to move on. Honestly, Washington’s running game in 2024 wasn’t good, and they can and need to do better than Robinson as the primary starter. Felton, Strachan, and Allen are on minimum value futures deals.
I’ve been a fan of Rodriguez since he arrived, but considering that the team signed two other running backs to futures contracts, it seems likely that he’ll be elsewhere in 2025. McNichols is average at best and will likely be gone as well.
Washington needs to make an effort to draft a starter or make a free agent signing to replace Robinson that will both improve the position group and set them up for a future beyond 2025.
Wide receivers
On the roster:
Terry McLaurin (2025)
Luke McCaffrey (2027)
Lawrence Cager (2025)
Chris Moore (2025)
Free agents:
Terry McLaurin will count for a massive $25M in 2025, and while we all love him and recognize his status as a team leader and Second Team All-Pro, he’s going to turn 29 this year. As a result, the team would be wise to consider whether they need to recruit another player who can step into the role as the #1 starter at some point. I don’t think Washington would make an effort to trade him away, but I wouldn’t be totally shocked if they considered such a move if a team throws a huge trade haul at them. Second year pro McCaffrey has a cap hit of just $1.27M, but didn’t really inspire confidence that he’s ready to step into a larger role. Cager and Moore are futures signings. Therefore, the team has a little under $30M in cap space invested in this position next year.
Dyami Brown, Noah Brown, and Crowder each had good moments at times this past season. In my view, Noah Brown probably showed the most potential, but at 32 years old in June, he’s also the oldest by far. The team could take Dyami Brown’s late season resurgence as a sign of the future and try to re-sign him, but Washington is going to need a new solid starter behind McLaurin. Since McLaurin has such a huge cap hit already, I suspect that Adam Peters and company won’t go for the obvious and make a high-priced signing, but instead will either draft someone with either a high or mid-round pick or find a lower-profile free agent with potential.
Tight ends
On the roster:
Ben Sinnott (2027)
Cole Turner (2025)
Tyree Jackson (2025)
Free agents:
Washington’s tight end situation is pretty dire. Ben Sinnott, who has a cap hit of $1.6M, is the only player from 2024 who current remains on the 2025 roster. Turner and Jackson both signed futures contracts. Recognizing that Ertz is 34 years old, the team very much needs to bite the bullet and re-sign him to another one year contract, something to which Ertz is reportedly open. He had a $3M contract with a $2.4M cap hit in 2024, so he’ll need to get a raise from those amount.
John Bates will most likely be allowed to get to free agency.
Guards and centers
On the roster:
Samuel Cosmi (2028)
Nick Allegretti (2026)
Tyler Biadasz (2026)
Chris Paul (2025)
Julian Good-Jones (2025)
Free agents:
This group clearly needs help. Washington has approximately $24.5M in total cap space in the guards and centers for 2025. The biggest hit will come from Cosmi, at $10.5M, who will very likely miss most, if not all, of the season as a result of his knee injury. Therefore, Washington will need to find another starting guard somewhere, and at a fairly economical cap hit considering how much is already invested in this group. Biadasz is the remaining above-average interior line player. His cap hit is $9.2M. One possibility at the one guard spot is to move Brandon Coleman inside to guard, which may be a better fit for his strengths as a player. Nick Allegretti is an average at best starter, so if Washington can upgrade his position, they should. However, while Allegretti’s cap hit is only $3.67M in 2025, his dead cap hit is such that the team would lose cap space if they released him before June 1, which makes his situation more difficult. Good-Jones signed a futures contract.
The sole free agent, Deiter, hasn’t demonstrated that the team should make an effort to keep him.
Tackles
On the roster:
Brandon Coleman (2027)
Andrew Wylie (2025)
Anim Dankwah (2025)
Free agents:
Coleman, who was a 2024 third round pick, was decent but not great at left tackle as a rookie in 2024. He rotated in with Cornelius Lucas for a good portion of the season before eventually taking over as a starter when Lucas went down with an injury. Coleman will have a $1.38M cap hit. In my view, Coleman may be able to start at left tackle, but probably isn’t going to develop into a plus-level player at that position. His skill set may serve him better as an interior player, as I mentioned above. This should be an option that to be considered given the team’s fairly dire situation at guard. The 2024 starting right tackle, Andrew Wylie, also remains on the roster, unfortunately, and will have a cap hit of more than $10.4M. However, he also has a comparatively small dead cap hit, which means that he can be cut at a savings of $7.75M. Dankwah is a futures signee, so the odds that he can be a starter in 2025 are long.
Given these circumstances, it seems extremely likely that the team will try to draft a tackle this year, and they may also try to find another starter in free agency as well. If Wylie is cut, they’ll have very little cap space invested in this position group, so they could afford a high-priced free agent, should one be available. Lucas is at least an average pro, so he could come back as well.
Specialists
On the roster:
LS Tyler Ott (2026)
Free agents:
The long snapper, Tyler Ott, will have a cap hit of just $1.46M and a small dead cap hit in 2025, so he’s easily replaceable if necessary.
The fact that one of the best punters in the league, Tress Way, who’s been with the team since 2016 and is a fan favorite, is a free agent is an unpleasant thought. Clearly, the team needs to re-sign him. If they don’t, he’ll be quickly scooped up by another team. His cap hit in 2024 was $3.75M as a result of a 4 year, $13.65M deal that will expire in March. To be fair, he didn’t have his best season in 2024; nevertheless, Washington would be foolish to let him go. As far as the kicker position goes, neither Gonzalez nor Seibert are anything special, and the team should examine all options. Kickers typically don’t have large cap hits.