Post-Free Agency Salary Cap Update, part 1

March 23, 2026

by Steve Thomas

Welcome to another review of Washington’s salary cap situation.  I last did an update back in late January, but given that the Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington made a pretty significant number of moves at the start of free agency, I thought it would be worthwhile to go through this exercise again.  In order to save column length, I’m going to break this up into two columns, starting with the offense, with defense to follow.  Our updated salary cap page can be found here, and our updated roster page can be found here.

Summary

The NFL set the 2026 base salary cap at $301.2M.  In addition to that, the team has just under $23.9M in rollover cap from 2025, as well as approximately $3.5M in salary cap adjustments.  This leaves the team with a total of $328,630,626 in cap space for the 2026 season.

The offseason’s Rule of 51 is in effect.  Under this rule, teams are allowed to only count the cap hits of the top 51 players of the maximum of 90 allowed.  This rule is in place in order to allow teams to reach the full 90 player offseason roster without going way over the cap.  After free agency, the team currently has 72 players signed to the offseason roster.  As a result, only Washington’s top 51 contracts, as measured by 2026 cap hit, will count against the salary cap until the start of the regular season.

The team also has approximately $20.7M in dead cap hit, which is the leftover salary cap hits resulting from various player releases that will remain on the team’s salary cap at least through this season, and in some cases through next season.  The biggest two dead cap hits, by far, are Deebo Samuel and Tyler Biadasz, who are at $12.3M and $8.1M, respectively.  All of the rest of the dead cap hits are relatively minor.  Samuel’s dead cap hit is the result of void years from his prior contract, so that would go away if the team ends up re-signing him

Taking the Rule of 51 into consideration, Washington currently has a little more than $258M in salary cap hits, which means that the team has approximately $49.6M in free cap space.  However, when taking the projected expenditures for the team’s draft picks into account, which will add up to approximately $11.7M under the Rule of 51, the team currently has approximately $38M in free cap space.  Traditionally, Washington has left somewhere around $20M in free cap space heading into the regular season; therefore, this means they would probably be willing to spend somewhere around $18M if the right trade or unexpected free agent comes available this late in the process.

Now, let’s dive into the specifics of each offensive position group.

Offensive summary

In total, Washington has 33 offensive players on the roster.  Those players occupy a total of $119.5M in cap space, which is approximately 36.4% of available space, and $109.8M in cap space under the Rule of 51.

Quarterback

Washington has the same three quarterbacks on the roster as they did last year, Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota, and Sam Hartman.  Together, these three players occupy $18.3M in total cap space, which is 5.5% of the team’s available space space.  Hartman’s cap hit is under the Rule of 51 line, so currently the quarterbacks occupy only $17.2M in cap space.  Daniels is in year 3 of his rookie contract, and Mariota re-signed on a 1 year deal.

Running backs

Washington has 4 running backs on the roster, with Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Jeremy McNichols returning from last season, and Jerome Ford and Rachaad White both being new pickups in free agency.  In total, these 4 players occupy a total of $5.6M in cap space, which is only 1.7% of available cap space, and just under $4.6M in cap space under the Rule of 51 because Croskey-Merritt is under the line.  Croskey-Merritt is entering year 2 of his rookie deal, but the other three players are all on 1 year deals, meaning the team has not resolved the question marks in this position group by virtue of free agency.

Wide receivers

After free agency, Washington now has 9 wide receivers on the roster, who occupy a total of $28.4M of combined cap space, for a total of 8.7%.  Of this position group, only 6 count under the Rule of 51, just over $26M in cap space.  Of the wide receivers, only Terry McLaurin occupies significant space.  McLaurin has a $18M cap hit this season, with $42.5M in dead cap space.  All of the 8 other receivers are on either rookie deals or minimal veteran contracts.

Tight ends

Washington has 5 tight ends on the roster, including new free agency pickup Chigozeim  Okonkwo.  In total, this group occupies a total of $15.3M in cap space, which is 4.7% of available space. Only 4 of these players currently count under the Rule of 51, so the tight ends currently occupy just under $14.3M in cap space.  Washington’s probable new future starter, Okonkwo, signed a 3 year, $27M contract, including a 2026 cap hit of $5.3M.  John Bates is in year 2 of a 3 year contract extension and has a $5.8M cap hit this season.  Lawrence Cager, Ben Sinnott, and Colson Yankoff all have minimal rookie-level contracts.

Offensive line

Washington currently has 12 offensive linemen on the roster, for a total of just under $52.M in cap space, which is 15.9% of the available total.  Of those 12, only 8 count under the Rule of 51, for a current total of $48M in cap space.  Of all of the team’s linemen, Samuel Cosmi has the biggest cap hit, by far, at more than $20M in 2026 and a $27.5M pre-June 1 dead cap hit.  He’s signed through 2028.  Laremy Tunsil is next with an $11.9M cap hit this coming season.  Washington restructured Nick Allegretti’s contract and extended him a year, so now he has a cap hit of $3.8M this year and he is now signed through 2027.  Josh Conerly, who was the team’s first round pick last season, has a $3.5M cap hit in year 2 of his rookie deal  The only other offensive lineman who has more than a minimal cap hit is Andrew Wylie, who is signed through 2027 and occupies $2.5M in cap space this season.