Post-Free Agency Salary Cap Update, part 2
March 25, 2026
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to part 2 of my latest 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. I broke this up into two columns in order to save column length, so you can find my review of Washington’s offense in part 1, published this past Monday. Today, we’re going to analyze the defense and the specialists. The Hog Sty’s 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 hits, 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 defensive position group.
Defensive summary
Right now, the team has a total of 36 defensive players on the roster, who occupy a total of approximately $153M in cap space, which is 56.7% of the total salary cap, and a little more than $143M under the Rule of 51. Of those 36 players, the salary cap figures of 10 players are currently excluded under the Rule of 51.
Defensive line
Washington has 14 defensive lineman on the roster, not including Odafe Oweh, who I listed as a linebacker since Oweh is an edge rusher and Washington apparently will run a 3 – 4 defensive next season. Those 14 players count for a total of just under $86M in salary cap space, which is a little more than 36% of the total available space; however, only $83M currently counts under the Rule of 51. Of these players, Daron Payne has the biggest cap hit, by far, at $28M, which is also the biggest on the entire team. He is in the last year of his existing contract. Javon Kinlaw is next at $16.2M. Kinlaw is entering year 2 of a 3 year contract. Dorance Armstrong follows at $12.35M, followed by K’Lavon Chaisson at just under $11M this year. Armstrong is in the final year of his existing deal; however, his contract has two void years in 2027 and 2028,which means that if the team doesn’t extend him, then he’ll count for dead cap hits of $6M and $3M in those two years. Charles Omenihu and Tim Settle have cap hits of $4M and $3.9M, respectfully. The remaining players are on either minimum value or rookie contracts. Washington has obviously obligated a huge amount of cap space to this position group, so they have a right to expect a high level of performance, and disappointment and change if that doesn’t happen.
Linebackers
Washington has 9 linebackers, including Oweh and Nick Bellore, who is essentially only a special teams player. In total, these 9 players count for $31.4M under the salary cap, which is just under 9.6% of available space. Of these 9, only 8 count under the Rule of 51, for a total of $7.7M in cap space. Frankie Luvu, who is entering the final season of a 3 year deal, has the biggest cap hit in this group by far, at $11.3M. Washington’s premiere free agent signing, Odafe Oweh, signed a 4 year, $96M contract that included $50.6M in guarantees at signing, which increases to $68M. His cap hit in 2026 is relatively small by comparison, at $9.2M. That having been said, Oweh’s cap hit increases dramatically to $27.2M in 2027, 2028, and 2029. New signee Leo Chanal is next with $4.3M cap hit in 2026. Chanel has a 3 year, $24.75M deal that includes $12.4M in guarantees. Bellore is in the final year of his 3 year contract and has a cap hit of $2.2M. The remaining players are on minimum value or rookie contracts.
Safeties
Washington currently has 7 safeties on the roster, for a total of $22.9M in cap space, which is just under 7% of available space. Of those 7, only 5 count under the Rule of 51, for a total of almost $21M. Of these players, new free agent pickup Nick Cross, who signed a 2 year deal worth a total of $13M, has the biggest cap hit in 2026, at $5.25M. Will Harris, who is in the final year of his 2 year contract, is next at $5M, followed by Jartavius Martin at $4.3M and fan favorite Jeremy Reaves at $3.6M in 2026. Reaves recently signed an extension for the 2027 season, but as of publication, the financial details of this extension are unavailable.
Corners
Washington also currently has 7 corners on the roster, for a total of $12.8M in cap space for 2026, which is 3.9% of available space. Of those 7, only 3 currently count under the Rule of 51, for a total of $8.7M in cap hits. New free agent signee Amik Robertson has the highest cap hit for 2026, at $5.01M. Robertson has a 2 year deal worth $15.02M. Mike Saintristil and Trey Amos, who are both still on their rookie contracts, are next at $2.1M and $1.6M, respectively. All of the other corners are on minimum value contracts. Washington has spent a decent amount of draft capital on this position group, but they currently aren’t encumbered by significant cap space.
In total, the secondary has 14 players for $35.7M in cap hits, for a total of 10.87% in availabable cap space, with $29.7M counting under the Rule of 51.
Specialists
With the recent signing of kicker Jake Moody, Washington now has a full complement of 3 specialists, including punter Tress Way and long snapper Tyler Ott. Way has been with Washington since 2014, which is the longest tenure on the team by far, with Jeremy Reaves, who was signed in 2018, next. These three specialists count for a total of approximately $4.7M under the cap. All are over the Rule of 51 line. Moody has the biggest cap hit at $1.7M, followed by Ott at $1.5M and Way at $1.487M.