Washington post-draft salary cap update, part 1: offense

May 11, 2026

by Steve Thomas

Washington did the smart thing this year and didn’t wait until the last possible second to sign their draft picks this year, for once.  In addition, I was able to track down all of the missing cap data for the team’s free agent class, save for a couple of the undrafted free agents.  As a result, I thought it was a good time to do another salary cap update.  As always, I’m going to break this up into two parts to keep column length at a reasonable size.  We’ll also look into some projections for future years in order to give you, our dear readers, some insight into what things will look like in the next couple of seasons as well.  We’ll cover offseason today, and defense in the next column.  So without further ado, let’s jump right in.

Overview

The NFL’s base salary cap for 2026 is $301,200,000.  In addition, Washington has $23,870,119 in rollover cap from the 2025 season as well as $3,560,507 in cap adjustments.  As a result, Washington has $328,630,626 in total gross salary cap space for this coming season.

Currently, as of this writing prior to Washington’s rookie minicamp weekend, the team has 89 players signed, to a total of $928,968,405 in contracts and, including dead cap, a total of $317,901,553 in cap space for the 2026 season.  However, the Rule of 51 applies during the offseason.  The Rule of 51 is a mechanism agreed to under the NFL – NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement wherein only the top 51 players on the roster during the offseason count towards the salary cap.  This is obviously done in order to allow teams to sign the maximum of 90 players in the offseason without exceeding the salary cap.  Guaranteed money for the year does count under the Rule of 51, so a number of players who are otherwise excluded may still have a small amount of money count towards the cap.  Under the Rule of 51, Washington has used $286,541,152, which leaves $42,089,474 in free cap space.

Washington currently has 39 players signed for the 2027 season, plus a couple of voidable years, for a total cap hit of approximately $258.5M.  Assuming the salary cap increases by around $20M, and Washington once again has in the neighborhood of $25M in rollover cap and cap adjustments, they should have a minimum of approximately $87M in free cap space, and possibly more if the rollover space ends up being more than $20M.

Washington currently has just 21 players signed for the 2027 season, plus Jayden Daniels’ option year and 5 separate voidable years, for a total cap hit of approximately $206.6M.

Offense

As a whole, Washington has 43 offensive players under contract for the 2026 season at a total combined cap hit of $128.3M, which is 39% of available cap space, and just under $112M under the Rule of 51.  21 players remain under contract for 2027 at a total cap hit of $134.6M.

Offensive Line

Washington currently has 15 offensive linemen on the roster for the 2026 season, for a total cap hit of almost $55.M, which is 16.87% of the team’s available space.  $48.9M counts against the cap under the Rule of 51.  The two biggest 2026 cap hits, by far, are Samuel Cosmi at approximately $20.3M and Laremy Tunsil at $11.9M.  In addition, Nick Allegretti, Josh Conerly Jr., Chris Paul, and Andrew Wylie all have cap hits of at least $3M.

There is no universe in which the team could get rid of Tunsil in 2026, either via release or trade, should the team want to do so, without incurring a dead cap penalty.  Cosmi could be released as a post-June 1 cut, albeit at very little cap savings.  The team is also stuck with both Allegretti and Conerly for 2026 in all circumstances except as a post-June 1 trade.

Eight of these linemen, including Allegretti, Brandon Coleman, Conerly, Cosmi, rookie Matt Gulbin, free agent pickup Tanoa Togiai, Tunsil, and Wylie are all signed for 2027.  The team has a total cap hit of almost $25.8M in the offensive line for that season.  Four of these players, including Conerly, Cosmi, Togiai, and Tunsil are signed through 2028, three of whom being likely starters.  As a result, the team is fairly well situated going forward in this position group.

Quarterbacks

Washington’s four quarterbacks occupy a total of just over $19.5M in cap space, which is 5.95% of available cap space, and $17.6M under the Rule of 51.  Of these four, only Jayden Daniels and rookie Athan Kaliakmanis are signed past 2026.  Daniels’ rookie deal expires in 2027, although the team holds a fifth year option on him in 2028 by virtue of him being a first round draft pick.  Daniels has a cap hit of just less than $10.3M this year.  Marcus Mariota has a $7.34M cap hit in 2026.  Clearly, considering Mariota’s age and contract situation, the team needs to put thought into the future of this position group behind Daniels.  Mariota has been an outstanding backup, but realistically, his future here in DC can only be for another couple of seasons at most.

Daniels’ cap hit rises to $12M in 2028, although the value of his fifth year option as well as a contract extension, if granted, would be very significantly higher than that.

Running backs

Washington currently has 6 running backs on the roster for a total 2026 cap hit of $7.4M, which is 2.25% of available cap space, and less than $5M under the Rule of 51.  Rachaad White has the largest 2026 cap hit at just $2M.  It is unclear at this point, which of these 6 players will be the starter this coming season, and the cap hits of each realistically put no one in the lead from a financial perspective.

Washington has 3 running backs signed in 2027, including rookie Kaytron Allen, Jacory Croskey-Merritt, and undrafted free agent Robert Henry, for a total cap hit of approximately just $3.3M.

From a financial perspective, this group is probably the most in-flux and unsure on the team.  Washington doesn’t have an unbreakable commitment, financially, to any of these players; therefore, they could keep some, all, or none of them beyond 2026.  The truth is that Washington hasn’t put a ton of resources into the running back group, and it shows.

Wide receivers

The team has 12 receivers under contract right now; however, I have been unable to find contract data for two of the undrafted free agent signees, Jaden Bradley and Chris Hilton.  Minus those two, the wide receiver group accounts for a total of $29.7M in cap space, which is a little more than 9% of available space, and $27M under the Rule of 51.  It is likely that Bradley and Hilton will be subjected to the Rule of 51 as well.

Obviously, Terry McLaurin has the highest cap hit at $18M.  None of the other receivers have a cap hit of more than $1.7M, so putting aside McLaurin, this is actually a position group with a significant amount of flexibility.

In 2027, the collective cap hit for this position group rises to more than $38M; however, this is due primarily due to a dramatic increase in McLaurin’s cap hit to $34M.  Only 3 other receivers are signed through 2027, Jaylin Lane, Luke McCaffrey, and rookie Antonio Williams.  Considering that none of those three players (a) are proven commodities, or (b) have significant cap commitments.  Only McLaurin, Lane, and Williams are signed in 2028; however, Washington could release all three at a savings.  As a result, this is yet another position group that is essentially wide open in terms of the future.

Tight ends

Washington now has 6 tight ends on the roster for 2026, for a total cap hit of $16.2M, which is just under 5% of the team’s available space, and $13.3M under the Rule of 51.  New free agent pickup Chigozeim Okonkwo has a 5.3M cap hit, but has a huge dead cap value that makes him essentially uncuttable in 2026.  John Bates has a cap hit of just under $5.7M, for some reason, but a relatively small dead cap value and can thus be released at a savings.  The remaining four players, Lawrence Cager, Quentin Moore, Ben Sinnott, and Colson Yankoff all have cap hits of under $2M and can be released at a savings.

The team has $24.5M in cap space towards the tight end group in 2027.  Only Cager and Yankoff are not signed in 2027.  Okonkwo would be difficult, but not impossible, to release in 2027 given his dead cap hit.  Okonkwo and Moore are signed through 2028.  Considering the circumstances, Washington is fairly well established in this position group, as long as Okonkwo plus at least one of Cager, Yankoff, or Moore work out as a backup / blocking tight end.

Dead cap

Washington has just under $20.7M in dead cap hits so far this year, with the big ones being Deebo Samuel at $12.3M and Tyler Biadasz at $8.1M.