Washington post-draft salary cap update, part 2: defense
May 12, 2026
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to part 2 of my latest salary cap update. Given that we’ve now gotten through the draft and free agency, and Washington has signed all of its draft picks, this seemed like the ideal time to go another round in this series. I covered the offense in part 1 in my previous column, so today we’re going to hit the defense and the specialists.
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.
Defense
As a whole, Washington has 43 defensive players signed for the 2026 season, at a total combined cap hit of $163.9M, which is 49.9% of the available cap space, and a little over $148M under the Rule of 51.
Defensive Line
To begin, I’ve counted all players who were acquired strictly under the “edge rusher” label as linebackers given that Washington is apparently transitioning to a 3 – 4 defensive scheme. Therefore, there are 16 players signed for 2026 who are defensive linemen in the 3 – 4, for a total cap hit of almost $88.2M, which is approximately 28.3% of available cap space, and $83.55M under the Rule of 51. This is the most the team is spending on any position group for 2026, by far, including the offensive line. Daron Payne has the biggest single cap hit on the team at $27.95M, is 8.5% of available space; however, given that his pre-June 1 dead cap hit is just $16.2M, he is both releasable and tradable under essentially any circumstances. Javon Kinlaw is a distant second at $16.2M, but he has a $23.2M pre-June 1 dead cap, so the team could only cut him as a post-June 1 designation. Dorance Armstrong is in third place at $12.055M this season, followed by K’Lavon Chaisson at $11.47M. Charles Omenihu and Tim Settle both have 2026 cap hits of approximately $4M. As a result, the team is well-stocked from a financial perspective for this position group for the coming year.
However, 2027 is a slightly different story. Just 6 of these players are signed for 2027, including Javonte Jean-Baptiste, Kinlaw, Jeffrey M’ba, Jer’Zhan Newton, and Settle. Also, Armstrong has a void year in 2027, so the total combined cap hit for this group in 2027 currently stands at $43.6M. Only M’ba and Settle are signed for 2028.
Therefore, while this position group is clearly stacked in 2026, the fact of the matter is that there’s a some measure of uncertainty for the coming years.
Linebackers
Including the edge rushers, Washington currently has 10 linebackers under contract for a total combined cap hit of $39.2M, which is 11.9% of available space, and $34M under the Rule of 51. Frankie Luvu has the biggest cap hit, by far, at $11.3M, followed by Odafe Oweh at $9.2M, rookie Sonny Styles at approximately $6.765M and Leo Chanel at $4.3M.
This group is much better situated for the future than is the defensive line group. Chanel, Ale Kaho, Jordan Magee, future Hall of Famer Kain Medrano, Oweh, and Styles are all signed through 2027. Luvu has a void year in 2027, which adds to the cap hit, but in total, the linebacker group’s cap hit in that year is currently at $54.9M. Chanel, Medrano, Oweh, and Styles are signed at least through 2028 or beyond.
The result here is that Washington is very likely going to make relatively few acquisitions in this group and instead attempt to develop those players currently on the roster for the future.
Secondary
Washington currently has 17 defensive backs on the roster for a total combined cap hit of just under $36.6M, which is 11.1% of available cap space, and approximately $30.6M under the Rule of 51. Of those players, Nick Cross and Amik Robertson have the highest cap hits, at $5.25M and $5M, respectively, followed by Will Harris at $4.76M, Jartavius Martin at $4.3M, and Mike Sainristil at $2.1M. The contract data for undrafted free agent safety Spencer Malik was unavailable as of publication. All of the rest of the players have fairly minimal cap hits.
However, only Trey Amos, Cross, Malik, Robertson, and Sainristil are signed for 2027, at a combined cap hit of $25.39M, with only Amos under contract for 2028. Financially, then, the team is pretty set for 2026, but has significant room to make changes and acquire more players in the coming two years.
Specialists
Prior to the team’s rookie minicamp weekend, Washington had three specialists, kicker Jake Moody, long snapper Tyler Ott, and longtime punter Tress Way under contract at a combined cap hit of just less than $4.7M. None of these players are signed beyond 2026.
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.