Free Agency Preview 2026: Interior Defensive Line

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January 28, 2026

By Noonefromtampa

The Commanders will have to add some help on the inside of the defensive line as they revamp their defense for the 2026 season.

Javon Kinlaw, Johnny Newton and Ricky Barber return, while Daron Payne is expected to be a cap casualty. Eddie Goldman, Sheldon Day, and Shy Tuttle are unrestricted free agents.

Washington will probably add a couple of veterans to the mix as rotational players, since Washington signed Kinlaw to a 3-year, $45 million contract last free agency period.

The list of currently available players who are scheduled to be free agents and who played around 30% or more of their team’s defensive snaps is as follows:

Player Pos. 2025 Team Hgt/Wgt Type Snaps Age
Logan Hall IDL Buccaneers 6-3/283 UFA 58.40% 26
David Onyemata IDL Falcons 6-4/310 Void 57.40% 34
Sheldon Rankins IDL Texans 6-2/305 Void 57.40% 32
D.J. Reader IDL Lions 6-3/330 Void 52.80% 32
Teair Tart IDL Chargers 6-2/315 UFA 49.00% 29
Shelby Harris IDL Browns 6-2/288 Void 48.20% 35
Andrew Billings IDL Bears 6-1/340 UFA 47.60% 31
John Franklin-Myers IDL Broncos 6-4/288 UFA 46.00% 30
Calais Campbell IDL Cardinals 6-8/315 UFA 45.70% 40
Sebastian Joseph-Day IDL Titans 6-4/310 UFA 45.60% 31
DaQuan Jones IDL Bills 6-4/320 Void 43.00% 35
Jordan Elliott IDL 49ers 6-4/303 Void 42.70% 29
Neville Gallimore IDL Colts 6-2/307 UFA 40.20% 29
Roy Lopez IDL Lions 6-2/312 UFA 38.50% 29
Tim Settle IDL Texans 6-3/313 UFA 36.90% 29
Jerry Tillery IDL Chiefs 6-6/295 UFA 36.20% 30
Greg Gaines IDL Buccaneers 6-1/312 UFA 33.50% 30
James Lynch IDL Titans 6-4/295 UFA 31.50% 27
Jonathan Bullard IDL Saints 6-3/290 UFA 29.70% 33
Levi Onwuzurike IDL Lions 6-3/304 UFA IR 28

[Note: Teair Tart signed a 3-year, $37.5M deal with the Chargers late Monday]

Without knowing who the defensive coordinator is for Washington, it is more difficult to project which players would be of interest in free agency.

If the Commanders stick with more of a 4-3 defense, players like Hall or Franklin-Myers would move out to defensive end since they are playing the defensive end position in a 3-4 and are light for a 4-3 defensive tackle spot.

Reader, Jones and Onyemata are the most complete interior players on this, but all are well over 30. For a defense that looked old and slow last year, I don’t know if that is the direction that Adam Peters will go in. Rankins and Onwuzurike both have a history of injuries, so they are somewhat of a gambling “roll the dice” signing.

Tart, Elliot, Gallimore and Lopez are basic solid rotational players who will give a team decent snaps without a huge drop off in play quality. This might be the area Peters focuses on when reconstructing the defensive tackle group.

Releasing Payne frees up an additional $28 million in cap space, which gives the team flexibility in replacing his production.

Comparing some of the available players to Payne’s 2025 production. For Onwuzurike, his 2024 production is used.

Player Payne Reader Onyemata Rankins Onwuzurike
Tackles Total 46 28 62 38 28
Tackles Solo 20 11 29 15 16
TFL 5 0 7 5 1
QB Hits 7 8 2 9 13
Sacks 4 3 1 3 1.5
PD 5 0 0 0 0
FF 1 0 0 0 1
FR 0 0 0 1 0

 

Player Payne Tart Elliot Gallimore Lopez
Tackles Total 46 32 31 38 30
Tackles Solo 20 22 8 18 11
TFL 5 4 1 4 4
QB Hits 7 1 2 6 6
Sacks 4 0 0 3.5 2
PD 5 4 1 3 1
FF 1 1 0 0 0
FR 0 1 0 0 0

Using Spotrac to look at projected average annual value:

  • Onyemata – $8.4M
  • Rankins – $7.5M
  • Lopez – $6.4M
  • Tart – $5.4M
  • Onwuzurike – $4.9M
  • Reader – $3.9M
  • Elliot – $1.9M
  • Gallimore – $1.8M

Peters could get players like Tart and Gallimore for around $8M in cap space. There are solid choices available but nobody who is outstanding.

Sources: overthecap.com, spotrac.com, pro-football-reference.com