The NFL made big news on February 19 when it announced the salary cap for 2025 would be between $277.5 million and $281.5 million — a leap of approximately $22 million from 2024.
For a team like the Washington Commanders, who were already working with close to $100 million in salary cap space and coming off their first appearance in the NFC Championship Game since 1991, it’s just more good news.
USA Today’s Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz predicts the Commanders could open up even more cap space with a headline-grabbing move by cutting 2-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jonathan Allen in a salary cap move.
“Ditching a proven interior pass rusher might seem antithetical to Washington’s offseason mission, especially with the team having the third-most cap space ($75.2 million) of any franchise,” Middlehurst-Schwartz wrote on February 19. “But Allen is set to carry a $22.35 million cap hit, and his play isn’t in line with the other elite talents at his position in that category. With 2024 second-rounder Jer’Zhan Newton waiting in the wings as a potential replacement to put alongside Daron Payne, the Commanders could move on and pocket $16.47 million in cap savings.”
It would be a bold move on behalf of the Commanders but could easily net them another year on a blue-chip free agent’s contract or even possibly break itself up into a pair of 1-year contracts for proven veterans.
In 2024 the Commanders leader in sacks, Dante Fowler, and the leader in tackles, Bobby Wagner, played on 1-year contracts worth a combined $9.75 million — theoretically the money saved by cutting Allen could bring both of those players back for another season in 2025.
One of NFL’s Best on One of NFL’s Worst Teams
It’s unfortunate for Allen that the Commanders are finally becoming a contender headed into his ninth season, because he’s arguably been one of the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen for the last decade on some truly awful teams.
Take into account the only season before 2024 that Allen played in the postseason was in 2020, when the Commanders backed into the playoffs with a 7-9 record and lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card Round. Washington’s 12-5 record in 2024 was the first winning season with Allen on the roster.
Allen was the Commanders’ first round pick in 2017 (No. 17 overall) out of Alabama and made consecutive Pro Bowls in 2021 and 2022 — a stretch in which he had 127 tackles, 16.5 sacks, 36 TFL and 47 QB hits. Allen signed a 4-year, $72 million contract extension before the 2021 season.
Better Option Might Be Trading Allen
Allen is coming off a season in which he missed a career high 9 games with a torn pectoral muscle but miraculously returned for the regular-season finale and the Commanders’ 3 playoff games.
There are a lot of teams in desperate need of an elite defensive tackle, which you can make an argument Allen still is. That means the better option might be a trade.
Either way, the Commanders don’t need to be paying two interior defensive linemen a combined $162 million. That’s what they’re doing right now with Allen and fellow Alabama product and 2018 first round pick Payne, who signed a 4-year, $90 million contract extension in March 2023.
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