Washington Commanders edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson‘s gauge of what is a good or bad NFL team seems to be broken — and may have cost him tens of millions of dollars.
On what appeared to be a livestream from inside a car, Chaisson said he turned down an offer from the New Orleans Saints — reportedly for $39 million — to come play for the Commanders on a 1-year, $11 million contract.
“With the Saints, I don’t know what their offense is going to be like,” Chaisson said. “With the Commanders, at least I know we’re going to be in some kind of playoff race.”
The Commanders went 5-12 in 2025, while the Saints finished the season 6-11.
By that logic, Chaisson’s accountant is probably pulling out hair over the move to take less money from an arguably worse team with the Commanders.
“Powerful: K’Lavon Chaisson says that he turned down a 3-year deal worth $39 million from the Saints,” NFL influencer Dov Kleiman wrote on his official X account. “K’Lavon instead signed a 1-year, $11 million deal with the Commanders to play for a contender. Chaisson cares more about his legacy over money.”
Social Media Users Light Into Chaisson
As could be expected, Chaisson’s reasoning didn’t hold up to the withering scrutiny of the internet.
“Buddy taking less money to play for a worse team,” X user Cam3ron wrote.
“Commanders and competitive in the same sentence LMFAOO,” X user A1SinceDay1 wrote.
“Bet the saints end up better than the commanders,” CowboysSZN wrote on its official X account.
“Shows how dumb he is… took less money and security to play for a team with same record and less of a chance to make playoffs,” X user SrCajun wrote.
“Bro took less money to play for a worse team?” Saints fan and X user Geaux JE wrote on their official X account. “Make it make sense.”
Chaisson Called ‘Biggest Steal’ of NFL Free Agency
Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport heaped praise on the Commanders for signing Chaisson after the former 1st round pick brought his career back to life with the New England Patriots in 2025.
“The Washington Commanders went into the offseason with a clear and glaring need on the edge,” Davenport wrote. “And the team didn’t play around about addressing it … Last year with the New England Patriots, edge-rusher K’Lavon Chaisson finally looked the part of the first-round pick he was back in 2020, logging a career-high 7.5 sacks with the New England Patriots. At 26, Chaisson is only just now entering his prime. Playing opposite Oweh should help minimize double-teams. A 10-sack 2026 is a real possibility. And getting a 10-sack edge-rusher for $11 million on a one-year deal is a steal.”
Chaisson has approximately $20 million in career earnings through 6 seasons and should form one of the NFL’s most underrated edge combos with Oweh. He was a 1st round pick (No. 20 overall) by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2020 NFL draft after winning a College Football Playoff national championship in 2019 at LSU.
“K’Lavon Chaisson and Odafe Oweh totaled almost twice as many pressures in 2025 as any other player currently on the Commanders roster,” NextGen Stats wrote on its official X account. “Chaisson also totaled 16 pressures and 3 sacks in four postseason games.”
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