At the 2 most important defensive positions on the field, the Washington Commanders now have more questions than answers.
At cornerback, Marshon Lattimore is set to make $36.5 million over the last 2 years of his contract even though he’s done little to produce at that type of number and is arguably no longer capable of being a team’s lockdown corner.
At edge rusher, the Commanders let their NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys poach their sacks leader from 2024, Dante Fowler, on a 1-year, $6 million contract.
It begs the question … what’s going on with the front office and why can’t the Commanders get right this offseason?
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon thinks the Commanders could get back on track by making a trade for undervalued Cleveland Browns edge rusher and Super Bowl champion Ogbo Okoronkwo.
“Adding another dedicated edge-rusher to help replace Fowler would be wise,” Gagnon wrote. “Making a play for (Trey) Hendrickson would also be logical for the Commanders. They should also take a long look at Ogbo Okoronkwo of the Cleveland Browns this offseason. The Browns signed Okoronkwo to a three-year, $19 million contract during the 2023 offseason but have largely kept him in a rotational role since. He’s likely to stay in that role after Cleveland signed Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, and the Browns could view him as expendable.”
From Big 12 Superstar to Super Bowl Champion
Okoronkwo, 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, was a 2-time All-Big 12 pick and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year at Oklahoma in 2017 before the Los Angeles Rams selected him in the fifth round (No. 160 overall) of the 2018 NFL draft. He missed his rookie season after foot surgery but played 3 more seasons with the Rams with a large role on special teams — including winning a Super Bowl following the 2021 season — before playing one season with the Houston Texans in 2022.
In one season in Houston, Okoronkwo had career highs in games (17), starts (8), tackles (44), sacks (5.0) and TFL (9). He turned that into a 3-year, $19 million free agent contract with the Browns before the 2023 season and in a strictly part time role with the Browns over the last 2 years has 7.5 sacks while playing less than 50 percent of his team’s defensive snaps.
After the end of the 2025 season, Okoronkwo will have approximately $25.2 million in career earnings.
Browns One of NFL’s Worst Run Franchises
Getting traded out of Cleveland might be one of the best things that ever happened to Okoronkwo professionally. That’s because the Browns are continually one of the NFL’s worst run franchises and coming off a miserable, 3-14 season in 2024.
We don’t need to look much further than Cleveland’s recent free agent signings to see where a lot of the problems exist. One glaring example is signing Tryon-Shoyinka, a former first round pick, on a 1-year, $4.75 million contract despite already having Okoronkow in the fold.
Even at that low salary number, it’s a gross overpay for a player who left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with such a bad impression on the field that not only did they decline his fifth year option before the 2024 season but didn’t lift a finger to bring him back in 2025 despite being desperate for edge rushers.
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