Five players Washington Football Team could cut to open up cap space

4. OT Geron Christian

This is another signing that wouldn’t necessarily open up a lot of cap space for Washington. In fact, it would save under $1 million.

But here’s the truth about Christian: He simply hasn’t lived up to his third-round draft status yet. He was considered to be a raw, athletic player when he was drafted, but he simply hasn’t developed.

While Christian earned the starting job out of the gate to begin the season, he didn’t fare very well at left tackle. Despite playing in jury 398 snaps, Christian surrendered six sacks, tied for the seventh-most in the NFL. He simply couldn’t pass protect well enough for Washington.

Washington Commanders

Unless Christian makes another massive leap during the offseason, he will be a candidate to be released. He already figures to be behind Cornelius Lucas in the left tackle battle after Lucas stabilized the position last season, and now Christian will have to fight for the swing tackle spot.

Washington will probably add a tackle at some point in the 2021 NFL Draft. It’s a deep class and they need an eventual successor for Lucas and for Morgan Moses. Even if Washington doesn’t, Saahdiq Charles is also on the roster and while he didn’t do anything as a rookie, he is younger than Christian and is under contract for three more years. If he outplays Christian, he could beat him for a swing lineman role and the backup tackle spot.

Christian could stick around for another year. But if Washington is confident that they can land an upgrade over Christian, they could easily part with him even to open up just a bit of cap space. He’s probably cheap enough to keep around, but it simply isn’t guaranteed.