Washington Football Team tenders free agents Kyle Allen, Cam Sims

The big moves will come next week, but in the meantime, the Washington Football Team has some low-cost maintenance to perform across the roster.

The big news this week was the application of the franchise tag to stalwart offensive guard Brandon Scherff, but beyond that, some other developments have been observed as well. According to reports, the Washington Football Team is trying to re-sign Ronald Darby and Dustin Hopkins. And, on March 10, Washington officially tendered two lower-tier free agents, likely keeping them in-house for 2021.

Both of the aforementioned free agents were on the offensive side of the ball. One was quarterback Kyle Allen, while the other was wide receiver Cam Sims. It is likely that both sign their tenders.

While both of the players received tenders, their situations are somewhat different. Allen was an exclusive rights free agent. Were he to play on his tender in 2021, Allen would earn $850,000 for the year. Sims, meanwhile, was a restricted free agent. Thus, his tender falls into four cost pools — First-round tender, second-round tender, original-round tender, and right-of-first-refusal tender.

While the type of tender used in Sims’ case was not disclosed, his tender would likely be either an original-round tender or a right-of-first-refusal tender. Those are the lowest value tenders in relation to the first and second-round tenders.

The right-of-first-refusal tender is unique to the original-round tender, in that it does not require original-round compensation from a team that offers the tendered player. Of course, Sims was undrafted, so no compensation would be required either way.

According to Pro Football Network, the rules state that an original round tender is currently worth either $2.33 million or 110% of the player’s salary from the previous year — whichever is highest. In Sims’ case, $2.33 million is the likely value. Sims can sign his tender sheet, and if no other team offers him anything more than that number, he’ll remain with Washington in 2021.

That figure seems a little high for Sims, but both he and Kyle Allen did enough to deserve some compensation in 2020. Kyle Allen was thrust into the starting lineup for the Washington Football Team after Dwayne Haskins underwhelmed early on, and he played well. Overall, Allen played in four games, completing 60 of 87 passes for 610 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception, for a passer rating of 99.3. He also ran for another score.

Sims, meanwhile, emerged as a quality depth piece in Washington’s receiving core. After lingering on the roster in his first two seasons, Sims managed to play in all 16 games in 2020, starting ten at wide receiver. He caught 32 of his 48 targets for 477 yards and a touchdown, and he had a seven-catch, 104-yard outing in the team’s first-round playoff loss against the Buccaneers.

In his 10 games as a starter, Sims averaged almost three catches and almost 44 yards per game, earning 29 receptions and 438 yards over that span. Projected over 16 games, those averages amount to 46 catches and 700 yards. He might not maintain his starting role moving forward, but Sims, who’s just 25 years old, proved himself to be valuable depth in 2020.

Both Allen and Sims solidify fairly unstable positions on offense, but there’s still more work to do. Luckily for the Washington Football Team, after these low-cost moves, they still have plenty of cap to work with. Next week, we’ll get to see what they make of it.