4 easiest offseason decisions for the Washington Commanders

2. Spend big on a safety

For better or worse (mostly worse), the Commanders aimed to solve their secondary conundrum by making Landon Collins the highest-paid safety in the NFL in the form of a six-year, $84 million contract in free agency three years ago.

Not only has the contract become among the worst in the league, but Collins’ limitations in downfield pass coverage forced Washington to move him out of the safety position and into a box linebacker this past season.

With Bobby McCain a pending free agent, that leaves Kam Curl as the only “experienced” safety on the roster. While the franchise might be hesitant to splurge on the position again, there’d be much less risk this time around.

After all, Marcus Williams, Jessie Bates (if he’s not tagged) and Tyrann Mathieu headline a star-studded class. We could even be talked into signing one of Quandre Diggs or Marcus Maye, but let’s focus on the big three for now.

Williams is the clear top dog in this class. The Saints star is as dominant as they come at the single-high safety position and in Cover 2 zone coverage. With that said, his contract demands could soar north of $15 million annually.

That makes Mathieu a more logical target, at least in our eyes. As someone who can play both safety positions at a high level and shift over to nickel corner in a pinch, the three-time All-Pro is as valuable of a DB as they come.

We fully expect the Chiefs to move heaven and earth to re-sign Mathieu, but the Commanders should poke around his market until it’s absolutely confirmed he’s returning to Arrowhead.

Same goes for Williams and Bates, albeit to a lesser extent, but the bottom line is Washington needs to spend big on a safety this offseason. If it means releasing Collins and saving $6.4 million against the cap, then so be it.