Examining the pros and cons of Commanders trading Daron Payne

The Washington Commanders seem likely to draft a wide receiver or safety … or Buffalo nickel in Kyle Hamilton’s case, with their first-round pick on Thursday. Where the team goes beyond that selection, though, is truly up for debate.

After all, news broke Tuesday that the Commanders don’t plan on offering star defensive tackle Daron Payne an extension this offseason.

In hindsight, it’s not a huge surprise. While Payne is an indispensable piece of the defense, he’s been floated in trade talks before and there was always going to be at minimum one odd man out on Washington’s defensive line.

The Alabama product’s future seemed to come to a head last season when he removed all traces of the now-Commanders from his Instagram page. That came just days after he and Jonathan Allen got in a sideline spat against the Cowboys that culminated in Allen throwing a punch at his longtime teammate.

Now, Payne’s future is murkier than ever.

While there’s obviously a chance Payne plays out the final year of his rookie deal, a trade is feasible with the draft a little more than 24 hours away, so let’s examine some pros and cons of trading the 2018 first-round pick.

Pros and cons of Commanders trading Daron Payne

Pro: Acquire draft picks/Draft replacement 

Figure we’d start with the obvious pro. If Washington traded Payne, they’d potentially acquire some of the draft capital that was lost in the Carson Wentz trade. Given his talent — you won’t find many better run-stuffing defensive lineman in the league —  the team could net a second and third-round pick.

At the very least, we’d be talking about a Day 2 pick and a fourth-rounder. Currently equipped with just six selections, including zero in the third and fifth rounds, trading Payne would suddenly stock them with eight picks. That would give the team more flexibility and more ammo to address positions of need.

If they’re feeling frisky, they could use one of the acquire picks to draft Payne’s replacement in the second or third round.

Con: No DL depth after free agency

What were the Commanders thinking here? While their intention was (seemingly) to extend Payne, they should not have released Matt Ioannidis, who has since signed with Carolina, and let Tim Settle pursue greener pastures in free agency if they had any doubts about Payne’s future.

While trading Payne for picks makes more sense than losing him for nothing next offseason, can Washington really afford to pull the trigger? With no Payne, Ioannidis, or Settle, the defensive line would be stripped of nearly all its depth.

A trio of Allen, Chase Young and Montez Sweat could still form a formidable front, but depth is paramount in today’s NFL and Payne has played the most snaps of any of the teams defensive linemen not named Chase Young.

This is the one and only con, but it’s a BIG one.

Pro: Jonathan Allen takes on more double teams

We’re not going to sit here and diminish Payne’s value to the defense. We already stated his importance to Jack Del Rio’s unit. However, extending two interior DL is risky business in the NFL given it’s not a premier position and the team was right to choose Allen over his former Alabama teammate.

In 2021, Allen took on more double teams than Payne. Despite that, he owned the eighth-highest pass rush win rate at the DT position.

Payne is nowhere to be found on that graphic, further proving the notion that Allen is more well-rounded player. And for all the praise Payne gets as a run-stopper, he didn’t rank in the top 10 on a list that didn’t feature many household names.

Like we said, extending two defensive tackles is a rarity in today’s NFL and the Commanders were right to pay Allen his dues last offseason.

What do you think, Commanders fans? Would you trade Payne for draft picks even if it means pillaging the DL of its depth?