Commanders News: Treading water, top 30 visits, attendances and Ron Rivera

NFL executive claims Commanders are treading water

It’s been an underwhelming offseason in terms of recruitment for the Washington Commanders so far. Few big splashes were made in free agency as the team continues with its newfound ethos of drafting, developing, and rewarding those already making a big impact on the franchise.

Despite this, there’s just $2.42 million in salary-cap space remaining heading into the 2023 NFL Draft. Considering the Commanders need around $9 million to sign their eight picks, further sacrifices are set to be announced at some stage before training camp rolls around.

A current NFL executive had an interesting perception of Washington’s moves this offseason when speaking with Mike Sando of The Athletic. He claimed that the Commanders were simply trying to tread water as the ownership remains in flux, although re-signing Daron Payne did represent a huge financial commitment from the franchise.

"“It looks like a group that was trying to do the best they could to compete a little bit, but knew they didn’t have the resources or the backing to do much more. It was like they said, ‘Derek Carr, Jimmy G … our owner wasn’t going to give us the budget, and none of those guys were maybe worth it anyway. Sam Howell gives them some excitement around the team, an unknown, but beyond re-signing Payne, it looks like the rest is treading water, waiting for a new owner.”"

Rivera and his staff are making the best of an uncertain situation currently. Whether they’ll be around when more financial flexibility is readily available will be entirely dependent on how the Commanders perform when competitive games arrive in 2023.