The Washington Commanders' offseason reconstruction project is already underway, with David Blough and Daronte Jones replacing Kliff Kingsbury and Joe Whitt Jr. as the team's offensive and defensive coordinators.
Soon, it will be time to begin overhauling the roster as well. Free agency officially opens on March 11. The Commanders should be one of the busiest teams in the league, with 30 pending free agents and $63.41 million in cap space.
There will be countless new faces on the roster that Adam Peters ends up piecing together for Washington in 2026. There will also be no shortage of departures. Some of them will be easier to take than others.
Commanders' imminent retool means the 2024 fairytale will officially be history
Bobby Wagner. Zach Ertz. Austin Ekeler. Possibly Daron Payne. All of them played pivotal roles in helping the Commanders reach the NFC Championship game during the 2024 season. Yet no one would be surprised to see them packing their bags this summer.
The first three are all but guaranteed to be gone. Ertz and Ekeler probably won't ever play in the NFL again after suffering season-ending ACL and Achilles injuries, respectively. Wagner could very well decide to hang up his cleats.
They were the core nucleus of Peters' 2024 free agency class, brought to Washington to change the culture. Their mission was served.
Payne is the longest-tenured player on the Commanders' defense, drafted in the first round in 2018. He's been a Pro Bowler and, at times, the most impactful player on Washington's front lines. But he's now had three consecutive underwhelming seasons and costs a fortune to keep. It's time to move on, though reports indicate he could play out his deal in 2026.
The losses won't stop there.
No one will miss Marshon Lattimore when he is inevitably cut. Fans will miss the feeling they had when Peters traded for him, a move that signaled the Commanders were officially in business.
Quan Martin was a nightmare this past season, but Washington will never forget his pick-six against the Detroit Lions in the divisional round. If he's gone, a piece of that playoff magic also disappears.
Even Frankie Luvu, the emotional heartbeat of Washington's 2024 defense, the man who tried to enact vigilante justice on the Philadelphia Eagles' "tush push" play, could become a trade candidate. It might be a smart move; a player on an expiring deal who the Commanders could get some value for. It would still be sad to see him go.
All in all, Washington's roster needs to look as different as possible by the time training camp rolls around. But unlike when past eras came to a close, this is not the purging of a bunch of losers who couldn't be out the door soon enough.
The Commanders are saying goodbye to players who will always mean something to their organization, who contributed to profoundly positive memories. Those will never fade in the fans who were fortunate enough to experience them.
It's necessary. But it will also be somewhat uncomfortable watching the Commanders in 2026, knowing the faces still left from that special run only two years ago are now few and far between.