Commanders News: Kareem Hunt, Kirk Cousins, Magic Johnson and pressure

Commanders target pricing himself out?

Despite the Washington Commanders reportedly making initial contact with free-agent running back Kareem Hunt about a potential reunion with Eric Bienemy, nothing concrete has emerged since. Perhaps the player is waiting around for a team with more realistic chances of contending, or maybe those in power are happy enough to move forward with the trio of Brian Robinson Jr., Antonio Gibson, and Chris Rodruguez Jr. in 2023.

There are a number of high-profile running backs remaining on the market. Teams are reluctant to pay big bucks to the position and 27 years old seems to be the ongoing cut-off trend given fresh legs with explosiveness emerge every year from the college ranks.

This was a topic brought up by former NFL head coach Eric Mangini from The 33rd Team recently. He stated via Sports Illustrated that these big names - which include the likes of Hunt, Dalvin Cook, and DeAndre Hopkins - might be asking for money that isn't readily available at this stage of the offseason.

"One of the big reasons (is) often times those guys have expectations. And they have expectations to make the money that they were making at their previous team, or to somehow get back to being whole after being released…and when you get to this time of year that type of money isn’t around."

- Eric Mangini via Sports Illustrated

The Commanders haven't been blessed with much financial wiggle room this offseason thanks to the ownership flux. Whether that ended their pursuit of Hunt almost before it began is debatable.