The Washington Commanders were recently projected as the landing spot for soon-to-be free agents Kenneth Walker III and Rashid Shaheed. Both played crucial roles for the Seattle Seahawks in their march to the Super Bowl.
Despite the need for a game-breaking runner like Walker and a speedy wideout like Shaheed, there is a third pending free agent on Seattle who might fill an even bigger hole for Washington, and at a better price. Adam Peters should be considering edge rusher Boye Mafe as well.
If you only consider sack totals, the Minnesota Golden Gophers product might seem like an underwhelming choice to help bolster the pass rush. In the last three seasons, Mafe’s sack total has dropped from nine (2023) to six (2024) to just two last year. But if you go a little deeper, you’ll find why he could be a perfect remedy for one of the Commanders’ biggest problems.
Commanders should look a little closer into Boye Mafe's capabilities in free agency
Mafe has the prototypical profile for an outside linebacker in a 3-4 front, which appears to be the favored alignment of new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. At 6-foot-4 and 261 pounds, he has the size to set the edge on running plays. He also boasts elite speed and burst, which have helped make him an effective pass rusher.
The diminished sack totals, especially in 2025, do raise eyebrows. That is one of the primary reasons his contract projection comes in at $12.24 million per season on a three-year, $36.72 million deal, rather than a player like Odafe Oweh, who is projected to get much more.
Oweh and Mafe both had 15 sacks in 2023 and 2024, but Oweh added another 7.5 sacks last year, compared to Mafe's two.
However, if you look at pass rush win rate, Mafe actually had a better number than Oweh. The latter was 10th in the league with a very respectable 17 percent. The former finished eighth at 19%.
This is reflected in the unofficial quarterback hurry numbers the two edges compiled last year. Oweh was credited with six. Mafe had 12. He was second on the Seahawks to fellow edge DeMarcus Lawrence.
In other words, Mafe isn’t consistently getting the quarterback on the ground, but he is doing a very good job of defeating his blocker and making signal-callers either leave the pocket or throw before they are ready. That in turn results in sacks for other players, incompletions, and interceptions.
According to Pro Football Focus, Mafe has averaged a very respectable 71.0 overall grade throughout his four-year career. He has been in the high 60s as both a pass-rusher and a run-defender. He has also steadily improved his coverage grades.
The Commanders did not have a single defender — at any position — with a PFF coverage grade higher than Mafe’s 72.2 in 2025. Bobby Wagner and Dorance Armstrong Jr. were the only starting defenders with a higher overall grade.
Mafe is not an elite edge rusher. He cannot do what defensive ends like Trey Hendrickson and Maxx Crosby can. But in a 3-4 front, he can provide exactly what Jones wants at a much better price than those top-end pass rushers.
He is 27 years old and should be in his prime for several more seasons. This is the exact type of player Adam Peters targeted in 2024 when he set out to rebuild his roster. Armstrong was a prime example. The front-office leader largely abandoned that strategy last year, turning to older players and overpaying for one underperforming defensive lineman.
Mafe is only classified as underperforming if you look only at sack totals. If you look more closely, he is precisely what Washington needs to reinvigorate its defense.