• Extension decisions loom: If Washington wants to keep Montez Sweat, they should get out ahead of extensions for Nick Bosa, Brian Burns and others before the market ramps up.
• Chase Young is all of a sudden in a contract year. Now what? Washington should be open to any and every possibility, including potentially flipping Young at the trade deadline if a team is willing to part with premium draft capital for half a season of his services.
• The 2024 NFL Draft strategy: Offensive tackle could be a position of need, and this year's class boasts quite a few top prospects.
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
A dark cloud over Washington, D.C., has finally, officially been lifted as ownership of the Commanders transfers from Dan Snyder to Josh Harris and company. And while the organization has a lot to clean up off the field, there is, of course, a football team with a lot of young talent to build on, as well.
As the Harris group gets underway in returning this once proud franchise to glory, there are a handful of difficult and pressing roster decisions awaiting them.
Change the name back to the Washington Football Team
We’re only half kidding.
In-house extensions — what to do with Kamren Curl, Montez Sweat, Kendall Fuller
Fuller: As good a player as cornerback Kendall Fuller has been over the past several years for Washington, they may have drafted their way around an extension with the additions of cornerback Emmanuel Forbes in the first round and defensive back Jartavius Martin in the second round. Fuller brings versatility and dependability to his game, logging more than 1,000 snaps in each of the past two seasons with the ability to play on either side out wide or in the slot.
That said, with how expensive this defensive front is now that Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne are earning more than $40 million annually combined, and with edge defenders Montez Sweat and Chase Young entering contract years, the NFL’s No. 6 defense in expected points allowed per play in 2022 can’t pay everyone.
Sweat: After paying both Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen, there is still room to lock Sweat into a multi-year extension. As expensive as the trio will be, odds are the San Francisco 49ers will be spending more on their three-headed monster of Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave and Arik Armstead. The key here, if Washington wants to get this done, is to sign the dotted line before Bosa signs with San Francisco, Brian Burns signs with the Carolina Panthers, Rashan Gary potentially signs with the Packers and Josh Allen potentially signs with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It may be tough to bridge that gap if talks aren’t already fairly advanced.
Curl: We wrote up a full analysis and contract projection for Curl here, and given the discount that often comes with Day 3 draft picks, he may be smart to keep around if the two sides can agree to a deal that works for both parties. Curl has been a consistently reliable playmaker since he was drafted, and his progression and success story could be a great one to keep around to motivate and inspire the players to come over the next few years who will be fighting for roster spots at the outset.
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