The 5 O’Clock Club: the case for trading away Terry McLaurin and Jonathan Allen
If Adam Peters really wants to strip the roster down to the bare bones to rebuild it in his image, then 2025 will be another season of dramatic roster change. But with Jayden Daniels in Year 2, and the rest of his Commanders draft class established in their roles, next year’s free agency won’t be focused on a lot of 1-year mid-tier veterans to build a temporary platform. Next offseason, Peters will select his second draft class, and he will need to make some significant free agent acquisitions designed to propel the team towards playoff contention. I think he’ll also have an eye on making the roster a bit younger so that 2026 can be a breakthrough year with a roster set up for sustained success.
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In the effort to make all of this a reality, Peters may want to make a couple of deals that won’t be popular with fans; that is, he may find it necessary to trade away Jonathan Allen and Terry McLaurin, each of whom will be 30 years old in the 2025 season, and each in his final year under contract with the Commanders. McLaurin will have a $25m cap hit, and trading him would add $13.8m in available cap space. Allen will have a $23m cap hit, and trading him would add $17m to the available cap space.
Compensation
Of course, talk of trades always has to include talk of compensation. Nearly every fan thinks that players on his or her favorite team will bring more in trade than they actually will, and most underestimate what will be required to get a player away from another team. Age, contract value & duration, and on-field production are all factors in a deal, as well as the needs of the respective teams.
To provide some context, I looked at the player trades made in the 2024 offseason and picked a few that seemed relevant; they are summarized in the chart below:
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