Contract details for the Washington Commanders’ offseason roster additions (Part 3)
What contracts were signed by Commanders free agents this offseason?
Commanders cap situation
All salary cap information is always an estimate based on evolving data. I routinely rely on Over the Cap for cap data. It is important to understand that available cap space is a constantly moving target that is potentially affected by each new player signed, bonuses earned, and contract restructures.
At the moment, having accounted for all 74 players that the Commanders currently have under contract for the 2025 season, OTC estimates that Washington has available cap space of $26.33m.
OTC also projects Effective Cap Space (the amount available after draft picks are signed) at $24.02m.
There should be little concern about next year, as OTC currently estimates that the Commanders will have $99.6m in available cap space for the 2026 league year. Of course, that is only for 28 players. By the time we get to free agency next March, the Commanders will likely have 35 or more players under contract for 2026, and far less than $99m, but Adam Peters should have plenty of salary cap space to work his magic again a year hence.
Below, you will find contract details for 28 veteran players signed, extended, or acquired by trade this offseason.
Basically, Mariota got exactly what we were told he would get — a one year deal worth just a tick under $8m. He should get every penny of it.
Tweets about this contract last week billed it as a 3-year, $21m deal.
It is, but the Commanders are actually committed to much less. With no guaranteed money in the final year of the contract, this looks a lot like a 2-year contract worth $12.5m, with an optional 3rd year valued at $8.5m.
Bates’ cash flows on this contract will be very uneven:
The Commanders can cut or trade Bates after 2026 having paid him $12.5m — an average of $6.25m per year for two years of play.
CB Jonathan Jones
Jones won’t be getting cut with $4.5m guaranteed, but it is curious to see $1.5m workout bonus, which is huge. When Washington relies on workout bonuses at all, they typically range between $100k-$250k. I’ve never seen one above $500k that I can recall.
I googled and found this snippet from June 2024: “Jones has been sporadically in attendance for OTAs.”
It looks like the Commanders believe in Jones enough to guarantee that he’ll get paid, and that they believe in the importance of their offseason program enough to financially incentivize him to attend.
DE Deatrich Wise
This is a pretty strong contract, with a $1m signing bonus and fully guaranteed salary, with upside for another $900,000 in roster and workout bonuses, indicating that the front office expects Wise to make the team. Total 2025 cap hit is projected at $3.16m.
In 2024, the Commanders signed three receivers — Noah Brown, Olamide Zaccheaus, Jamison Crowder — to contracts of ~$1.26m each.
It appears that the Commanders definitely wanted Noah Brown back, as he more than doubled the value of his contract this year to $3m, with a signing bonus and salary guarantees adding up to $2.47m. They clearly have some concerns about his availability, with $680k, which is a relatively large amount, earnable as per-game roster bonuses.
