The Washington Commanders have two games left to tackle before attention finally turns to the 2026 offseason. And based on what’s transpired for head coach Dan Quinn’s squad throughout a disastrous campaign, some choices look more difficult than others.
General manager Adam Peters needs another roster overhaul. He’s got the most pending free agents of any club around the league. Not everyone will come back, but there is one no-brainer decision that didn’t look this easy once upon a time.
When the Commanders signed edge rusher Jacob Martin to a one-year deal in free agency, fans didn’t quite know what to expect. He’s flashed promise at various stops, but he never did enough to solidify a starting role long-term. After a strong summer, he made the 53-man roster, but most experts thought this would be as a rotational backup and nothing more.
Jacob Martin’s projected price tag leaves Commanders with a simple decision
Injuries to key personnel thrust Martin into a more prominent role. It was a journey into the unknown for the 2018 sixth-round pick out of Temple, but he’s coped remarkably well under challenging circumstances.
Martin has 5.5 sacks, 39 total pressures, 22 quarterback hurries, and 17 run stops to his name with two games remaining. He’s logged 60 percent of the team’s defensive snaps, and even though he’s a little undersized, the effort and explosiveness have provided Washington with a welcome boost.
With the player out of contract this offseason, the Commanders would be wise to keep him around. Spotrac projects the veteran to get another one-year, $2.77 million deal, which is slightly up from the $2.4 million he’s counting against Washington’s salary cap in 2025. He might want a little more, but it seems feasible if Peters believes he’s worth keeping around.
The Commanders need to urgently address their edge-rushing room. Peters has not invested in it correctly over the last two years, and it shows. That has to change next spring. Still, there is plenty of merit to keeping Martin around as a dependable rotational piece if the money suits all parties.
Martin may have hit his ceiling this season, which is fine. The Commanders wouldn’t need much more from him if the required reinforcements came into the building. But after emerging as a shining light amid the abject misery the campaign has become, keeping him around seems like a straightforward move.
What comes after that is down to Martin. He won’t want to give up his starting position without a fight. If he has to, then there’s nothing to suggest that he cannot be a decent contributor a little further down the depth chart.
Time will tell on all fronts.