{"id":896694,"date":"2026-05-20T20:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/896694\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T20:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:57:17","slug":"why-washington-commanders-should-add-veteran-pass-rusher-a-j-epenesa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/896694\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Washington Commanders should add veteran pass rusher A.J. Epenesa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: The Commanders remain flush with salary-cap space entering the meat of this offseason program. That doesn\u2019t mean general manager Adam Peters has to spend, but he\u2019s got options should he feel the need to fortify his already revamped roster. We\u2019ll do some spending for him, suggesting some street free agents who could help Washington in this weeklong series. We\u2019ve contemplated adding receiver Stefon Diggs<\/a> and cornerback Rasul Douglas<\/a>. In this edition, we discuss whether edge rusher A.J. Epenesa could help Washington out. <\/p>\n

The Commanders were determined to revamp their pass rush. General manager Adam Peters\u2019 actions made that clear, with a major investment in a group of edge rushers.<\/p>\n

He spent huge on Odafe Oweh, to the tune of $100 million over four years<\/a>. Then came K\u2019Lavion Chaisson on a one-year deal. And then Charles Omenihu.<\/p>\n

Joshua Josephs was added in the NFL draft.<\/p>\n

Do the Commanders really need one more new edge rusher? Why the heck not?<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also just 27 years old, in contrast to most guys currently available, who are in their 30s and\/or near the end of their career. While he wasn\u2019t as productive in 2025, he had 6 or 6.5 sacks in each of the past three seasons. For the Commanders, every little bit helps.<\/p>\n

While his run defense grades (per Pro Football Focus<\/a>) aren\u2019t great, he could provide 400-ish defensives snaps as a situational pass rusher in sub packages. The Commanders probably won\u2019t need any more than that with their rotation, featuring the names listed above and Dorance Armstrong.<\/p>\n

Let competition reign as the Commanders edge rushers battle for snaps in the regular season rotation.<\/p>\n

While this is a story pushing for a possible Commanders move, his price would have to be right. He signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Bills<\/a> in 2024, but a contract for half that, maybe less, could bring him into the mix.<\/p>\n

Washington surely doesn\u2019t want a late add taking developmental snaps from Josephs<\/a>, but goal is to have the deepest and most complete group of pass rushers available adding experienced depth to the group certainly can\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: The Commanders remain flush with salary-cap space entering the meat of this offseason program. That doesn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,855,111,6220,2480],"class_list":["post-896694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washington-commanders-free-agency","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}