![\"Daron](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1433227843-e1783643915510.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Washington Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne. <\/p>\n
The NFC East Division was represented well in ESPN\u2019s annual Top 10 position rankings for defensive tackle.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> saw both of their starting defensive tackles make the Top 10<\/a>, with Jalen Carter<\/a> at No. 3 and Jordan Davis<\/a> at No. 10. Another former Eagle, New England Patriots<\/a> defensive lineman Milton Williams<\/a>, came in at No. 9.<\/p>\n The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> also had both of their starting defensive tackles represented, with NFL All-Pro Quinnen Williams at No. 6 and 2-time Pro Bowler Kenny Clark<\/a> receiving votes.<\/p>\n Another defensive tackle the Cowboys just traded away this offseason, Osi Odighizuwa, also received votes with his new team, the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>.<\/p>\n The New York Giants<\/a> were also represented \u2014 sort of \u2014 with former Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence<\/a> at No. 7 after he was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> in April after he was a 5-time NFL All-Pro and 3-time Pro Bowler in his 1st 7 seasons with the Giants.<\/p>\n The Washington Commanders<\/a>, though? They got nothing. Not a player in the Top 10. Not a player in the honorable mentions. Not a player receiving votes. In al, 19 players were represented.<\/p>\n Just none from Washington.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not for lack of trying \u2014 the Commanders are spending bigger at defensive tackle than at any other position on the field with Daron Payne<\/a> (4 years, $90 million) and Javon Kinlaw (3 years, $45 million).<\/p>\n Commanders Might Re-Up With Daron Payne<\/p>\n Payne is coming off arguably the worst season of his career, which didn\u2019t stop\u00a0Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Moton<\/a>\u00a0from saying a contract extension for the 2018 1st-round pick (No. 13 overall) is the most important contract move<\/a> the Commanders can make this offseason.<\/p>\n \u201cOne way or another, the Commanders should address Payne\u2019s contract situation,\u201d Moton wrote on June 20. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t been able to match the pass-rushing production from his 2022 Pro Bowl campaign. Washington can attempt to trade him and save $22.4 million in cap space, cut him to save $17.4 million or sign him to an extension that lowers his $28 million cap number for the year. In an ideal scenario for both sides, the Commanders retain Payne at a lower cost and secure his short-term future in contract season.\u201d<\/p>\n Pro Football Focus listed Payne among its\u00a0Top 15 NFL Trade Candidates<\/a>\u00a0in January \u2014 shortly after the Commanders finished a 5-12 regular season after going 12-5 and making it to the NFC Championship Game in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Commanders are a team under heightened pressure in 2026 following a 5-12 campaign this past season,\u201d PFF\u2019s Bradley Locker wrote. \u201cWashington must improve its defense after ranking 31st\u00a0in EPA per play allowed, which might include trading Payne up front. The longtime Washington standout has declined of late, playing three straight seasons with an overall PFF grade below 61.5 \u2026 Payne is not performing to the level of his lucrative contract. Now 28 and a free agent after next season, the Commanders may shed some payroll and pursue younger upgrades.\u201d<\/p>\n Javon Kinlaw Called NFL\u2019s Worst Free-Agent Signing<\/p>\n Pro Football Focus singled Kinlaw out<\/a> as the NFL\u2019s worst free-agent signing in the 2025 cycle.\u00a0Over the Cap\u2019s Jason Fitzgerald<\/a> gave the Commanders an \u201cF\u201d grade for the Kinlaw deal, which included $30 million in guaranteed money<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMost contracts in the\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0have some level of justification\u2026this does not,\u201d Fitzgerald wrote. \u201cThe Jets<\/a> signing Kinlaw at $7.5M was a bad one last year and this just blows that away. 3 years, $45 million with $30 million full at signing. Insane. Teams that do stuff like this because they have cap room often wind up a mess in a year or two because the cap room is gone and they wonder why they have some of these contracts on the books. On paper this is the worst signing of the early free agency period.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Washington Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne. The NFC East Division was represented well in ESPN\u2019s annual Top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,855,111,2480],"class_list":["post-941403","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-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116893381382540308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941403","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=941403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}