Daily Slop – 20 Feb 25 – Scouting Combine is next week; NFL free agency two weeks later

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders

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Commanders.com

2025 Combine breakdown | Offense

Washington’s positions of need: WR, RB, OL

Terry McLaurin and Luke McCaffrey are the only two receivers guaranteed to return to the roster in 2025. Washington will certainly try to bring in new faces and possibly re-sign some of their wideouts from a year ago, but it could still do with adding another player through the draft. The Commanders tried to find a big-bodied deep threat last season and had some success with Noah Brown and Dyami Brown. Both are slated to be free agents, so perhaps Washington could find a long-term answer with the 29th pick or wait until Day 2 to do so.

Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler are both under contract for 2025, so there isn’t an immediate need for the Commanders to address the top of the depth chart at the position. However, with Jeremy McNichols set to leave the roster in March, there is room for the team to find a No. 3 option. Fortunately, this year’s draft class is deep at running back. There could be a change-of-pace player as late as Day 3 who could be an immediate contributor.

The Commanders have an obvious need at guard with Sam Cosmi set to miss at least a portion of the regular season while recovering from his ACL injury. Even if that weren’t the case, though, it would be beneficial to find more depth in the interior. That doesn’t necessarily mean finding a Day 1 starter; they could also find a player in the second or third rounds who may turn into a regular in the lineup after developing for a season or two.

One player to watch: Tre Harris, WR, Ole Miss

Harris put up at least 900 yards in his final three seasons at Ole Miss while also scoring 25 touchdowns for the Rebels. He’s tall (6-foot-3) and has good size (210 pounds) to be a successful NFL receiver and knows how to get behind coverage with his speed. He’s had a history of injuries over the last two seasons, though, so he’ll need to prove that he can remain healthy for the length of an NFL season.

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ESPN

2025 NFL offseason: Salary cap questions for all 32 teams

Should the Commanders spend big this offseason to maximize Jayden Daniels’ rookie deal?

Yeah, this is the time to strike. Only the Patriots and Raiders currently project to have more cap space this offseason than Washington (roughly $78 million). That’s not to say the Commanders should spend willy-nilly, but trying to maximize the quarterback’s rookie deal is absolutely the way to go. They need to continue to work on the offensive line, particularly to the extent that it helps them establish a more reliable run game. And they could use another playmaking wide receiver.

But the Commanders already have stars on offense and could really stand to add a big contributor or two on defense. They were wise last year to bring in seasoned Super Bowl-winning veterans like Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz on one-year deals to help them establish the culture. Do they bring those guys back, or do they look for younger, more long-term options in free agency at the positions some of those veterans played last year?

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Bleeding Green Nation

What should the Eagles do with Dallas Goedert?

Eagles roster outlook: Tight end

OUTLOOK: Dating back to 2020, Goedert has played in 62 out of 84 regular season games (73.8%). In other words, he’s averaged 4.4 missed games per season in that stretch. There is real concern about his durability/availability. And he just turned 30 last month. But Goedert has been an efficient and effective target when he is healthy. Goedert is also the Eagles’ best run blocking tight end by far. The Eagles can designate him as a post-June 1 cut to clear over $6.6 million in cap space later this offseason. They could also try to trade him after June 1 for those savings. But perhaps the Eagles would be best served to just ride it out for one more year before Goedert enters free agency in March 2026. If that’s the case, they should still invest in a potential replacement plan this offseason.

MY TAKE: Stay.

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Pro Football Rumors

NFL Considering Expanded Replay Assist

The NFL expanded their replay assist process last offseason. Previously, replay officials only had the authority to weigh in on “administrative matters or during formal reviews” (per Anthony DiBona of ProFootballNetwork.com). The league took it a step forward in 2024, allowing these replay officials to assist their on-field counterparts with real-time corrections (assuming there’s “clear and indisputable video evidence”).

In addition to standard corrections like ball placement, the NFL also allowed these replay officials to correct on-field officials on penalties like roughing the passer, late hits out of bounds, and intentional grounding. Volin expects the league to take it a step further for 2025, with the writer believing replay assist will also include “calls such as facemasks and QB slides.”

The league’s new dynamic kickoff rule was only approved for the 2024 season, but there’s an expectation that it will be officially entered into the rule book for the 2025 campaign. As Volin notes, the NFL’s 33-percent return rate was an improvement on previous years but still not high enough. The league could make some adjustments to increase that number, like pushing back the kickoff line from the 35 yard line to the 30 yard line.

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Washington Post (paywall)

The NFL’s salary cap is set to take another big jump

The cap, which grew by a record $30.6 million from 2023 to 2024, is expected to rise by over $20 million this year, according to a memo the NFL sent to teams.

The NFL’s salary cap is set to increase by more than many teams had expected, providing them with additional financial flexibility as they prepare to construct their rosters for next season and free agency nears.

The league informed teams in a memo that next season’s cap will fall between $277.5 million and $281.5 million per team. That’s up from $255.4 million per team for the 2024 season.

The NFL told teams in the memo that it expects to finalize the salary cap figure for the 2025 season next week via deliberations with the NFL Players Association.

“Keep in mind that this range is subject to change based on further negotiations with the NFL Players Association,” the league wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.

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Over the Cap

2025 Salary Cap Estimate Increased by $7 Million

The league is still dealing with Covid fallout from the past which has made projections much harder, but at some point I would expect the cap to increase at a rate that would be close to $15 million a year once everything settles back down to normal.

In the grand scheme of things the cap being a few million higher really doesn’t mean much. Nobody’s buying power changes that much and everyone still is in the same relative position as they were before the memo went out. It is beneficial for teams that have a bad salary cap position for 2025 (Saints, Browns, etc…) since those teams are very tight on the cap and may be helpful for teams who have extensions on the horizon that require the use of cap room (Brock Purdy for example), but I would not expect things to change much for free agents.

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