The Washington Commanders made one of the biggest offseason moves last week, agreeing to a new four-year pact with defensive tackle Daron Payne. The Commanders slapped Payne with the franchise tag last month, and many believed he’d play the 2023 season under the tag, partly due to Washington’s ownership situation.
Instead, the Commanders got a deal done, with Payne earning up to $90 million over four years, with $60 million guaranteed. It was the second-richest contract ever for a defensive tackle.
Payne was happy, and so were the Commanders.
Head coach Ron Rivera said multiple times during the season and after the season how much the Commanders wanted to sign Payne to a long-term deal. He also echoed the same sentiments to Payne.
In an interview with SiriusXM NFL radio recently, Payne talked about how the deal to re-sign with the Commanders came together.
“After the season, Coach [Rivera] came up to me and told me he gonna do whatever he can to get me paid this year,” Payne said. “So I believed him, and we had a conversation not too long ago, right before they franchise tagged me. And they told me, ‘don’t worry about the tag; we just doing that to get you paid.’ And he held up to his word, and they got the deal done.”
Was he ever concerned he wouldn’t get a long-term deal done?
“I wasn’t concerned because after they tagged me, they came back with a really strong offer to start the negotiations up, so I was excited about it and knew we were going to be able to come to terms.”
Kudos to Rivera for prioritizing Payne and ensuring the Commanders kept one of their top players around for the next few years.