With the signing of RT Tyre Phillips on Saturday, the Commanders have reached the 91-player offseason limit
On Saturday, the Commanders announced the signing of veteran 6th-year right tackle Tyre Phillips.
Tyre Phillips has been in the NFL for five years, playing right tackle for two different teams, spending two years with the Ravens and three with three with the Giants, meaning that he is very familiar with Washington’s offensive line coach, Bobby Johnson.
Per Pro Football Reference, Phillips has been active for 47 games in his career, starting 28 of them. He has started at least one game in every season of his career, but has also spent time on practice squads in each of the past 3 seasons. There have been no reports about the value of Phillips’ contract, but it seems likely to be another Vet Benefit contract (one-year minimum dollar deal).
The signing of Phillips brings the roster to the 91-man offseason limit.
That number does not include Sam Cosmi, who suffered an ACL tear during the January playoffs and is expected to open training camp on the PUP list, but it does include T.J. Maguranyaanga, a former rugby player who joined the Washington roster via the International Player Pathway (IPP) program. Players who join the roster via the IPP program do not count towards the usual 90-man offseason roster limit, which is why Washington can carry 91 players.
This does not mean that Adam Peters and the other decision-makers for the Commanders are finished improving the roster; they can still sign new players, but from this point forward, each new signing has to be paired with another transaction to open a roster spot. That could mean releasing or trading a player, or it could mean moving a player to the PUP, NFI or other reserve list that removes him from the active roster.
We will, of course, continue to update the offseason roster, which is presented in the form of a depth chart, as changes are made, but we now have what appears to be a fully-formed training camp roster.
The updated offseason roster/depth chart
The numbers that appear beside some players’ names are 2025 cap hits per Over the Cap. I have not included cap hits below $1.5m.
The Commanders currently have 42 defensive players, 46 offensive players and 3 special teams players.
Please note that assigned positions and color coding are my own personal opinions. They do not necessarily represent the thinking of Washington’s coaches or front office, nor are they necessarily consistent with fan consensus. This chart represents my personal interpretation, and may not reflect the thoughts of other writers on Hogs Haven. Finally, when it comes to backup players, I don’t put much effort into making sure that they are on the right or left or behind the specific player that they backup. I mostly just try to fit everyone on the chart efficiently as the goal is to visually represent the offseason roster and not predict regular season usage.
There are a number of position groups that have major questions that will not be answered until the second preseaon game or later. Most prominent among these is the offensive line where the only two positions that seem to have clear starters are center and left tackle. Last year’s starting left guard, Nick Allegretti could hold onto that role or could be relegated to backup duty. The team’s starting right guard, Sam Cosmi, tore his ACL in the playoffs and it’s impossible to know when he’ll play again, but it won’t be soon. Three players — Andrew Wylie, Brandon Coleman and 1st round draft pick Josh Conerly — have the opportunity to earn the starting right tackle role, but each could also compete for either starting guard spot. I have taken the optimistic view of the most recent addition, Tyre Phillips, using a color code that lists him as a borderline backup/starter rather than a pure backup, in part because of the open competition that seems to be on offer at right tackle this offseason.
Normally, I don’t list drafted rookies ahead of established veterans, but in this case, I plugged Conerly in as the starting right tackle, with Coleman shown as the permanent starting LG ahead of Allegretti and Wylie as the temporary stand-in for the injured Cosmi. This is not a prediction; it’s simply the final result of my efforts to graphically represent the team’s roster in the most meaningful way with each player listed only one time. We likely won’t know until late-August or early September which of these players will fill in the starting and backup roles — as we all know, AP and DQ are all about competition.
Cornerback offers similar challenges since AP and DQ have both been vague about the plans for Mike Sainristil, Jonathan Jones, and Noah Igbinoghene. AP was clear that the rookie Trey Amos will play on the outside, but he’ll have to earn a starting role in camp if he can.
In any event, a lot of the fun between now and the start of the season will be watching the training camp battles that will answer all of the current roster questions.
We won’t have to wait for training camp for the process to begin, however. The offseason conditioning program for veterans began on April 22nd and rookie minicamp runs from May 8-11.
Salary Cap update
Over the Cap currently estimates the 2025 available cap space for the Commanders to be $22.9m, which is the 19th most (14th least) in the league. This amount is sufficient to sign any veteran player(s) they may want to add before training camp.
Scary Terry
The one major outstanding contract issue at the moment is an extension for Terry McLaurin; the 7th-year veteran is in the final year of his contract. Adam Peters has said that the team expects to get a deal done with McLaurin this offseason.
Veterans acquired in trade
It appears that LT Laremy Tunsil, who was acquired in a trade from the Texans in March and who has two years remaining on his current contract, will play the 2025 season on the existing deal. Among the three players acquired in trades by Adam Peters, Tunsil and CB Marshon Lattimore are under contract through 2026 while WR Deebo Samuel is under contract only for the ‘25 season.
Projections for 2026
Because of the Commanders’ heavy reliance on one-year contracts in signing veteran players, the roster and salary cap outlook for 2026 is similar to that of the past two seasons. Over the Cap currently projects the Commanders to have just 29 current veteran players under contract in 2026, with available cap space projected at $86.3m. If we add, say, 6 rookies (the 5 draft picks + 1 UDFA), then the number of players expected to be under contract would rise to 35 and the amount of expected available cap space would drop to around $80m.
Washington Commanders 2026 draft picks
With only five draft picks in hand for 2026 (the team’s 2nd & 4th rounders have been traded away), it seems reasonable to believe that next year’s roster-building efforts by Adam Peters will again rely heavily on veteran free agency and salary cap resources.