Commanders depth chart and salary cap update: Washington’s roster reaches 70 players

There are still some holes to fill in the draft, which is less than 4 weeks away

With veteran players set to arrive for the first time this offseason at the Commanders practice and training facilities tomorrow (April 2nd) for voluntary workouts, today felt like a good day to update the team’s roster in the form of a depth chart and to update the estimated available cap space with some explanatory notes.

As things stand at the moment, the team has 70 players on the roster. There are 32 players on defense, 34 on offense, and (for the moment) 4 special teams specialists.

UPDATED DEPTH CHART

The numbers that appear beside some players’ names are 2024 cap hits per Over the Cap.

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.

---

I want to offer a few notes of explanation about the chart. For further explanations that have been given in previous iterations of the chart, feel free to CLICK HERE and look through prior articles.

Special Teams

I noted in recent recent versions of the depth chart that long snapper Tucker Addington remains with the team despite the fact that Tyler Ott has been signed to a 3-year deal at the same position. I don’t know why Addington hasn’t been released by the Commanders, but he remains listed on the team website, and Over the Cap still carries him on the roster as well. Therefore, I continue to keep him on the depth chart as one of the 70 players under contract.

Free agents added since the last roster update

• CB Noah Igbinoghene
• CB Michael Davis
• CB James Pierre
• OT Cornelius Lucas (re-signed from 2023 roster)
• C/G Michael Deiter
• WR Olamide Zaccheaus

---

Shaka Toney
It’s also worth noting that Over the Cap no longer lists DE Shaka Toney as one of the salaries counting against the Commanders salary cap; OTC has moved him to the suspended list since the last roster update article.

In April 2023, Toney was suspended indefinitely, but for a minimum of one year, for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. Given the changes to the policy that the league has made since that time, it seems likely that the league will reinstate Toney if he applies. It is, of course, unclear whether Dan Quinn and Adam Peters will want to keep him if he is reinstated.

I do not have Toney listed on the depth chart above or counted in the 70-man roster.

---

9 Draft picks

If no veterans are added to the roster between now and March 27th (and, of course, some more could be), after adding the team’s expected 9 drafted rookies, the Commanders will have 79 players at the end of the 7th round . A full training camp roster, of course, comprises 90 players.

UDFAs

As it stands now, the front office would be able to sign 11 undrafted college free agents, which is a pretty typical number for an NFL training camp. Like everything roster & cap related this time of year, this estimate is tentative and highly fluid — easily affected by changing circumstances — but we’re starting to have a fair idea of the composition of the training camp roster. That vision will come into sharp focus in the first week of May.

Estimated Salary Cap available

Over the Cap currently estimates that the Commanders have $43.57m in available cap space. This number includes 69 of the 70 names on the depth chart above, missing only Olamide Zaccheaus, Washington’s most recent signing. Zaccheaus was on a vet minimum contract with the Eagles last season, so I don’t expect his contract to move the needle by more than a few hundred thousand dollars, which amounts to a few decimal points, whenever it is entered into the OTC database.

Rookie Pool estimate

As always, the team needs to reserve money for the draft class, which is currently expected to comprise 9 rookies. Since the team has signed over 20 free agents so far this offseason, the math has changed slightly since the last time I detailed it in an article.

The Commanders now need to reserve $8.8m for the draft class.

Here’s the math:

• That adjustment (for drafted rookies) drops the available cap space from $43.57m to around $34.8m.
• Every NFL team needs a ‘contingency’ to allow the team to sign injury replacements in-season. In 2024, I estimate that the team needs to reserve about $6.5m, which would drop the money available for free agency to about $28.3m.

There will be many other adjustments to the estimated cap space, which will include accounting for the entire 53-man roster and practice squad and other adjustments, between now and the end of the season, but for now, if the team doesn’t sign any more high-dollar free agents, my best-guesstimation is that the team can be expected to roll over around $20-25m at the end of the season. Any cap space that is rolled over will be added to the Commanders’ 2025 salary cap. Of course, as is true of most salary cap numbers, this is a highly conditional estimate that may be subject to dramatic changes between now and the end of the regular season.

---