CLEARING HOUSE: Why the Commanders Release Marshon Lattimore & SLASH Cap for 2026 SURGE

The commanders clearing the books and there's got to be a reason for it maybe even three reasons.

You are locked on commanders, your daily podcasts on the Washington commanders, part of the

Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

This is Lockdown Commanders, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast

Network and I'm David Harrison, your guy on the ground, credential member of the media,

covering the Washington commanders for WSA 9 also writing for commanders on SI here with

you five days a week and coming up on today's episode, March on ladder more isn't gone yet,

but the writing isn't even just on the wall anymore and we dive into some of the possibilities

of what might happen starting next week, but first our mock draft Monday, our first mock

draft Monday of March is here and it's raining, defense and trenches all that coming up

on today's episode of Lockdown Commanders, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team

every day and today's episode is brought to you by Fandall Fandall is giving you a way to turn

that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost

head to fandall.com to get started today, it is mock draft Monday, first mock draft Monday

of the new month and here in March, we're going to start it all off by going David Bailey

Drusher at a Texas Tech with the seventh pick in the first round, we're going to follow that up

in the third round, number 71 overall, Dailin Everett, cornerback at Georgia, pick number 145,

Armee Reed Adams, guard at a Texas A&M, pick number 186, John Michael Gillenborg,

out of Wyoming, the tight end, number 223, Zayn Durant, defensive lineman, out of Penn State,

that is our first mock draft of the new month here, March, 2026,

and I'm going to say how we got to that point here, a little bit of a mock off season,

but not a true blue mock off season because I'm kind of manipulating the timeline here just a little

bit. So we'll talk about that as we go through it. But first and foremost, looking at the roster and

the roster changes. And so last time we did one of these mock drafts, Andrew Wiley is coming back

on a two-year deal, Nick Allegretti is staying with the team. He was already under contract for

2026, but now he is staying through 2026, has his contract extended into 2027. Don't have the

financials solidified on either contract. However, both are expected to, well, Andrew Wiley,

it's a low cap hit. Nick Allegretti had about a $7 million cap hit. We expect that cap hit

to go down. Marshawn Lathamore is on his way out with a full $18.5 million cap hit off the books

that is something that we learned on Monday, confirmed on Monday, and we're going to dive into

deeper here at the end of this episode. Don't expect Debo Samuel back. Tyler Beatish was released

last week, or at least the decision was made, I should say, to release him. I don't believe that

move has been made official yet, but it's coming, saving the Washington commanders anywhere from

like two to eight million dollars on the cap, depending on the type of release it is. I do believe

it's going to be a post June 1st release, which would actually save the commanders about eight

million dollars once June 1st comes. As of now, haven't heard anything on linebacker Bobby Wagner,

outside linebacker Von Miller, or defensive and D-tritch wise, among other players to believe

that they're going to come back. That's kind of the framework we're sticking with. Those are the

changes that have been confirmed. The rest of this stuff is kind of up in the air, so we're going to

leave it up in the air. Of course, we're looking to fill out rosters for offensive coordinator David

Blau and defensive coordinator Dorontay Jones to new guys to the current positions that necessarily

knew to the NFL, not new NFL coaching, although David Blau only entering his third year as an NFL

coach has been in the NFL as a player. So certainly more experience than that. Dorontay Jones has been

in the coaching business for quite a while now. First year as a defensive coordinator and a defensive

play collar with the David Blau offense. We expect the team to pivot away from the air raid,

more traditional, more balanced pro style system, lean on the run game a little bit, some some

feelings of Ben Johnson type of offense. Obviously, some Kevin O'Connell will be in there as well.

I don't think the offense is going to be completely devoid of trick plays and things like that,

but just a little bit more of a straightforward offense. There's some wide zone concepts and

things like that that we expect. Move Jay Daniels out of the pocket. Use play action out of

under center type of are using under center type of stuff. Still going to see some shotgun,

Dan Quinn told me last week, especially on like third and longs and stuff like that. Things that

Jayden can still do very well, but Dan thinks that in the early parts of the early downs first

down second down, that's when you're really going to see the biggest difference between what Jayden

has been doing his first two years in the NFL and what he's going to do now on defense with

Dorontay Jones. Obviously, you're going to go back. You're going to go away from the Joe with Junior

system, even the really the Dan Quinn cover three system go to a more multiple look. Dorontay Jones

doesn't really want the three, four, four, three, whatever label he just he just knows that there's

seven gaps to fill. There's seven spaces to fill, seven man spacing and he wants to get there. What

did he say? He said, it's not how you start or it's how you finish. That's not exactly what he said.

I'm actually making this on a lot less impactful than what he said because what he said was pretty

cool. You're not going to get you're going to get more of the press match type cover style of

defense. So a lot of physical long activity from cornerbacks, things like that. Some personnel

shifts. I think we could be looking at again. I've kind of pitched the idea of Terry McClaren

moving more into the slot, kind of like Larry Fitzgerald did lay in his career, not just 100%

in the slot, right? But just more in the slot, like not 70% 77% outside the left side extra

receiver alignment, but maybe you know, 60% left side outside alignment. And then you got like

20% slot and then 20%, 25% whatever the whatever the rest of the math is. I forgot the number is up,

but you get the ideas, split it up a little bit. He's still going to play actually something to be

outside left quite a bit, but mix it up a little bit more, get him more inside, maybe not even 60%,

maybe like 50% extra receiver alignment. And then 25% slot, 25% Z things like that. A lot of

emotion, a lot of things like that. Also, Javon Kinla from my conversation with Dan Quinn,

kind of mentioned Javon Kinla playing that big end position with Dorontay Jones's defense. So

if that's the case, then Javon Kinla more of a defensive insight, something that we talked about

on Lockdown Commanders, a good amount last all last season, didn't really get to see it that much.

Potentially with Dorontay Jones, you might see that, which means that inside defense,

a tackle, you at Doront Payne, you got Johnny Newton, and then we're going to see what they decide

to add. And we're going to add some things to that group here in this mock draft and mock off season

as it were. Trey Amos is basically your number one and your only outside corner back at this time.

If Mikey Sanders still stays inside, which I think under Dorontay Jones, he will stay inside.

And I think he'll be used much more effectively and it'll allow him to be much better at the position.

And then Ben Sinett, I don't know that Ben Sinett's going to be really this kind of traditional

tie then talking to Adam Peters and Dan Quinn and Indianapolis. They kind of acknowledge Ben Sinett

in Zach Erts, not the same type of players. Well, John Bates is more of his Zach Erts than anything else.

So like when you look at Ben Sinett, I think you might get to see a little bit more that Kyle used

Chuckie and type of element to the Washington Mayor's offense. And that means not necessarily

traditional tight end for Ben, but Silla Weapons, still someone that can impact the offense.

And certainly have his role. It's just now it's going to be just a little bit different. So I think

that when you look at those potential positions shifts and you look at what the Washington

Mayor is expected to shift to schematically, we have a nice little list of things that we want to

hit, including some positions that might get spent premium money on some mid-level money. And of

course, those draft picks that we've already talked about now we'll get into that phase of the

operation dive into some free agents that we think might be joining the Washington commanders

here as early as next week, followed by the draft picks. And then we'll see where the roster

also needs to be bolstered by some mid-level signings as we continue on today's episode of

Lockdown Commanders part of the Lockdown podcast network your team every day.

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special thank you goes out to you for coming through for yet another episode today free agency is

just about here and of course locked on is going to be here with you every step of the way give one

month free of the all new every day or club with the code free agency no spaces all one word now through

March 15th go ad free keep the conversation going in discord and so much more locked on commanders

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that gives you the URL with the code already integrated so you just paste that bad boy into your browser

and you're good to go one month free of the everydayer club give it a try see if you like it if you

do stick around if you don't appreciate you giving it a shot. Continuing on now with our mock draft

Monday first mock draft Monday of the month of March we talked about the picks that or I showed you

already the picks that are coming but how we got there we had to reset the roster just a little bit

and now we have some clear objectives you got two open positions center and left guard on the

offense line defensive line except javon kinlaw is going to shift that defense attack will position

gets a little bit shake here not as as fully fleshed out while the edge actually gets a little bit

of a boost javon kinlaw playing the big edge kind of edge center run center on the heavy side of

things are the strong side of things dorns arm strong javante javante is coming back on the other

things like that we'll see how that turns out with their injuries and all these other things and

then of course some other players that potentially come in. So here's what I did with the remaining

positions of need right offense of line you need to receive her obviously outside of Terry McClaren

linebacker Bobby Wagner's not coming back which I'm not saying it's not but as of right now no

indication that he is or isn't so for we're just going to play the game that he isn't Marshall

Vladimir's out of the way like we had a lot of positions to fill so I went ahead and I allowed myself

to sign three premium free agents top dollar top of the list free agents as they stand right now

and of course tomorrow they could all get franchise tag best how the business works but at the time

of this recording they're all pending free agents and I took two positions on the offense in one

position on the defense it might be a little surprising because defense is certainly the side that

needs the most attention but this is going to free me up to spend more attention on the defense in

the draft so I went with center Tyler Linderbaum he's going to be their premier under center anchor

for the Washington commanders new offense wide zone system fits them well a high end market value

contract you're talking like four years a hundred million dollars some people think he could get

that up to twenty five million dollars per year number some don't but for a high end I that's

why I just went there just to just to cover the high end of things so I know that we're safe

I then went and linebacker Devon Lloyd length and speed is something that Dan Quinn said that he

wants Devon Lloyd got that the off-ball market position he's an experienced signal call signal

caller the best off-ball lineback on the fraygent market if he does indeed hit the free agent market

so pretty easy signing there we bolster the spine of the team you got a center you got a middle

linebacker you're starting to bolster the spine of your team then we're going to go wide receiver

we want to find a guy that if we're moving Terry into the slot that means sometimes we need

somebody to play that X but also it means sometimes Terry's going to be the X we need someone who

can play the slot or can play that Z so someone like Luke McCaffrey can play the slot some like

that so we need somebody with a little bit of versatility we're going wider receiver Joanne

Jennings San Francisco 49ers wider receiver currently projected to be conference agent

becomes your boundary X starter if you have Terry as you're starting slot whatever it is

again don't want to get it too buckled down into nomenclature and things like that

now he's an elite blocking wider receiver which is is absolutely necessary if you're going to run

some wide zones so I think he fits well with what the washer commanders are going to try to do

so those are three premium free agents and all the toll is going to run a little bit over 40

million dollars in the cap space this year but because of the releases because of the new contracts

you're starting off this whole shindig with almost 90 million dollars in cap space so now we've

taken that we're about 40 million down now you have to account for the draft pool and again we

have six draft picks here and we're going to estimate about 12 to 14 million dollars in the

rookie wage scale for the draft pool so we count for that obviously we're obviously right off

the top and again going back to our picks number seven first round David Bailey ed rusher at a

Texas tech the fastest edge in the group four five forty yard dash also through in a 10 foot nine

inch broad jump showing that powerful lower body which is what you want in your ed rusher

I was compared during the NFL network broadcast to Brian Burns who if you don't

aren't familiar with him he's a New York Giants past rusher previously with Carolina Panthers

Stanford grad the transfer to Texas tech and didn't miss a single rep in any combine drill David

Bailey showing the competitive nature that you want all the tools that you want and was actually

between him and Mansor to Lane my defense a back out of LSU for all of you during my love

fans he was already off the board wasn't available so a lot of guys Caleb downs you know things

like that David Bailey however when you look at the edge group and you look at the recent round of

testing at the sound and combine day it's David Bailey and then there's a very steep drop off

in speed and explosiveness from the lower body so we went ahead took advantage of him being there

took him at number seven we come back number 71 and we do address that cornerback position

dailant Everett cornerback out of Georgia ran an official four three eight forty so you know he's

got the speed he's about six one close to six two so you know he's got some length known as a big

game player he can play out he can play outside patience and pressure patience in press coverage

and doesn't get out shined even when he's outsized that makes sense come back number 145 and this

is where we hit the offense a little bit go interior offensive line army read Adams identified

during the broadcast as a day two sweet spot type of guy here we get him in day three we'll see

how that changes after the combine on these mock drafts but right here we get him on day three

number one eighty six we get John Michael Gillenberg tied in out of Wyoming a four six forty yard

dash fast enough to be a wide tight nine speed you know seam receiver type of guy but big enough frame

to be a blocker develop him behind John Bates see where we go from there zane Durant at two twenty three

demons alignment at a Penn State four seven five forty yard dash thirty four inch vertical

was interesting to learn about him during the NFL scouting combine that he's an aspiring professional

dietitian a really kind of cleaned up the way that he ate in order to help himself out physically

also you like that intelligence you like that consciousness about the body and all those things so

that's our draft class for this group so we go edge we get our edge we get our young edge there we

get our cornerback to come in it's it's a little bit dicey third round pick coming in having to

try to compete for that starting job maybe a guy like Jonathan Jones gets resigned or something like

that to hold that spot down in the meantime go interior offensive line tight and interior

defensive lines and Durant again he's he's our final pick raise the developmental guy so you're

not expecting to pencil him in now this is where we kind of shift time just a little bit and just

play the game a little bit here on this mock draft Monday episode now I want to take a look

where we are where we can still use some help I something we use some wide receiver help you got

Terry you got John Jennings you got Luke you got Jalen that's four guys you know what I mean we

haven't brought training Birx back in this scenario things like that because we just don't have a firm

grip of whether or not that's going to happen in reality right now and a week out we don't want to

play too many games of prediction so let's talk about guys that we know we're going to be available

Brandon Ayyuk is the guy that we know is going to be available high end deal for him once you get

to release you're talking $12 million primarily non guaranteed money and then you have the

opportunity to form a three headed monster with John Jennings Brandon Ayyuk and Terry McCloren

for not the type of money you would think it would cost to have that three headed monster however

if Brandon's injury is still you know being recovered from or he still needs time or it just

doesn't work out that non guaranteed contract allows you to move out of it if you need to

and you meanwhile still have Luke McCaffrey Jalen Lane things like that defensive tackle Javon

Hargary from Minnesota Vikings reports are if he can't be traded he's going to get released I think

I project probably about an $8 million high end contract off that release and then again we're

going high end here right he could be that anchor in the defensive line granted seems like 33

years old she's talking like a one year anchor not a long-term solution but just give us an answer

that doesn't have to be so that we don't have to necessarily be forced into going a certain

direction in April at the NFL draft you put Javon Hargrave in there with Doran Payne Javon Kinlaw

is the big edge Johnny Newton has a three tech and you bring in Zane Doran as developmental interior

defensive lineman behind them I think it's a really good start to rebuilding your defensive line

running back or shot white we know that he has interest in coming to Washington he fits the

three down back mold he's a good blocker good receiver veteran one cut type of player who's

not going to break the bank Chris Rodriguez Jr. he's the one that I want to do a resigning with but

we're not really resigning it's an original town original round tender as an exclusive or as a

restrictive for agent my apologies it's going to cost about three million dollars against salary cap

which is a very good price for running back as proven capable the way that Chris has and then

kickers and Gonzalez coming in as well to to to bring some competition bringing a couple kickers

to get some competition and in total you're looking at spending about 28 to 32 million dollars

which still leaves the Washington commanders with about 20 million dollars roughly in cap space

to do whatever else they want and whatever else they want we're going to use some hindsight and

we're going to go ahead and look at some scenarios where they could clean up a little bit of my work

here as we wrap up this episode of Lockdown Commanders part of Lockdown podcast network your team

every day. Today's episode of Lockdown Commanders also brought to you in part by game time we live in

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$20 off download game time today wrapping up this first mock draft Monday episode of Lockdown

Commanders in the month of March so we've run down our list of premium free agents our draft picks

here on this mock draft Monday and we're going to use a little bit of hindsight with the money left

over where are some position groups that we didn't impact nearly as much as we wanted to

that we could potentially use that money to make an impact now that we kind of have this ability

and I think that at the tight end position you could look at spending about $20 million

up to $20 million a cap space comfortably for the wash manors compared to what we already did

as they are likely in someone 10 to 12 million dollars coming off the Baltimore Ravens organization

definitely has the receiver upside I don't know he has the blocking upside although his blocking

has gotten better every year of his career but that's an option right there safety Brian Cook from

the Kansas City Chiefs is someone you can potentially look at had what most people call a career

year only a 5.6% missed tackle rates plays as a physical free safety but also has that deep

safety ability to him so they want to move Juan Martin down into the box a little bit maybe

as a backup slot or something like that Brian Cook would allow them to do that you also have

other players safety Kobe Bryant from Super Bowl winning Seattle Seahawks a versatile type of

player for interception seven pass breakups in 2025 coming from Mike McDonald's complex scheme you

know he's got the intelligence to play the game at a higher level and tight end Cade Otton is someone

that we've talked about before on the program but also $7 to $8 million very well rounded not great

at any one thing but good at everything definitely raises the floor of your tight end room why

you try to figure out how you're going to use Ben Senate you keep John Bates there as a reliable guy

so the hindsight part of this is if there's a part of the roster that you're not really happy with

you're like do I can't believe you didn't do X first of all we can't do everything in one 30 minute

show but you see there is money and there are opportunities there it's a potentially do some

different things speaking of money 18 and a half million dollars what the wash commanders should be

clearing once they officially make the move to separate from cornerback march on ladder more

source confirmed to me on Monday that the team intent is to indeed release march on ladder more they

have notified march on ladder more as such and I clarified with us source that there is not an

injury settlement needed for this move couldn't get into the weeds of why and and all that stuff but

my understanding is there's a lot of different layers to these things and I don't want to get too

much in the speculation of it so let's just all be happy that the injury settlement is not

coming 18 and a half million dollars free and clear once the move becomes officially official and

that puts while Washington commander general manager Adam Peters up over 80 million dollars again

we don't know the numbers on Nick Gallagher he's contract we don't know the numbers on

Andrew Wiley's contract but over 80 million certainly is a safe bet to make the Tyler Biodish move

how do they decide to do that isn't it interesting because if it's a post June first cut

then yes it saves them more money but remember that money that $10 million

capita Biodish carries stays on the books until June 1st when the entire thing or about eight

million dollars of it rather would end up coming off so march on ladder more on his way out played

eleven regular season games for Washington once he was traded missed the first four games after

being traded in 2024 came back for two games Saints and Eagles and then he had to miss the

final two regular season games of the year came back for the playoffs and then played through

there and then was injured in week nine of this last season towards ACL and subsequently that

and it being his final snap for the Washington commanders means finding a true number one or if

you believe Trey Amos can be your true number one then finding your number two outside corner

absolutely a priority which could start happening as early as March 9th so we in this situation

waited till the third round in the NFL draft and even even saw me or heard me wins a little bit

when I did it because obviously it's not the most comfortable situation in the world but the

wash commanders could potentially do that differently of course again I limited myself to three

Pyramian free agents and I didn't sign any mid-level tier for agents till after the draft so of course

obviously we're doing these a little bit wonky timeline wise here on today's episode because

we have the the flexibility to do that's just one way of looking at it as we go through here

in the offseason as far as my thoughts of March on ladder more I like the dude I thought that he

was really good fit in the locker I know a lot of people think that his like attitude is bad so

that it's really not he's just not the most talkative person when a camera's in front of him he's

more talkative I'm not I'm not saying he's like a chatty cafe or whatever but he's more talkative

when the cameras are off but he's he's definitely less talkative when the cameras are on has that

dog mentality and I'm also the reputation which I think officials really latched onto especially in

2025 when he was flagged nine times in nine weeks so that's a problem I think that certainly pays

into it obviously the injuries come into it obviously the money comes into it so a lot of

different things but not surprisingly March on ladder more as long as way out again we've been

talking about it all offseason I'm pretty sure every b-reporter that you listen to or read has

been talking about expecting March on ladder more to not be a part of the team in 2026 and now

it is officially coming still not official but it's officially happening sources confirmed that's

going to do it for today's episode next time on locked on commanders we had one more day of drills

to break down the old line and took the field and they balled out pretty good leaving you some

options for the Washington commanders potentially in the 2026 NFL draft will break all of that down

and more as the week continues to make sure you are subscribed following on locked on commanders to

get all the latest episodes and if you're never missing episode the everyday club is literally built

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appreciate you every single day and I thank you for coming through yet again today until next time

everybody out there please stay safe be kind we'll talk in real soon right here on locked on

commanders part of the locked on podcast network your team every day