K’lavon Chaisson, Odafe Oweh, Bill Croskey-merritt, Quan Martin & Brandon Aiyuk Top Commanders Headlines Today

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What Edge Rusher K’Lavon Chaisson brings to the Washington Commanders

After splashing out on edge rusher Odafe Oweh, the Washington Commanders continued to strengthen their pass rush ranks in free agency. The Commanders also signed K’Lavon Chaisson to a one-year, $11 million contract. Chaisson was a former first round pick of the Jaguars in 2020 but never quite developed in Jacksonville the way they had hoped. He bounced around a few places before landing with the Patriots in 2025, where he had somewhat of a breakout season, at least as a pass rusher.

When you look at Chaisson, you can see why the Jaguars took him in the first round. He looks like an NFL edge rusher. At 6-foot-3, 255 pounds, he’s got good size, length and athletic ability. He has the raw tools and with the Patriots this season, he started to show some more development with a wider variety of pass rush moves. He still has a way to go in terms of developing a rush plan to set up moves and really consistently beat his blocker, but he’s now someone that is capable of throwing in a different move here and there and really giving a blocker some troubles on multiple reps per game.

I’m going to focus on his pass rush for this post because that’s clearly the reason they signed him. He’s not a bad run defender and can do a job there on the edge, and as I wrote about in my preview piece on free agent edge rushers, he’s someone that is capable of dropping off into coverage as this defense will require from time to time, but that will be a work in progress for him. But his role here is most likely to be a situational edge rusher. As such, I’m going to focus on his pass rushing ability and what he can bring to Washington and where he can continue to develop.

The most obvious thing that stands out when watching Chaisson is his speed. He’s a very athletic rusher with speed and bend that can threaten any tackle on the edge. If you can create a one-on-one matchup for him against a tackle, he can provide a significant challenge for just about anyone off the edge.

Commanders.com

5 things to know about Odafe Oweh

He reignited his career with the Chargers.

Oweh had high expectations when the Baltimore Ravens drafted him with their first-round pick in 2021. He had his moments in his 67 games with the team, including a 10-sack campaign in 2024, but he struggled to start the 2025 season with just 10 tackles and five quarterback hits in five games.

Then Oweh got traded to the Chargers, and it didn’t take long for him to impact their defense. He recorded four sacks along with 11 tackles in his first four games with the team. He had 12 total pressures in that span, according to Pro Football Focus, and had five quarterback hits. The Chargers also went 3-1 from Weeks 6-9, which helped dig themselves out of a 1-4 start and into the playoff discussion.

Oweh was at his best in the postseason. While the Chargers were decisively beaten by the New England Patriots and bounced in the first round, Oweh earned the team’s second-best defensive grade from PFF with an 81. Although he did not start in the matchup, he had three sacks that helped him earn a 90.1 pass rush grade.

Oweh generated the sixth-highest pressure rate in the NFL once he was traded to the Chargers, leading the team with 37. The Commanders are hoping that at just 27 years old, there are more years like that in his future.

The story behind his name change.

Oweh wasn’t always referred to by his first name. He went by his middle name — Jayson — throughout high school and college because no one could pronounce “Odafe.”

However, he made the switch heading into his rookie year to honor his Nigerian heritage that helped get him to the NFL.

“I just felt like I really wanted to start being myself,” Oweh said in a 2021 ESPN article.

Oweh’s parents, Henry and Tania, are both from Nigeria and moved to the United States a few years before he was born. His name, which comes from the Urhobo tribe in southwest Nigeria, means “a wealthy individual.” But his classmates growing up couldn’t pronounce it, so much so that he decided he was “tired of that” and told people to refer to him as his middle name.

He didn’t tell anyone about the name change, not even his parents, until his first teleconference with Baltimore reporters. The decision received an emotional reaction from his parents.

“I was proud. I was so proud,” Tania said. “Because I saw what I now felt like is a maturation. I just felt like he was coming full circle. I saw a man who was comfortable with himself.”

A to Z Sports

6 winners and losers after Commanders’ active free agency

LOSER: Bill Croskey-Merritt

I know Bill Croskey-Merritt was a standout rookie last season who rushed for 805 yards in a RB committee, but they still didn’t trust him as the RB1 with his liabilities in pass protection and in the receiving game. He also had four crucial fumbles, and the Commanders reloaded by adding Rachaad White. White is a complete back who thrives in all three phases and could easily lead the team in touches and production next season.

LOSER: Quan Martin/Jeremy Reaves

The Commanders got younger and way more athletic at safety after adding the hometown rising star in Nick Cross. As of now, Cross and Will Harris would be the starting safeties. Quan Martin and Jeremy Reaves could very likely see their defensive snaps vanish in 2026, and their play says so as well. The Commanders still need a true free safety, which means another could be added via the NFL Draft, and their roles would diminish even more.

ESPN

2026 NFL free agency: Big remaining issues for 20 contenders

Washington Commanders

What’s missing: Wide receiver. It has been an offseason of upheaval for young quarterback Jayden Daniels, who lost offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, and players such as center Tyler Biadasz and potentially wide receiver Deebo Samuel after a frustrating 2025 campaign. The Commanders elected to promote 30-year-old assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough to replace Kingsbury, and they’ve added players like Rachaad White, Jerome Ford and Chig Okonkwo as new playmakers.

The solution: Add Brandon Aiyuk. The 49ers haven’t yet cut Aiyuk in the hopes of landing a trade for their former first-round pick, whose future lays away from San Francisco after a bizarre past 18 months. The 49ers voided Aiyuk’s guarantees after he refused to rehab on the team’s timeline, so while he is owed $26.2 million in 2026, none of that money is actually likely to go to the 27-year-old.

The problem with a non-guaranteed contract, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted recently, is that there’s no rush or reason for the 49ers to move on from Aiyuk. The 49ers have plenty of cap space, and Aiyuk’s deal won’t guarantee until the start of the season. While it seems that all parties involved accept that Aiyuk won’t be on the 49ers in 2026, San Francisco can choose to wait and see whether Aiyuk impresses another franchise enough to land even a late-round pick via trade. That team would either need to pay Aiyuk the $26.2 million or negotiate a new deal with him, making a trade unlikely.

The most realistic scenario would see the 49ers cut Aiyuk sometime between now and Week 1. When they do, it would make all the sense in the world for Peters, a former 49ers executive, to sign Aiyuk, who racked up 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns in his last full season before his right knee injury. While they probably don’t want to pay Aiyuk all $26 million, a one-year deal for a smaller amount would make sense for both sides, with the Commanders adding a potential star wideout for nothing more than cash and Aiyuk getting a chance to prove himself away from San Francisco before hitting free agency.

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ESPN

2026 NFL free agency: Big remaining issues for 20 contenders

Philadelphia Eagles

What’s missing: Safety. Vic Fangio’s defense relies heavily on its safeties. They are asked to disguise their intentions and responsibilities pre- and post-snap, read and adapt to route distributions, and make a meaningful impact filling against the run to aid the light boxes Fangio prefers to use up front.

The solution: Draft a safety. The Eagles are facing a financial crunch as they reckon with retaining A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert. Even if the Eagles were flush with room, though, there isn’t really a safety worth spending significant money on left in free agency, with veterans like Kyle Dugger and Donovan Wilson as the best options available. Those are players the Eagles could add at a reasonable number, but I’m not sure Fangio would want to commit to them as 2026 starters.

Sydney Brown could be in the mix as an in-house option, although the Eagles preferred Epps to their former third-round pick as the Mukuba replacement last season. And GM Howie Roseman could add a veteran like Xavier Woods, who has years of starting experience in Fangio-style defenses with the Panthers, but he would likely figure in as a backup safety and special teamer.

It would make sense for Philly to lean into the draft as a place to find a new safety to play alongside Mukuba in nickel and dime packages.

Bleeding Green Nation

Hollywood Brown should be a solid WR3 for the Eagles

Brown has played for three teams in his seven seasons, but was able to stay relatively healthy last season in Kansas City, and should be a good addition for new OC Sean Mannion and Co. this coming season.

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ESPN

What’s next for the Dolphins?

It seems ironic that this trade seems to firmly shut the door on the last generation of the Dolphins. Waddle was part of the package acquired through the Laremy Tunsil trade, which really seemed to establish that the Dolphins were tanking in 2019. The Tunsil trade led to the Trey Lance deal, which landed Miami three more first-round selections. The Dolphins used two of them to move back up in 2021 and draft Waddle with the sixth pick, one of the first signs that they were going to get aggressive in adding talent. Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb, from these very Broncos, would follow. And while Waddle didn’t play in the game, the peak for this Dolphins team was very likely its 70-point performance in a win over the Broncos in September 2023.

Those franchise cornerstones are all gone, with new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan cutting Chubb and Hill this offseason. McDaniel and Tagovailoa are out the door. Waddle now joins them. This Miami team was created by apparent tanking, won zero playoff games and now appears to be heading back toward the bottom.

Is the tanking tag unfair? Maybe. The Dolphins did guarantee Malik Willis $45 million over the next two years to take over at quarterback. Many of their other moves were decisions that made football and financial sense. Hill was coming off a career-threatening injury and had refused to play in a game at the end of 2024. Ownership pretty clearly decided to pull the plug on Tagovailoa at the end of 2025 to avoid any future guarantees triggering. Chubb was due more than $20 million in 2026 and arguably wasn’t that caliber of player after suffering a multi-ligament knee injury in 2023. All of those moves were reasonable enough.

Beyond Willis, though, the Dolphins aren’t exactly using those savings to build up their roster. Outside of Willis and tight end Greg Dulcich, who will make $3.2 million in 2026, every other player Miami has signed this offseason has joined on a one-year deal for $1.5 million or less. In other words, the Dolphins are filling up their roster with players making the minimum or close to it. Some of those guys might turn out to be useful players, of course, but they’re not going to build a very good team out of league-minimum veterans.

Teams aren’t going to actively try to lose, but nothing about what the Dolphins are doing suggests that they’re attempting to field a competitive team in 2026.

I’m not sure it has done organizations like the Browns or Dolphins many favors with the benefit of hindsight, either. Amassing draft picks is the best way to build a sustainably good football team, but doing that at the expense of sacrificing any and all talent isn’t a great plan, either. The Browns sacrificed useful players for middle-round compensatory picks and paid premiums in free agency to eventually replace those missing talents. Miami landed significant draft capital and then traded much of it away to move up for Waddle and acquire Chubb and Hill. Those two tanks produced a total of one playoff win between both organizations.

And yet, if the Dolphins are trading Waddle, it doesn’t really make sense to hold on to their other veteran standouts. If Waddle wasn’t going to be part of the next useful Miami squad, why would other players in their late 20s be part of it? The Dolphins don’t have an incredibly talented roster, but they do have a few veteran standouts who are going to appeal to general managers around the league. What — and who — could be next in Miami?

Did someone say the ‘tanking’ Dolphins have a talented center?

The best player on the Miami offense in 2025 might have been center Aaron Brewer, who was my first-team All-Pro at the pivot. Brewer’s athleticism played up in McDaniel’s scheme, and with an inexperienced set of linemen around the 28-year-old, he was the key reason the Dolphins were able to run the ball and create holes for Achane in 2025.

Again, having a reliable center in the mix is a great thing for a young quarterback, whether that be Willis, Arch Manning or whoever else comes down the line in Miami. But Brewer is entering the final year of his deal, and in a league where Tyler Linderbaum just landed $27 million per season on the open market, Brewer’s $6.9 million paycheck in 2026 is an enormous bargain. He is going to get a raise very soon; I’m just not sure whether that will come from the Dolphins or another franchise. Would the Ravens, who suddenly have an influx of draft capital, call the Dolphins about replacing Linderbaum?

ESPN

NFLPA elects former OL JC Tretter as next executive director

The NFLPA has been searching for a permanent leader since July, when then-executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned following ESPN reporting that he had charged a pair of strip club visits to the union. ESPN also reported that he worked part-time for the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that is seeking minority ownership in NFL franchises, and that the union and league had struck a confidentiality agreement to keep an arbitrator’s rulings about possible collusion by NFL owners from players.

Tretter beat out an initial field of 300 candidates and the two other finalists — interim executive director David White, who was the former Hollywood actors’ union chief, and American Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti.

“We conducted a thorough, deliberate search to identify the right long-term leader to deliver sustained, meaningful progress for our members,” the board of player reps said in a statement posted to X.

The NFL and NFLPA collective bargaining agreement expires in 2030, but Tretter will step into the role to address negotiations with the league over adding an 18th game and an international game for each team, goals about which NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and owners have been vocal. Tretter was the union’s player president from 2020 to 2024 and its chief strategy officer from October 2024 until July 2025 when he also resigned following ESPN’s reports.

“We have worked with JC for several years, first as union president when he helped the league and the NFLPA successfully navigate through COVID during the 2020 season,” Goodell said. “We look forward to building upon that relationship to further our shared priorities, including our commitment to advancing player health and safety and ensuring the global growth of our game for our fans, the players and our clubs.”

Player president Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who was elected to the role in 2024 after Tretter vacated the position, was reelected Monday night. Per two sources familiar with knowledge of the election process, he ran unopposed.

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ESPN

Raiders’ Crosby on nixed trade: ‘I am where I’m supposed to be’

Crosby was told by LaBoy that Baltimore had called off the deal.

“I’m like ‘Holy s—,'” Crosby said. “… I told [LaBoy], ‘I’m trying to get out of here.'”

The Ravens sent him in a private plane back to Las Vegas in the evening. And Crosby returned to the Raiders’ facility the next day. DeCosta said he was “gutted” by the decision. Less than 24 hours after the decision, the Ravens signed former Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million deal.

Crosby reiterated his commitment to the Raiders and hopes to use the trade fallout as motivation for the upcoming season.

“I’m here. I’m meant to be a Raider,” Crosby said. “… I’m in this s— for life until that changes, which I don’t foresee, but you never know in this damn league.”

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