If the Commanders are going to get back to the postseason in 2026, they can’t afford another defensive swing and miss. Washington spent the offseason reshaping that side of the ball, and the biggest bet in the whole operation comes with Odafe Oweh.
The pressure on the offense is straightforward enough. Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin have to stay on the field, and new coordinator David Blough has to get the most out of the pieces he has. The defense is where things get complicated, because general manager Adam Peters has turned over most of the starters and made the group younger and faster.
That means Oweh is walking into a role with real weight attached to it. The Commanders handed him a $96 million contract, and they’re expecting him to be far more than just a useful piece. He’s back in the Beltway after the 2021 first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens spent much of last season with the Los Angeles Chargers, and this time he’s being asked to carry a different load.
As independent team reporter Ben Standig put it:
"A guy like Odafe Oweh... obviously they paid him a lot of money, and he's looked pretty good, but he's being asked to be the main guy, whereas with the Chargers he had Khalil Mack and some other guys. So how does that play out?"
That’s the heart of the gamble. Oweh has done his best work as a rotational pass-rusher, not as the centerpiece. He didn’t usually start with either the Ravens or the Chargers, but he did produce 17.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss over the past two seasons.
Washington is asking him to do more than that now, and the contract makes the stakes impossible to ignore. The Commanders are paying $68 million guaranteed for a player who has started only 27 of his 79 career NFL games and was ranked No. 35 among defensive ends last season by Pro Football Focus.
There’s also the matter of fit. Oweh and the rest of the defense are learning a new system under first-time coordinator Daronte Jones, who is bringing a 3-4 scheme with three interior linemen up front. That means the Penn State product will line up at outside linebacker.
There’s upside here, no question. But Washington is also betting heavily on projection, and there isn’t much room for error. The Commanders already have one expensive mistake on the books after their overpay for defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw last year, and they can’t afford another one.
For this defense to work, Oweh has to be worth the money. The whole unit may depend on it.
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For a rookie trying to carve out a place in a crowded front, that kind of versatility matters. Josephs still has a long summer ahead before anyone can say how much hell play, but training camp, joint practices and the preseason will tell the real story about whether he can turn the buzz into a steady role in Washingtons edge rotation. [Read more 🡒]