Commanders Free Agent Fits: Cornerback

Taking a look at some cornerbacks that the Washington Commanders could potentially target in free agency

As we approach NFL free agency in just a few weeks, I’m going position-by-position to break down some potential free agent fits for the Commanders. Earlier this week, I looked at some edge rushers that could fit with new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. Today, its the turn of the cornerbacks. After a rough year for the secondary, only Trey Amos is a lock to start at corner in 2026. I suspect Mike Sainristil will be in the mix and have a chance to bounce back from a rough 2025 under a new scheme and coach, but he may well end up back inside in the slot.

So I figured I would focus this post on outside cornerbacks, rather than nickel corners. Those are a very different profile for this defense and I’ll perhaps circle back to them later in the offseason if I have time. But for now, here’s some potential outside cornerback options for the Commanders in free agency.

High Profile: Nahshon Wright, Bears, 27.

It feels a bit strange to put Wright’s name in the high profile category given this time last year, most casual NFL fans wouldn’t have known who he was. He is a long, rangy cornerback, listed at 6-foot-4, 199 pounds and has nearly 33-inch arms. Prior to the draft, he compared himself to Richard Sherman, so it should be no surprise that Dan Quinn was influential in the Cowboys drafting him in the third round back in 2021. At the time, it was seen as a huge reach and a big project, but Quinn had personally attended Wright’s pro day and appreciated his size, length and ball skills.

Interestingly, Dan Quinn isn’t the only coach on the Commanders staff that has worked with Wright. After three seasons in Dallas, the Cowboys traded Wright to the Vikings, where Wright spent a year on the practice squad under new Commanders defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. So there is plenty of familiarity with Wright on the Commanders coaching staff already. However it should be pointed out that Jones was with the Vikings when they released Wright and Dan Quinn didn’t then go and sign him. But Wright did team up with Al Harris in Chicago, who of course worked under Dan Quinn in Dallas.

Despite the connections to Quinn and Jones, Wright has produced very little in his NFL career until 2025. He was in and out of the lineup in Dallas under Quinn and as soon as Quinn left in 2024, the Cowboys traded him away. He didn’t make the Vikings final roster in 2024, instead spending the year on the practice squad. So he really had very little to shout about. However, Wright had a breakout season in 2025, registering five interceptions, which was joint second in the NFL behind only his teammate Kevin Byard. Wright also led the Bears with 11 pass break ups, so clearly he had an outstanding year with getting his hands on the ball.

NFL teams pay a premium for cornerbacks that can create turnovers, so Wright has potentially played his way into a significant contract this offseason. Salary cap website Spotrac is currently projecting him to get a three-year, $50 million contract with an average annual value of $16.7 million. That’s their highest projected contract for a cornerback in this free agent class. That feels a bit over the top given he has just one year of real production, but it speaks to the value of interceptions.

When watching Wright, it’s easy to see the upside that had Dan Quinn so enamoured when the Cowboys drafted him in 2021. The size, length and ball skills show up almost immediately. He can be physical at the line of scrimmage, using his long arms to jam receivers and disrupt their releases, but the size and length is most often seen with the ball skills. Go watch a highlight package of his interceptions this year on YouTube. He made some insane catches that most receivers would be proud of. I think his interception against the Vikings is a great example of Wright at his best.

On this play just outside the end zone, the Vikings look to run a double move. They have a stacked set to the outside with a receiver running an out-and-up at Wright. Wright aligns about eight yards off the line of scrimmage with outside leverage on the outside receiver. At the snap of the ball, Wright backpedals and widens to maintain his outside leverage. As the receiver makes his first cut outside, Wright begins to break on it. However, he quickly recognizes that this is a double move, so he peels off and opens his hips back inside as he looks to sink back deep.

This is an interesting decision from Wright. Most corners in this position wouldn’t open their hips back inside. They’d turn with the receiver in order to run down the sideline and stay with them. But Wright wants to maintain vision on the quarterback and most importantly, the ball. This is a very dangerous move because Wright is meant to have outside leverage and not allow the receiver to get by him outside. The receiver works into his blind spot so Wright has no idea where he actually is. The receiver actually gets a step on him too, speeding by him down the sideline.

However, Wright’s gamble to flip his hips back inside to maintain vision on the quarterback just about pays off. He shows off his ball skills to an elite level here. He tracks the ball in the air and sinks back under it, becoming the receiver rather than the defender. He follows the trajectory of the ball perfectly and leaps up, making great use of his size and length to jump over the receiver and pull in an outstanding interception in the end zone.

When you see a play like that, it’s easy to get carried away and think Wright could become one of the top cornerbacks in all of football. However, there are some red flags with that play, as good as it was. The decision to flip his hips back inside and watch the quarterback, leaving the receiver to get outside and in his blindspot was incredibly risky. He completely lost track of the receiver, who ran away from him down the sideline. If the quarterback had delivered an earlier throw with a little more on it, rather than being a bit late and having a bit too much air under it, Wright may never have been able to recover.

When you watch Wright on a down-to-down basis, more red flags do pop up. He definitely has plenty of good plays where he breaks quickly on an underneath throw from off coverage to deflect the pass, or jams a receiver at the line using his long arms. But there’s also lots of plays where he gets beaten a bit too easily. When you get a cornerback with the ball skills that Wright has, teams are often reluctant to throw at them because of the risk involved. But watching Wright, teams weren’t afraid of throwing his way, in fact they targeted him at times.

Here on third and short, we can see the Vikings look to isolate Justin Jefferson against Wright. Jefferson runs a pretty simple route, releasing inside, getting to the first down marker before sticking his foot in the ground and breaking outside to the sideline. Wright is up in press coverage but hardly gets a hand on him. Despite having incredible length, Wright grants Jefferson a free release. As Jefferson makes his cut, Wright is slow to react, taking multiple extra steps to stop himself and break back outside. Jefferson was wide open and only a wild throw from the quarterback saved Wright giving up a first down and potentially a lot more after the catch too.

For as many good plays as Wright has, there’s just as many of these types of plays too. He’s very up and down. Now, if he was a rookie corner just entering the league, you’d bet on that upside developing as he matures. But Wright is 27 and will be 28 in September. He was a project entering the NFL and was probably overdrafted. He showed this year why Dan Quinn was excited about him when the Cowboys drafted him in 2021, but at this point in his career I’m not sure he’d be the best player to bet on now, certainly not at the levels that Spotrac projected. So for me, this isn’t the move I’d make, but it felt worth discussing because of Wright’s links to Dan Quinn and Daronte Jones, having played under both of them.

Good Value: Riq Woolen, Seahawks, 26

Woolen is another super long and rangy corner, but he’s more athletic than Wright. Woolen is also 6-foot-4 but is 210 pounds and has even longer arms that nearly reach 34-inches. He ran a 4.26 40-yard dash at the combine, which is one of the fastest ever recorded times, but also the fastest for a player over 6-foot. He’s an explosive athlete and has been developing quite nicely with the Seahawks since he was drafted in 2022.

At his best, Woolen is a very good cornerback with the ability to match up in man coverage and be physical with receivers at the line or play zone and match coverages from off. But he’s also a very frustrating player. He has developed well during his time in the NFL, but he’s still prone to this annoying mistakes that must make his coaches pull their hair out with him. I think the two-play sequence that everyone saw in the playoffs against the Rams sums him up perfectly, both good and bad.