Commanders Free Agent Fits: Cornerback

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

NFL free agency is just a few weeks away and the Commanders have a ton of cap space available to them. They are likely to be very active throughout free agency with a number of needs to fill despite their success this past season. One of the biggest positions of need is cornerback. As things stand, the Commanders have just two corners under contract for the 2025 season - Marshon Lattimore and Mike Sainristil. The rest are all scheduled to be free agents. The Commanders could well look to re-sign the likes of Noah Igbinoghene, who played well in the slot, but they will likely be looking to upgrade at the position too.

I’m expecting the Commanders to want to move Mike Sainristil back inside to the slot, which means they need an outside cornerback to partner Lattimore. There’s a number of corners available but nobody stands out as an ideal fit for what the Commanders are looking for in a cornerback. I recently wrote a profile of what traits the Commanders look for in a cornerback, so be sure to check out that post too. So here’s a quick look at a few options that tick some but not all of the boxes the Commanders are looking for.

High Profile: Charvarius Ward, 28

Ward is probably the name I see most Commanders fans talking about. He has an obvious connection to the Commanders in that general manager Adam Peters was in San Francisco when the 49ers signed Ward to a three-year, $42 million contract back in 2022. The former undrafted free agent had a breakout year in 2023 with a career high 23 pass break ups and five interceptions. Unfortunately, Ward had somewhat of a down year in 2024 but his season was heavily disrupted by the death of his daughter.

At 29 years old, Ward isn’t the youngest profile but he does have a ton of experience in the league and the Commanders have lacked that in the secondary for a while. In terms of what he can bring to the field, Ward offers the ability to line up in press coverage and be physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage.

On this play, Ward lines up against Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson. Jefferson runs a corner-post route, designed to work vertically before breaking at a 45 degree angle outside to the sideline to sell a corner route. After a few steps, the route then breaks back inside towards the middle of the field. It should be noted that Ward does have a safety helping him by doubling Jefferson, but most corners in the league playing man coverage against Jefferson should have that help.

At the snap of the ball, we see one of the traits the Commanders like in a cornerback playing press. Ward doesn’t immediately lunge at Jefferson, instead he stays patient. He maybe gives ground a little too early but you prefer him to do that instead of lunging at a receiver and getting beat immediately. By being patient, Ward forces Jefferson to declare his intention to release either inside or outside. Jefferson decides to work inside and once that declaration is made, Ward immediately makes contact.

Ward plays very physical coverage against Jefferson, forcing him further inside and knocking him off his ideal path for his route. With such a long developing route, it’s important for Jefferson to get into the route quickly to ensure the quarterback isn’t sitting in the pocket waiting for the route to come open. By being so physical, Ward disrupts that timing and forces Jefferson to adjust his route to try and get back on track. Instead of getting vertical and making a hard cut outside to sell the corner route, Jefferson has to bend his route from that inside position towards the sideline and then break it off to work inside on time.

Jefferson does separate from Ward as he breaks back inside, but by that point, Ward knows he has his safety help inside and is trying to maintain his outside leverage to funnel Jefferson to that safety help. Thanks to Ward’s disruptive coverage, the quarterback’s timing with Jefferson is thrown off and he’s forced to resort to scrambling instead.

Ward’s ability to press was quite inconsistent this season, but obviously he had a lot going on off the field that likely impacted his performance. But when he got it right, his press coverage was a real asset to the team.

On this play in the red zone, the Rams isolate receiver Demarcus Robinson outside the numbers to the right of the formation. Ward lines up in press coverage and knows that in this situation, Robinson is likely running some form of a fade route or a slant as those are the two most common routes run in this type of situation. Armed with that knowledge, Ward can stay very patient at the line of scrimmage and wait for Robinson to declare if he’s releasing inside on a slant or outside on a fade. Robinson takes an outside release which Ward knows means he’s almost certainly running a fade.

Once Robinson takes that outside release, Ward knows he can be physical. He gets his hands on the receiver and uses his size, physicality and leverage to force the receiver all the way to the sideline. Robinson is forced out of bounds short of the end zone and as soon as he takes a step out of bounds, he’s out of the play. When a receiver steps out of bounds, he can’t be the first receiver to touch the ball once he re-enters the field of play. Most receivers are taught to actually get out of the way in this situation and go further out of bounds so that the quarterback doesn’t mistakenly try to throw to them. That’s exactly what Robinson does here, admitting defeat on the play. Pressing a receiver out of bounds and literally taking him out of the play is quite the rep by Ward.

Ward also has plenty of experience in zone coverages too. His time with the Chiefs and 49ers saw him play a variety of zone coverages that the Commanders do use from time to time, but ultimately it’s his ability to play man coverage that the Commanders would be most interested in. As I mentioned, he was largely up and down this season when playing man coverage, but that is understandable given the situation off the field. But any team signing him this offseason will have to be cautious that it was a case of Ward being distracted by off the field things rather than an indication that his play is declining.

Ward will be 29 by the start of the season, so I’m not sure he’s the perfect fit for what the Commanders will be looking for. They already have an expensive high profile corner approaching his 30s in Lattimore, so I’m not sure partnering him with Ward would be the best long term roster building strategy, as they would both need replacing sooner rather than later. But if the Commanders are looking to be super aggressive and go all in while Jayden Daniels is on his rookie contract, then Ward could have a bigger impact in year one than many other corners on the market.

Good Value: Byron Murphy, 27

While Ward will be 29 by the start of the 2025 season. Murphy only just turned 27 last month. That means there should be much more longevity to signing someone like Murphy compared to Ward. Murphy’s fit with the Commanders would be somewhat of a projection. The Vikings did play some man coverage but typically played more zone and match concepts while disguising a lot of their looks. But that doesn’t mean Murphy isn’t a fit.

He does have some of the traits the Commanders are looking for. He finished joint third in the NFL for interceptions in 2024, with six takeaways. He was also top 10 for passes broken up, showing he has ball skills to get his hands on the ball. The Commanders preach turnovers with Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. constantly using phrases like “the ball is life”, so that ability to get his hands on the ball will naturally grab their attention.

Something else that will get their attention is his short area quickness.