Hall of Fame GM: Commanders Must Keep Top Free Agent
The 2021 NFL season is done, which means the offseason, free agency, the NFL Draft, and decisions each team has to make about improving their rosters any way they can.
NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt revealed his list of free-agents-to-be that each team should keep. It's not a list of what Brandt thinks is most likely to happen, but instead, what he thinks should happen.
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For the Commanders, that player is guard Brandon Scherff. Writes Brandt:
Scherff missed significant time for the fourth straight season, losing several games to a knee injury in 2021. Having been franchise tagged two seasons in a row, he'll also surely be aiming to secure a hefty paycheck. But the Commanders are projected to have cap space, and he was still their eighth-best offensive player last season, according to his PFF grade, and would make life easier on whomever ends up playing QB.
Scherff made $18 million last season on his second franchise tag. Clearly, he'll be looking for a long-term deal for 2022 and beyond. But with Washington's inability to reach that deal with him the last two seasons, the Commanders may be ready to move on from the 2015 first-round draft pick.
That's a tough call, especially considering the six games Scherff missed last season were all Washington losses.
This appears to be playing out a lot like the Kirk Cousins saga in Washington and, at some point, the player may just decide he no longer wants to play in Washington. According to general manager Martin Mayhew, the team offered Scherff a deal last year that would've made him the highest-paid guard ever.
Sometimes you just have to say goodbye.
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