The Washington Commanders took care of wideout Terry McLaurin and inked him to a $71 million extension on Tuesday, but there is still some in-house work that can be done. One of the players who is in line for a new deal is defensive tackle Daron Payne. The 25-year-old is heading into the final year of his rookie contract and looking at the possibility of hitting the open market next year.
Earlier this offseason, head coach Ron Rivera noted that the team has "tremendous interest" in keeping both McLaurin and Payne for the foreseeable future. While McLaurin has his deal, Payne's future remains uncertainty.
With that uncertainty has come curious teams seeing if there is any willingness on Washington's part to trade Payne, according to The Athletic. That report notes that the Commanders have rebuffed those trade inquiries, which have included teams willing to pay a significant price for Payne's services. There is no specific word on what those trade offers for Payne have been thus far, however.
Washington drafted Payne with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, which was a part of a four-year run where the team selected defensive linemen in the first round. Last summer, the team signed fellow lineman and 2017 first-round pick Jonathan Allen to a four-year, $72 million extension. The team also has the likes of Montez Sweat and Chase Young slated to come up over the next few years as well.
Because of that, it wouldn't be surprising to see Washington let Payne play in 2022 without any contract beyond next season and kick its decision to next offseason when the franchise tag becomes an option.
In 2021, Payne played all 17 games for Washington and totaled a career-high 61 tackles to go along with 4.5 sacks (third-most on the team) and 15 quarterback hits.
