There were a ton of marquee players who were slapped with the franchise tag before Tuesday's NFL deadline. One of those players was a pass rusher: Carolina's Brian Burns, who was poised for a hefty pay day if he was able to hit free agency. However, the Panthers will keep him around unless they work out a trade. But there is one pass rusher who will hit free agency that could secure a hefty bag in free agency. That would be Jonathan Greenard.
Greenard had 12.5 sacks for the Houston Texans last season. Surely, the Texans would love to keep him around, but if they don't, teams like the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions would make great landing spots for him.
Jonathan Greenard had one of the better under-the-radar seasons as a pass rusher last season. Not only did he rack up 12.5 sacks, which was tied for the tenth most in the NFL in 2023, but he also ranked well analytically. His pass rush win rate was the sixth-best among individual pass rushers according to ESPN.com.
The only five with a better mark? Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett, Will Anderson Jr., TJ Watt, and Jadeveon Clowney. That's a pretty, pretty, pretty good list to be a part of. That will help him get a big new deal once free agency begins.
Washington Commanders
Greenard could be a fit with the Commanders for a couple of reasons. For one, Washington could use a pass rusher because they traded all of theirs away. At the trade deadline, the Commanders dealt Montez Sweat to the Chicago Bears for the 34th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Later, they shipped Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers for a third-round pick.
It was the right move for the Commanders to make. They weren't going to make the playoffs at that time and they ended up falling all the way down the standings to wind up with the second overall pick in the upcoming draft. Adding more picks to their portfolio is only going to help accelerate their ensuing rebuild.
But, those trades did create a void at rushing the passer for Washington. Despite playing just eight games for the Commanders, Sweat still led the Commanders in sacks in 2023 with 6.5 of them. Young was tied for third on the team with five sacks despite playing only seven games in burgundy and gold. The other three leaders in sacks for Washington were all defensive tackles, whose priority is not even rushing the passer.
It's safe to say that Washington needs a pass rusher. They certainly can afford one also. They are projected to have $96 million in cap space, the most in the NFL. And with a rookie quarterback in tow (assuming they draft Drake Maye second overall), they can already start to load up on premier positions while that quarterback is on a rookie deal. Greenard would fit all of those boxes.
Detroit Lions
The Lions don't have as much cap space as the Commanders do, but they have plenty to find some help for Aidan Hutchinson. Detroit has $54 million in cap space this offseason, which is the sixth-most in the league.
Though the Lions made that run to the NFC Championship Game, they got there in spite of their pass rush from players without the last name of Hutchinson. ESPN graded them as having the 26th-best pass rush win rate.
They also didn't rack up very many sacks. Detroit was tied with the Los Angeles Rams for the ninth-fewest sacks in the NFL in 2023 with just 41 of them. Hutchinson had 11.5 of those. The next highest on the team was Alim McNeil, a defensive tackle, with five.
Detroit could really use a star cornerback to help fortify their defense, but another quality pass rusher would help immensely as well. Jonathan Greenard could help the Lions make another jump on that side of the field. Watch out if they can make this happen.
Follow Us
Subscribe