Washington Commanders News & Rumors

The Commanders’ push to add Marshon Lattimore has resulted in an agreement. The veteran corner is headed from New Orleans to Washington, as first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The deal is now official.

The Saints had been asking for a Day 2 pick in the 2025 draft, per Dianna Russini of The Athletic. An agreement on that front has now been reached, and Lattimore will be on the move for the first time in his career. The four-time Pro Bowler had spent seven-plus seasons in New Orleans. He will be eligible to return to the Superdome on December 15 when the two teams meet.

Here is the full breakdown of the trade terms, courtesy of veteran insider Josina Anderson and ESPN’s Adam Schefter:

Commanders receive:

• Lattimore
• Fifth-round pick

Saints receive:

• Third-round pick
• Fourth-round selection
• New Orleans’ original sixth-rounder exchanged in the John Ridgeway trade

Rapoport’s colleague Tom Pelissero notes all picks being swapped are for the year 2025. New Orleans will look to restock at a few positions this spring, with cornerback likely being one of them. Lattimore had served as a full-time starter during his tenure with the team, and Paulson Adebo – who is out for the year with a broken leg – is a pending free agent. Multiple new starters could be added in the secondary as a result.

A report from earlier today indicated talks on the Lattimore front were heating up, and multiple teams were believed to be in play. Among them were the Commanders, whose approach to the deadline has no doubt been influenced by the team’s surprisingly strong start to the 2024 campaign. Washington sits atop the NFC East at 7-2, and adding in the secondary could aid the team’s chances of remaining on track for a home postseason game. Lattimore is not strictly a rental, however.

The former Defensive Rookie of the Year adjusted his contract this offseason, something which has been commonplace for years in New Orleans with the team constantly in need of cap relief. Lattimore is only owed the remainder of his $1.21MM base salary for this season, a figure the Commanders can easily afford. For the 2025 and ’26 campaigns, though, he is due a total of $36.5MM. Much of that comes in the form of non-guaranteed base salaries which, coupled with modest option bonuses, have him on track for major cap hits in each of the next two years.

An adjustment will therefore be likely upon arrival in Washington or at least after the current season is over. In the meantime, Lattimore will provide the Commanders with an impact defender capable of aiding the their secondary. That unit has had plenty of room for improvement for some time now, especially with last year’s first-round investment in Emmanuel Forbes not panning out. His market is being gauged ahead of this afternoon’s deadline, and it will be interesting to see if a deal is worked out now that Lattimore is headed to the nation’s capital.

In any case, the likes of Benjamin St-Juste and second-round rookie Mike Sainristil will now have a new contributor alongside them in the Commanders’ secondary. Washington already ranks fifth against the pass this season, but the team sits mid-pack in total and scoring defense and has recorded only three interceptions. Lattimore has just two picks since the start of the 2022 campaign, but his previous ball production could add a key element to his new team’s defense.

The Commanders’ pursuit of a starting-caliber corner included calling the Jets about D.J. Reed, Russini reports. To little surprise, they were told the pending free agent is not available with New York still eyeing a run at the postseason in 2024. Washington’s contingency plan has resulted in a notable deal, though, and Lattimore could help the team remain among the NFC’s best teams through the second half of the year.