It’s safe to say that didn’t happen. Not only did Lattimore deal with hamstring injuries that took away about 75% of his availability after landing in Washington, but his on-field play wasn’t anywhere close to what the Commanders hoped it would be.
That, along with Lattimore’s contract structure, honestly puts his future with the team up-in-the-air for those outside the building, but Commanders general manager Adam Peters made it clear that Lattimore will be back in 2025 when he spoke with reporters on Monday.
“It was a tough situation for him to come in, but what was cool was, we saw him get better and we saw him get more acclimated, not only to the defense, but to his teammates,” Peters said during the end-of-year press conference. “So, [we’re] really excited for him to have an offseason with us and and really learn the defense from the ground-up and really have that full runway of training camp leading into the season, and [we’re] looking forward to that.”
That’s all you need to hear. Unless a team offers the Commanders an offer they can’t refuse – Lattimore is back in 2025. That’s unlikely to happen, too, because of everything mentioned above. Lattimore certainly wasn’t good enough to warrant offseason trade consideration, especially at a price that would sway the Commanders.
Therefore, the Commanders are going to pay out his $18 million salary in 2025 and that includes a $2 million roster bonus due on March 16. Washington paid him very little in terms of cash in 2024 because of the trade circumstance, but still paid a lot via draft capital to acquire his services for the back half of the regular season and what became a playoff run.
And Peters’ line of thinking is correct. No matter how much Lattimore disappointed, the idea is that a full offseason of getting healthy, plus more integration into the defense, should allow him to level up like the Commanders need him to.
However, it’s a risk. Lattimore didn’t look good on the field and it extended beyond his play. Right now, with his outbursts and overall outlook/attitude on certain subjects, he doesn’t seem like the best fit for what the Commanders are trying to establish as a culture.
But, obviously, we won’t know until we know. If things do work out, though, then the Commanders will certainly have a player that can help them take a step further in 2025 and that’s exactly what it needs.
