The Commanders made a pair of surprising cuts Wednesday, releasing defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis and interior offensive lineman Ereck Flowers.
The moves are expected to save Washington nearly $17 million in salary cap space in 2022 as the front office scrambles to create room ahead of the official start of free agency. Even before Wednesday's 4 p.m. start to free agency, the Commanders have already seen key pieces leave during the league's 'legal tampering' period, parting ways with All-Pro guard Brandon Scherff and rotational defensive lineman Tim Settle.
The timing of Ioannidis' release is suspect, if not outright bad business. Had Washington released the 28-year-old pass rusher last week, it would have been more beneficial to both sides, affording Ioannidis a chance to get ahead of the developing free agency market at his position and giving Washington more cap space before teams began making moves. Ioannidis' agent, Alan Herman, agrees with that sentiment, accusing the Commanders of lying about their intentions earlier this month at the combine.
Herman tells Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press that he and a fellow agent met with two Commanders execs in Indianapolis, VP of football administration Rob Rogers and director of pro personnel Chris Polian. Herman arranged the meeting with the specific purpose of making sure Ioannidis was in Washington's future plans.
"We don't particularly care to be lied to our face," Herman told Whyno. "They took him out of the free agent market now for two days. That puts us now at a disadvantage because other teams have paid other defensive linemen contracts, and (Ioannidis) hasn't been able to take advantage of that. That's not the way you conduct business in the National Football League."
Ioannidis is coming off one of his least productive seasons, recording 38 tackles (three tackles for loss) and 2.5 sacks in 16 games. He only has four sacks total since Rivera's been running the team, so it's easy to see why the coach doesn't have any qualms about moving on.
But Ioannidis has also played far less since the start of the 2020 season, pushed to more of a fringe rotational role, seeing 39 percent of Washington's defensive snaps in 2020 and 59 percent in 2021.
In the two seasons prior (2018-19), Ioannidis was in on an average of 61.5 percent of the defensive snaps. He recorded 95 tackles (17 TFLs), 16 sacks, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery in that span. Ioannidis has 24.5 career sacks and 175 total tackles in six NFL seasons.
Ioannidis went from a hidden gem discovered late in the draft — as a fifth-round pick (Temple) in 2016 — to a key part of Washington's defensive core, earning a second contract in April 2019 as the front office continued to beef up the line around him. He was due to become a free agent again next spring.
The Commanders acquired Flowers for the second time in April 2021 in a trade with Miami, which involved a swap of seventh-round picks and Washington taking on the remainder of Flowers' salary (the Dolphins paid $6 million of his signing bonus).
Flowers has steadily rebuilt his career after flaming out as the ninth overall pick for the Giants in 2015. Originally drafted as an offensive tackle, Flowers successfully transitioned to guard after signing with Washington in 2019. Flowers signed a three-year, $30 million deal with Miami in March 2020 after starting all 16 games for Washington that season.
Flowers, 27, missed one game in 2021 (Covid-19 list) and started the remaining 16 games while splitting time between tackle and guard.
