27-yr-old Odafe Oweh poised for career-best season in Washington in 2026

In this week’s Reacts survey, we asked Hogs Haven readers to rate their confidence that this year’s big offseaon free agent signing, edge rusher Odafe Oweh, will live up to his 4-year, $96m contract in 2026.

The results are unsurprising, with more than half of all respondents saying that they are ‘generally confident’, which would equate to a grade of 4 on a 5-point scale.

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In fact, 70% of respondents said that they are either generally confident or absolutely confident — a strong indication of support for a player who peaked with 10 sacks in 2024, but who went sack-less in his first 5 games of the 2025 season before being traded from the Ravens to the Chargers.

That change of scenery seemed to do Oweh a lot of good. He tallied 7.5 sacks in 12 games in his powder-blue jersey — that pace put him on track for 10.5 sacks in 17 games.

What are the expectations, then, for a player who is being paid $24m per season as a pass rusher?

According to Over the Cap, there are 4 NFL edge rushers currently on contracts with average annual cap hit of between $22m and $24.5m: George Karlaftis, Andrew Van Ginkel, Odafe Oweh, and Montez Sweat.

Here’s a snapshot of some key metrics for those 4 players for the past two seasons combined:

Combined 2024 & 2025 statistics

Source: Pro Football Reference

• George Karlaftis leads in 3 metrics: total defensive snaps played, total pressures, and snaps per pressure.
• Andrew Van Ginkel tallied the most sacks of the four players listed.
• Odafe Oweh stacks up pretty well overall despite playing the fewest snaps of the group. He is 2nd in sacks and highly efficient, ranking #1 in snaps per sack and #2 in snaps per pressure.

It looks like this salary range should buy an NFL team around 674 defensive snaps, with 26 pressures and 7.5 sacks in a 17-game season.

In 2024 & 2025, Oweh produced just about exactly that number of pressures and at least that many sacks while playing significantly fewer snaps. If he only reproduces what he did in 2025, this analysis indicates that he’ll be earning his AAV of $24m per season.

But can Commanders fans expect even more from Oweh now that he has signed with Washington?

A Transition from Rotational to Alpha Role

Historically, Oweh’s raw numbers were capped because he was utilized as a rotational asset rather than a true foundational piece. In 2025, he played the first five weeks struggling for snaps in Baltimore before a mid-season trade to the Los Angeles Chargers. Once integrated into Jesse Minter’s defense in Los Angeles, Oweh’s efficiency skyrocketed, culminating in a dominant 17.3% quarterback pressure percentage and a franchise playoff-record 3-sack, 2-forced fumble performance against New England.

The turning point for his career has now arrived in 2026. Recognizing this elite trajectory, the Commanders signed Oweh to a massive four-year, $96 million contract ($68 million guaranteed) to serve as the undisputed “Alpha” edge rusher.

By stepping out from the shadow of playing behind other veteran rushers, Oweh is expected to see his snap share rise from 575 snaps per year to 670+ defensive snaps in Washington’s scheme. If he can maintain his per-snap efficiency with the increased snap count, he could generate roughly 28 pressures and 10.5 sacks in 2026. If he plays closer to 800 snaps this season, then his production could align closely with that of Andrew Van Ginkel, who averaged 796 defensive snaps per season over the past two years.

Backed by a defensive scheme explicitly designed to isolate his 90th-percentile athletic traits and a contract that guarantees he will be on the field as much as possible, Oweh possesses both the proven efficiency and the volume opportunity to make 2026 the most productive year of his career.

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