In addition to confirming the previously reported release of defensive tackle Barry Cofield, Washington has announced that it parted ways with another defensive lineman. According to the club (via Twitter), Stephen Bowen has been released, hitting the free agent market a year before his contract was scheduled to expire.
Like Cofield, Bowen missed a chunk of the 2014 season with an injury, and didn’t come off the physically unable to perform list until October. It was the second straight injury-plagued season for the former Cowboy, who played just 18 games over the last two years, and has recorded only a single sack in his last three seasons. In his 243 defensive snaps in ’14, Bowen recorded a -6.1 grade, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
Back in August, Bowen, who turns 31 next month, negotiated a new deal in which he took a pay cut in order to stay on Washington’s roster for the 2014 season. However, despite Jay Gruden‘s suggestion that the team was exploring another restructure of that contract, the team decided to simply cut him this time around. Doing so will clear all but $2.52MM of his $8.02MM cap number from Washington’s books for 2015, creating $5.5MM in cap savings.
Over the course of the last two days, Washington’s defensive line has undergone a bit of an overhaul, with Cofield and Bowen heading out, and former Colt Ricky Jean-Francois added to the mix.
Besides releasing Bowen and Cofield, Washington confirmed one more transaction, announcing that offensive lineman Tom Compton has been re-signed. Compton had been slated to be an exclusive rights free agent, so he’ll be back on a minimum-salary contract.