Former Florida Gators left tackle D.J. Humphries is a free agent again. The Washington Commanders announced they released the 32-year-old veteran Friday, two days before their season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Humphries signed a one-year deal with Washington on Aug. 26 after Laremy Tunsil tore his triceps in camp. The hope was that the former first-round pick would give the Commanders a proven option behind Brandon Coleman. He never made it onto the Week 1 roster.
If he had been active Sunday, his 2026 salary would have been fully guaranteed, so Washington cut him first. The team can still bring him back later. For now he can sign anywhere.
For Gators fans, the move is another reminder of how long the 2015 draft class has been grinding. Humphries arrived in Gainesville in January 2012 as a five-star from Mallard Creek High in Charlotte.
As a true freshman, he played all 12 games, started three, and earned Sporting News Freshman All-America and SEC Coaches’ All-Freshman honors. He graded 100 percent against Texas A&M and Tennessee. A knee injury ended his 2013 season after seven games.
He came back in 2014, started 10 games at left tackle, then declared after his junior year. Arizona took him 24th overall—the highest Florida offensive lineman selected since Mike Pouncey.
In the NFL, he became a Cardinals fixture: 101 career starts, a 2021 Pro Bowl, and more than a decade of work at left tackle. After Arizona cut him in 2024 he bounced to Kansas City (two starts) and the Rams (eight games, one start in 2025).
The Commanders stint lasted barely two weeks. Injuries have limited him since that peak Pro Bowl season; he has played more than eight games only once in the last four years.
That is the veteran chapter. The Gators chapter still reads well. Humphries was part of the line that protected Jeff Driskel and then Treon Harris while Florida tried to climb out of the post-Meyer transition. He left early and still built a 108-game NFL career. Plenty of first-round tackles never get that far.
Sunday he will watch the Eagles-Commanders game from somewhere else. A team that needs a swing tackle or an injury replacement will likely call.
Gators fans have seen this before: another former Swamp starter looking for the next snap. The pedigree from Gainesville is still there.
The next contract will decide whether it still plays in the league.
