As defensive tackle Daron Payne cleaned out his locker on Monday, a reporter asked the former Alabama standout what he wanted to get out of the newly arrived offseason.

“You know what I want, man,” Payne said. “It’s self-explanatory.”

“You do know you’re going to get paid this offseason, right?” the exchange continued.

“Oh, yeah,” Payne replied.

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But who is going to pay Payne? His current team, the Washington Commanders, or another NFL club when he becomes a free agent on March 15?

Washington already had the opportunity to commit to paying Payne for the 2023 season and beyond and passed up the chance. Now signing him to a contract extension almost certainly will cost the Commanders more than it would have before the 2022 season.

In his fifth NFL campaign, Payne reached career highs with 64 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 18 tackles for loss, 20 quarterback hits and five pass breakups. Only two defensive-interior linemen recorded more sacks in 2022 than Payne.

Payne also played 908 defensive snaps and 83 special-teams plays in 2022. No defensive-interior lineman played a higher portion of his team’s defensive snaps than Payne at 87 percent, and only one – the Miami Dolphins’ Christian Wilkins with 955 – played more defensive snaps this season.

“I got drafted in the first round, so I already got a lot of cash,” Payne said of his offseason prospects. “It’ll be something nice for me.”

The Commanders have until the start of the league’s 2023 business year on March 15 to sign Payne to a contract extension, otherwise Washington will have to use its franchise tag on the defensive tackle to prevent him from becoming a free agent. The franchise tag could cost $18.139 million just to keep Payne for the 2023 season.

“We’re working through that process now,” Washington general manager Martin Mayhew said on Tuesday about re-signing Payne. “Obviously, Daron is an important part of what we’re doing. He had a great year this year – 11-and-a-half sacks. The guy played outstanding football this year. He’s always been disruptive. He’s always been in the backfield. He’s always been around the ball. But this was the first year he’s finishing the way that he finished this year. He played outstanding football for us. It’d be difficult to move forward without him, obviously. We have a plan with him. We definitely want to get him back.”

As a first-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, Payne’s rookie contract included a fifth-year team option, which Washington exercised in 2021. That put Payne’s 2022 salary at $8.529 million, but the former Shades Valley High School star wanted to get a long-term contract done the way that former Alabama and current Commanders teammate Jonathan Allen had.

A first-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft, Allen was supposed to play the 2021 season on a fifth-year option of $10.051 million. But before that season, Allen, also a defensive tackle, signed a four-year contract extension with Washington worth $72 million. But that didn’t happen for Payne.

When asked what factors – team, location, pay – would be the most important in lining up his next contract, Payne said: “I just want what I earn.”

While Payne “fits the formula of what we want to do and how we want to play,” Commanders coach Ron Rivera said re-signing the defensive tackle would be “something that we have to talk about and make sure we can figure it out as we go forward.”

“I think you got to look at the impact he’s going to have on your football team whether he’s here or not,” Rivera said on Tuesday, “and then decide from that.”

Before recording 11.5 sacks in 2022, Payne had 14.5 in his career with a single-season high of five in 2018. His tackle-for-loss total of 18 in 2022 also was more than double his single-season best of seven in 2020.

“I feel like I put in a lot of work over the years and everything finally just started to work out for me,” Payne said.

Washington completed its 2022 season on Sunday with a 26-6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. The Commanders’ 8-8-1 record left them one-half game out of a postseason position.

“I definitely feel like I wish we would have been playing in the playoffs,” Payne said on Sunday, “just because I know we got a good team and some guys that’s going to fight till the end every time, so I feel like we could have did some good things in the playoffs.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.