Shawn Lauvao Must Be Released By Washington Redskins During Offseason

The Washington Redskins have one of the strongest offensive lines in the NFL. However, they have one weak link at left guard where Shawn Lauvao has done a mediocre job as a starter.

It seems that every year, some overrated veteran gets paid more than he is worth on a contract. In the 2014 offseason, that veteran was Shawn Lauvao. The Washington Redskins signed the decent guard to a four year, $17 million contract that had a lot of guaranteed money in it ($4 million signing bonus and $5 million in additional guarantees). The team expected Lauvao to come in and be a solid starter for them, but they really did not get what they bargained for.

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Lauvao has played in 32 games over the course of his three years with the Redskins and has been at best a decent lineman. He has done okay in the run game at times, but he lacks the ability to pass protect. During the 2016 season, it was clear that Lauvao was the weak link on the Redskins offensive line. He was holding them back from potentially being one of the best units in the NFL.

Because of this, it seems like the Redskins may want to move on from Lauvao in the offseason. At the very least, they are definitely going to bring in some competition for the embattled guard. Solid guards are often easy to find in the middle rounds of the NFL draft, as their positional value is lesser than some other positions. Additionally, the free agent market this year is saturated with excellent players. The Redskins could try to sign a player like Ronald Leary or T.J. Lang to take over for Lauvao and really strengthen the offensive line.

The only question moving forward is whether or not the Redskins will keep Lauvao. If I had to guess, I would say that the odds are not in his favor. According to Spotrac.com, Lauvao has only one year left on his deal and the team could save a lot of cap space by cutting him. In fact, they would only have $1 million in dead cap space if they cut him. That would be better than the cap hit they would incur with him on the team.

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At the end of the day, Lauvao and the Redskins should part ways. The Redskins have very few offensive weaknesses and can afford to try and upgrade Lauvao while still focusing on the defense. There are simply better options available than the veteran out of Arizona State.

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