Washington Redskins make a logjam worse by re-signing Shawn Lauvao

For the most part, the Washington Redskins’ 2018 offseason has been a home for sensible, efficient personnel decisions.

For the most part.

Then they had to go and re-sign Shawn Lauvao. NFL Trade Rumors first reported the news.

There is a perspective where this re-signing makes sense. The Washington Redskins don’t have any proven options at left guard. They didn’t add any players through the NFL Draft, despite a clear need at that position. At this point, the Washington Redskins had Ty Nsekhe, Arie Kouandjio, Tyler Catalina, Tony Bergstrom, Kyle Kalis, and Sean Welsh as possible starting options at guard.

Ty Nsekhe is the name that garners the most confidence out of that bunch. This fact is at least somewhat troubling, especially when considering that Nsekhe himself is a tackle, and not a guard, even though he does have experience at both positions.

But while the Washington Redskins don’t know what they’d receive by starting any of those options, Shawn Lauvao is a widely-known quantity. He is a below-average starter who will only keep declining as he continues to age. Nearing 31 years old, Lauvao is far past the prime of his career, and it’s fair to wonder if he’d actually beat out Kouandjio or Bergstrom in a fair position battle.

But that’s the problem. With the re-signing of Lauvao now official, the Washington Redskins may trick themselves into thinking he’s a starter, just because that’s how they’ve used him for the past four years. He was a good player once. But those days have passed, and if the Washington Redskins refuse to admit that, then they have a dangerous situation on their hands. They simply pencil him in as starter because he has experience, when the best option may be to try something new. Last year, Lauvao graded out at 38.3 on Pro Football Focus. He was rated as the No. 70 best guard in the NFL. That’s not good, folks.

Next: Redskins post-NFL Draft roster breakdown

Lauvao is a decent run blocker. But at this point in his career, he is often dealing with injuries, and he’s not as quick as he used to be. It doesn’t matter if the Washington Redskins spent a minimum deal on the former Cleveland Brown. It wasn’t worth adding another guard to the logjam, and certainly not a guard who is in the back nine of his career, and has proven to be inconsistent at best with the Washington Redskins. Better investments of roster space and money can be made.