Redskins should pursue John Sullivan to be team’s backup center
John Sullivan was on the Washington Redskins for one year before departing and joining the Los Angeles Rams. Could he return to the Redskins in free agency?
During the 2017 season, John Sullivan was a rock-solid lineman for the Redskins. He joined the team shortly after the start of the season and assumed the backup center role. He stepped in just once as a starter in place of the injured Spencer Long and didn’t miss a beat. It was assumed that the team would do everything they could to keep him following the season as their backup center.
However, Sullivan elected to leave the Redskins to join the Los Angeles Rams. This made sense, as Sullivan had a clear path to a starting job with the Rams. In Washington, he could have become the starting center had Long kicked inside to left guard, but that wasn’t in the cards.
In each of the past two seasons, Sullivan has served as a starter for the Rams. He missed just one game in 2017, and that was when the Rams were resting starters at the end of the regular season. So realistically, he hasn’t missed a start with the Rams. Generally speaking, he was great and helped to hold together the Rams’ cohesive offensive line.
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However, despite his success, the Rams elected not to exercise his option for 2019, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. That means that he will be a free agent, and the Redskins will certainly have an interest in him.
Last season, the Redskins once again had trouble keeping their offensive line healthy. The only player to actually stay healthy for the whole season was starting center Chase Roullier. In particular, the guard position gave the Redskins trouble, as they cycled through eight starters at those positions throughout the year.
Bringing back Sullivan would be an excellent move for the ‘Skins. He would be the top backup on the interior line and may even challenge to win the starting job at left guard. The team could also consider moving Roullier to that position while starting Sullivan at center, but playing Sullivan at guard would be more likely so as to not stunt Roullier’s growth.
Even if Sullivan wasn’t the starter, he would be a huge upgrade over last year’s backup interior lineman, Tony Bergstrom, who has only ever been a decent player at best. Having that kind of experienced depth would be a huge get for the Redskins.
It’s unclear whether or not Sullivan would be interested in returning to Washington. However, the team was the one that scooped him up after the Vikings cut him, so perhaps he would be willing to return to the team even if it is just in a backup role. Of course, there may be a starting option available that Sullivan would, rightly, want to pursue, so that will have to be taken into consideration as well.
Still, if the price is right and Sullivan is willing to play guard or shift into a backup role, re-signing him would be a good move. He’s 33, but interior linemen can play into their mid-to-late 30s. And given that he played well last year, there’s no reason to think he would completely regress in one season.
Redskins post-combine 7-round mock draft. dark. Next
It will be interesting to see if the Redskins try to bring back Sullivan. They should have an interest in him, and it’s just a matter of whether or not that interest would be mutual.