Washington Football Team trades for Raiders offensive tackle David Sharpe

The Washington Football Team traded for Las Vegas Raiders offensive tackle David Sharpe on Tuesday.

Ahead of final roster cuts, the Washington Football Team was expected to attempt to add some talent at the weaker positions on their roster. Notably, it seemed that the team’s brain trust wasn’t happy with the team’s depth, or lack thereof, on the offensive line.

In recent weeks, Washington has shuffled around players at tackle. They tried out Kevin Pamphile, but he didn’t pan out. David Steinmetz was recently added after a tryout, but the 6-foot-7 tackle is far from a proven commodity.

The team’s lacking tackle depth is likely what inspired them to make a trade at the position on Tuesday. It wasn’t a big one (sorry in advance for those hoping that Riley Reiff had come to Washington).

Instead, the team swapped late-round picks with the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2021 NFL Draft in order to acquire the services of David Sharpe, per Kyle Stackpole of the official Washington Football Team website.

Sharpe was competing for a roster spot in Vegas along with the likes of 2018 third-round pick Brandon Parker, veteran Denzelle Good, and veteran Sam Young on the Raiders’ strong offensive line. Ultimately, the Raiders decided to part with Sharpe for just a minor jump in draft status.

Sharpe was once a fourth-round pick of the Oakland Raiders in 2017. The Florida product has great size at 6-foot-6, 330 pounds, but he’s not much of an athlete. He has 24 games worth of experience with two starts, so he can serve as a big-bodied depth option.

That said, Sharpe likely won’t factor in as anything more than back-end roster depth. His on-field performance has never been all that good and he committed three penalties and allowed three sacks in just 267 snaps last year.

Perhaps Sharpe can improve under the tutelage of John Matsko. He is still just 24, so despite his three years of NFL experience, he is young. And by getting him on the cheap, Washington isn’t relying on him to make an impact; they’re just taking a flier on him.

Sharpe’s presence will likely have an impact on Washington’s 53-man roster. They wouldn’t have traded for him ahead of cut day if they weren’t intent on keeping him.

How might they do that? Given that Saahdiq Charles has been dealing with a calf injury for most of camp, they could place him on the IR and designate him for return. That way he can get fully healthy before being thrust into any potential action.

We’ll soon see if Sharpe sticks around in Washington longer-term, but this move is a solid one. They’re risking very few resources to test out a young player at a position of need. Even if Sharpe doesn’t pan out, acquiring him will have been worth the risk.