Washington Football Team: Analyzing the 2021 offensive line

The Brandon Scherff situation

Then there is the Brandon Scherff wild card. Scherff is playing on his second consecutive franchise tag. The Washington Football Team cannot afford to franchise him again in 2022, so it is highly likely that he will be testing the free agent market. This does not mean he is definitely leaving, and a lot can change over the course of a season, but Washington is clearly preparing for life after Scherff. I do not think it likely, but there is certainly a chance that Scherff gets traded at some point.

Scherff’s loss would be a blow to the unit. Scherff is their best player and going from a perennial Pro Bowler to a solid journeyman like Schweitzer would be a significant decline. But if a good offer comes along, the team might decide this is a better course of action than taking the modest compensation that would come should they lose him to free agency.

Such a scenario may be most likely if the season is going poorly and a playoff contender is in need of a guard. However, given the weakened state of the NFC East, and the fact that the Washington Football Team closes with five consecutive divisional games, it is hard to envision a scenario where they would be content to scrap the season before the trade deadline.

It is more likely, should a trade actually occur, that it signals the teams’ growing confidence in a player like Charles or Ismael. One of the most encouraging things about the current group of linemen is that none are older than 30, and that three highly-regarded players have not yet turned 23. They are built to play well this season, and they are built to remain good for the foreseeable future.

This is what tends to happen when you allow smart football people to make football decisions. As I’m sure you already know, the same is true of the talented defensive line, though that malnourished unit barely reaches 4,000 pounds.