6 Washington players who proved their worth in 2021

3. Charles Leno

Tough to “prove your worth” more than outperforming a cheap one-year deal and being rewarded in the form of a three-year, $37.5 million extension.

We just want to thank the Chicago Bears for releasing Leno last offseason and giving Washington the opportunity to sign him. In turn, we’d like to give credit to Washington for not blowing said opportunity and bringing him aboard.

Asking Leno to fill the shoes of future first ballot Hall of Famer Trent Williams couldn’t have been easy, but his bookend presence at left tackle sure helped the fan base forget that Williams was busy dominating on the west coast with the 49ers

For the season, Leno finished with the second-best pass blocking grade among tackles with an 87.3 mark, per Pro Football Focus. Believe it or not, that grade was superior to Williams’ sublime 84.9 mark in pass protection.

Even better? Leno’s unheard of durability streak continued. He appeared all in 17 games, extending his streak of consecutive starts to 110 (!) and played 100% of the snaps in all but one contest this season.

That’s the kind of stability you need at the left tackle position and Washington will have it for the next three years following his extension.