PFF names Charles Leno as Commanders’ most underrated player

The national media won’t admit it — or the majority of it, anyway — but the Washington Commanders have an incredibly talented roster.

Look no further than the 2021 campaign, when Jonathan Allen made his first Pro Bowl and Terry McLaurin became the franchise’s first receiver since Henry Ellard in the mid 1990s to log consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

What the roster lacks in top-tier talent outside of Allen, McLaurin, Chase Young (based on potential) and Kendall Fuller, it more than makes up for in underrated players who’d start for most contenders around the NFL.

But who’s deserving of Washington’s most underrated player title?

Is it Cole Holcomb, who led the team in tackles last year? Is Kam Curl worthy of consideration? What about Chase Roullier or even Daron Payne, who often gets lost in the shuffle given he plays on a stacked defensive line?

Each of those players are underrated in their own right. If you asked Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson, though, he’d give the cake to Charles Leno.

Pro Football Focus picked left tackle Charles Leno as the most underrated player on the Commanders’ roster.

While Leno will get beat for the occasional sack — it was his blown assignment that preluded Ryan Fitzpatrick’s season-ending hip injury in Week 1 — he still graded as one of the best pass-blocking tackles in the NFL last year.

In a vacuum, Leno’s presence was a huge reason why the Commanders’ offensive line ranked among the NFL’s elite in 2021. He signed a one-year prove-it deal with the club after he got released by Chicago and parlayed that into a deserved three-year, $37.5 million extension this offseason.

Leno appeared in all 17 games for Washington and played 100% of the offensive snaps. He finished as the team’s highest-graded offensive lineman with a 81.2 player grade and his 87.3 pass-blocking grade was far and away the best on the team, according to PFF. The next closest was Ereck Flowers’ 78.1 mark.

How did Leno’s numbers compared to the rest of the NFL? Well, his player grade ranked 12th amongst tackles and his pass-blocking grade ranked second only to now-retired Rams star Andrew Whitworth. That’s not a typo, folks.

Despite being responsible for six sacks, Leno was better in pass protection than stars Trent Williams, Tyron Smith, Tristan Wirfs, Lane Johnson, Terron Armstead, Taylor Decker, Elgton Jenkins and Dion Dawkins. If you were to rank those OTs based on talent and value, Leno would rank closer to the bottom than the top.

That’s exactly what makes Leno underrated and a worthy selection for PFF’s Commanders title. As a former seventh-round pick, he’s carried that title for the entirety of his career and has clearly used it as motivation.

All he’s done is start every game for the last six (!) seasons at one of the game’s premier positions. Not bad for an underrated player. Not bad at all.

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