Washington Commanders fans are still trying to make sense of the surprise decision to part ways with Tyler Biadasz, the team’s starting center for the last two seasons. Â
By all accounts, Biadasz had been a crucial part of Washington’s improving offensive line. He provided veteran leadership despite still being in his prime. His salary was modest for a starter of his caliber.
At this point, we’re merely grasping at straws when trying to explain the move.
Injury concerns do not appear to be a factor. Perhaps when David Blough and offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton considered the type of blockers they wanted this year, Biadasz simply didn’t fit the profile. That’s hard to assess given that we have never seen what this offense looks like.
Of course, moves like this usually come down to a simple analysis.
Commanders don't have the means to sign Tyler Linderbaum even if they wanted to
The Commanders apparently think they can do better at the position. That suggests they have one or more replacements in mind. From the outside, it’s difficult to identify many such players.
Unquestionably, the clear prize in free agency this offseason is Tyler Linderbaum. The former Iowa star has been the Baltimore Ravens' starting center ever since the AFC North club chose him in the first round of the 2022 draft. He has missed just two games in four years and has been to three straight Pro Bowls. And he is still just 25 years old.
Linderbaum is going to get a huge contract. The Ravens have chosen not to franchise tag him but have made clear they intend to make a market-setting offer to keep him in Baltimore. Creed Humphrey is currently the highest-paid center, playing on a four-year deal that averages $18 million per season with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Any team hoping to sign Linderbaum will have to reach the $20 million-per-year threshold. The Commanders do have a nice salary cap surplus to spend, but given their current roster situation, they almost certainly cannot make that kind of offer.
There is no set blueprint for building an offensive line. A lot of teams like to invest heavily in a left tackle and one interior lineman, then fill out the line with mid-tier veterans and high-end youngsters still on their rookie deals. That’s what teams like the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Rams have done with great success.
But the Chicago Bears showed last year that you could spend big on the entire interior and go with a couple of young, cheap tackles. It’s all about having the right blend of players.
However, one thing that seems impossible in the salary cap era is spending big on three of your five offensive linemen.
The Commanders are paying their two best lineman — Laremy Tunsil and Sam Cosmi. They are attempting to sign the blindside enforcer to an extension, which will no doubt pay him at a very high level for several additional years.
No team in the league has three linemen earning $20 million a year or more. One team comes close, and they have what is generally considered to be the best line in the league right now.
Like Washington, the Denver Broncos are paying a tackle (Mike McGlinchey) and a guard (Quinn Meinerz) at that $20 million-plus level. They are also paying guard Ben Powers very close to that. They also just extended their center, Luke Wattenberg, at $12 million a season.
The Broncos are different from Washington in a couple of important areas. To make this work in the short term, they restructured left tackle Garrett Bolles’ contract to lower his 2025 cap hit. They will have to address that at some point.
Most importantly, at least compared to the Commanders' situation, Denver has an outstanding young defense.
In the short term, they can afford to overspend on the offensive line because of the extraordinary production and value they are getting from their young defenders. The Commanders are definitely not in that boat and will need money to build their defense.
Even if that weren’t the case, it’s hard to imagine that Adam Peters can make a serious run at a player like Linderbaum. Certainly not while he is working on the Tunsil extension.
Tunsil and Cosmi are the standard high-priced, high-value veterans. In younger players like Josh Conerly Jr., Brandon Coleman, and perhaps a re-signed Chris Paul, the Commanders have a decent core of lower-priced linemen.
It would seem logical that Peters would want one of those mid-tier, solid veterans to balance out the line. That does not describe Linderbaum.
It does describe Biadasz to a tee, which is why this development is so confounding.