What critical factors have led to a constant stream of failings for the Washington Commanders offensive line in 2023?
In 2020, Ron Rivera’s first season coaching the Washington Commanders - and their last trip to the playoffs - position coach John Matsko took an eclectic combination of draft picks and free agents and turned them into one of the better offensive lines on the NFL.
Brendan Scherff, a first-round pick, battled through injury to turn in another solid season. Third-rounder Morgan Moses had a strong bounce-back year at right tackle. And fifth-round pick Chase Roullier emerged as a very reliable center.
Two free agents - Cornelius Lucas and Wes Schweitzer - outplayed draft picks Geron Christian Jr. and Wes Martin to lock down the other two spots.
Since then, the Commanders have added and subtracted players, and the net result has been that the offensive line has regressed. In 2020, inexperienced running back Antonio Gibson, managed 4.7 yards per carry because there were occasionally holes to run through. This year, quality runner, Brian Robinson Jr. is moving heaven and earth to eke out 3.8 YPC after typically being met head-on at the line of scrimmage.
In 2020, the quarterbacks were inexperienced or immobile and were sacked 50 times. That’s not a good number, but it looks like Mark Rypien and the Hogs compared to the 40 sacks through seven games given up this season.
Oddly enough, despite those numbers, the regression isn’t readily apparent in most statistics. But it is obvious on the field.
This line cannot open holes for runners and it cannot consistently protect the quarterback. Our job today is to understand why this has happened. Let’s look at five primary reasons.
Commanders haven't invested properly
The Washington Commanders have treated their offensive line like a penny stock. In the past seven seasons, they have drafted 10 offensive linemen. That’s more than the Philadelphia Eagles or Dallas Cowboys. But they are the only team in the NFC East that has not invested at least one first-round pick in the unit since 2017.
For you gamblers out there - want a trend? Coming into the NFL’s eighth weekend of 2023, 16 teams boasted records of .500 or better. The Commanders, as I’m sure you know, were not one of them.
Of those 16 teams, 14 of them had spent at least one first-round draft pick on an offensive lineman since 2017. Most of the real up-and-coming teams - the ones who had been bad for a long time but are now showing real life - had invested multiple first-round picks. That includes teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, and New York Jets.
The only two teams that did not follow this path were the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. But this also needs context.
Buffalo has three second-rounders and two third-rounders - four of whom the Bills drafted - starting on their line. Four-fifths of the Chiefs line is also made up of second and third-round picks, with Trey Smith the one diamond-in-the-rough who came in the sixth.
The Commanders, in contrast, have spent one second-round pick and two third-rounders on linemen in the past seven years. One currently starts. One does not. The other is long gone from the roster.
It seems pretty clear that Washington is trying to get by with lower-level talent on the line, and they really should know better. That doesn't work.
Commanders have developed poorly
I suppose that lack of investment could work if the Washington Commanders had a recent track record of coaching up prospects. But that record is also abysmal and a damning indictment on Ron Rivera's staff.
Back in 2020, when I was praising offensive line coach John Matsko for cobbling together a respectable unit, I did note one troubling fact. He was mostly doing it with veterans and free agents that had come from other organizations.
Washington still had homegrown talent like Morgan Moses, Brandon Scherff, and Chase Roullier. But they had all been with the team for at least five seasons. There were no younger players ready to pick up the mantle.
The book is still out on Sam Cosmi – the highest-drafted lineman Washington has had since Scherff in 2015. But until he clearly establishes himself, it is correct to say that the Commanders have not drafted and developed a reliable starter on their suspect protection since Roullier, who was released before the 2023 season.
The names float by like ghosts in a Poe story and it'll take a monumental effort to turn this around. The current crop of unknowns - Chris Paul, Ricky Stromberg, Braeden Daniels - need to emerge, but given the recent track record, how confident can you be?
Commanders' woeful free-agent signings
In 2020, Cornelius Lucas and Wes Schweitzer were godsends. A year later, Charles Leno Jr. was even better. That is not the case these days.
Schweitzer is gone. Lucas and Leno - who were reliable but never outstanding - are showing signs of age. In addition to ignoring premium talent in the draft, the Washington Commanders have done little via free agency to improve an aging offensive line.
Veterans Nick Gates and Andrew Wylie were supposed to help repair the line this year. So far, it has not worked at all.
The drumbeat to insert veteran Tyler Larsen or rookie Ricky Stromberg in place of Gates at center is picking up momentum. Wylie can play fairly well for stretches, but his physical limitations invariably seem to lead to penalties, pressures, and sacks at crucial moments.
I’ll repeat what I have been saying for the past two years. Sam Cosmi should be playing right tackle. Let him grow into the position. Unfortunately, there is no other player on the roster who can step into his spot at guard, so this move seems unlikely.
Sometimes it simply comes down to scouting. Washington chose Gates over Garrett Bradbury and Wylie over Daniel Brunskill. Those are not great players by any means, but they are cheaper and arguably better than the players the Commanders signed.
Commanders have endured bad luck
Though it may not have seemed it at the time, Chase Roullier’s fractured fibula in the middle of the 2021 season seems to be the major catalyst to the Washington Commanders' offensive line tailspin. They've never been the same since.
Roullier was playing very well. The entire offensive line was functioning with a smart young veteran at center directing traffic. And though it may only be a symbolic statement, he was the last vestige of a homegrown talent.
The former sixth-rounder was that diamond-in-the-rough that is so important to so many lines. You need five guys (minimum) and getting five high-level draft picks is pretty tough. So almost every great line has at least one guy who came out of nowhere.
The Philadelphia Eagles currently have Jordan Mailata playing the crucial left tackle spot. Wyatt Teller is manning the right guard spot for the Cleveland Browns. Both were day three draft picks. But I don’t need to tell you this, do I?
In addition to the highly drafted Mark May and Russ Grimm, Washington had Joe Jacoby. They also had another undrafted free agent back then but they thought he was too fat to play. So they cut Nate Newton.
The Commanders had recently rewarded Roullier with a long-term contract. He was going to be the foundation on which the new offensive line would be built. Then, just like that, he was gone.
Because the franchise had such a poor record of drafting and developing other young talent, they were helpless to respond.
Commanders' poor player relations
I won’t dwell on this last one. I even hesitate to bring it up. But it’s important if you want to understand how the Washington Commanders ended up here.
Like Washington, the Dallas Cowboys have only drafted three offensive linemen in the first two days of the draft since 2017. It’s true that one of them was a first-rounder, unlike the Commanders, but the total is the same.
But the Cowboys have something Washington does not have. They have two old veterans - both first-round draft picks from the early 2010s - who are still playing at a high level.
Tyron Smith gets hurt a lot - so does Zack Martin. But both are significantly better than anyone the Commanders currently roll out on their protection that's for sure.
Of course, they did have those players. Trent Williams and Brendan Scherff are the last two first-round picks the Commanders spent on the line. And both are still starting in the league. Just not for Washington.
The previous administration ran such a dysfunctional franchise that both star players jumped ship for greener pastures as soon as they could. A sorry state of affairs.
Williams and Scherff will probably be starting for teams in the playoffs this year. Washington won’t be there, in part because they don’t seem to value high-level talent on the offensive line. Hopefully, the new ownership group will correct that problem.