Commanders aren't rushing to make a decision on a key position battle and it's the right move
The Washington Commanders did a good job of filling a lot of roster holes during the offseason and so far, they're finding answers to those questions.But there's still plenty of work to be done and none of the answers to said questions have been fulfilled, much less confirmed, at this point.One of the areas that […]
The Washington Commanders did a good job of filling a lot of roster holes during the offseason and so far, they're finding answers to those questions.
But there's still plenty of work to be done and none of the answers to said questions have been fulfilled, much less confirmed, at this point.
One of the areas that will continue to see competition and undergo evaluation is the offensive line. Sure, guys like Andrew Wylie, Sam Cosmi, and Tyler Biadasz are the unquestioned starters at their positions, but when it comes to the right guard position and left tackle position – it's nowhere near as cemented.
There are guys you can label as leading candidates, sure. Cornelius Lucas is currently the favorite to win the starting left tackle job and Nick Allegretti is the favorite to win the starting left guard job, regardless of where the odds stand. Then, Brandon Coleman, Braeden Daniels, and Trent Scott follow up Lucas and Chris Paul and Michael Dieter follow up Allegretti.
The Commanders have been rotating the first five throughout OTAs and mandatory minicamp in efforts to find the "best five" and they aren't going to rush any decisions when it comes to figuring that out. That's easily the best call and one that should work best in the long run.
"I don't have a calendar date set, that I've circled [to where] it has to be by this time," Commanders head coach Dan Quinn told reporters earlier in the week. "If you see it, you do it, but certainly at the line of scrimmage, on both sides, we all owe it to ourselves to take that process all the way through, and fortunately for us, we've planned ahead as we're going into practices. We have some other scrimmages against other teams, so we'll have some opportunities that will be really beneficial for the big guys, and we'll take them all."
When considering last year's porous pass protection (and that's putting it nicely), on top of the presence of Jayden Daniels – the Commanders have to make sure they are doing everything they can to ensure the process of figuring out the offensive line is the correct one. Because if they don't, it could easily stall the upward trajectory of the rebuild and potentially even worse – it could delay Daniels' development.
Fortunately, they are taking the right approach. We'll just have to wait and see if it pays off.
