A familiar face just added a new wrinkle to one of the Commanders' future position battles
The Washington Commanders signed 15 players during the first week of free agency and they're not done.Veteran cornerback, Michael Davis, was added to the roster on Monday and now, veteran tackle Cornelius Lucas is back for his fifth-straight season in the DMV, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. It's an interesting move. The Commanders need depth at […]
The Washington Commanders signed 15 players during the first week of free agency and they're not done.
Veteran cornerback, Michael Davis, was added to the roster on Monday and now, veteran tackle Cornelius Lucas is back for his fifth-straight season in the DMV, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
It's an interesting move. The Commanders need depth at tackle and Lucas is exactly that – he's been a swing tackle throughout his career, playing both sides when needed.
At the same time, the door has been left open at left tackle, thanks to the decision to release former starter, Charles Leno Jr., a couple weeks ago. Braeden Daniels is currently the presumed starter, but that's totally up in the air, especially when considering he hasn't taken a single snap in his career, yet. Lucas' experience likely gives him a leg up, at the start. Either way, Lucas will be given a chance to compete for the left tackle spot.
Outside of the disastrous season finale in which he allowed three sacks, Lucas filled in admirably on the left side. Per Pro Football Focus, the former undrafted free agent allowed zero sacks and just three total pressures over the course of 55 pass blocking snaps in a true pass set before the season finale. However, his run blocking plummeted last year, which is something to definitely take note of.
But not only is the left tackle job open, the right tackle job should be open, as well. Andrew Wylie, with all due respect, is merely an average-at-best, stopgap option at right tackle, which is becoming increasingly important due to the fact that defenses are lining up their No. 1 pass rusher on the defensive left more and more, these days.
Wylie allowed the third-most sacks (8), the sixth-most QB hits (6), the ninth-most total pressures (34), and his 93.7 pass blocking efficiency mark out of true pass sets ranked 37th out of the 50 qualifying tackles with at least 438 pass blocking snaps in 2023. In all, he allowed 9.0 sacks, 42 pressures, and yielded a 96.1 pass blocking efficiency rating. Those numbers were third-worst, 12th-most, and ranked 35th out of the 50 aforementioned players, respectively.
Lucas certainly has a chance to come in and win either job. It won't be a surprise if the Commanders draft a guy early on Day 2 to come in and compete and hopefully be the starter for the foreseeable future. It's not the most ideal of situations, but Washington can save nearly $1.6 million by releasing Wylie and Lucas' deal is up to $4 million after incentives. In other words: Neither contract will force the Commanders to keep either player if they need to make a move.
No matter how you look at it, the battle for both jobs just got a whole lot more interesting.
