Commanders general manager Adam Peters had a plan for the center position entering the 2026 campaign. It obviously wasn’t good enough.
We’ve seen that play out painfully over the course of this summer, with presumptive starter Nick Allegretti out most of training camp with a calf strain.
Allegretti suffered the injury during Washington’s first training camp practice, way back on July 29. He returned on Aug. 18, following nearly three weeks on the shelf. Allegretti aggravated the issue a day later and
hasn’t returned since.
That left reserves Julian Good-Jones and Matt Gulbin to fill a void, and results haven’t been great. Head coach Dan Quinn stuck with Good-Jones as the primary center (with Allegretti out) for weeks, and it didn’t work out well. Then he put Gulbin front and, well, center heading into the preseason’s final week.
While this center setup has been messy for a while, it came to a head during Wednesday’s joint practice with the Ravens. On-site reporters generally agreed that the offensive line play was poor, especially at the center spot.
It prompted The Athletic reporter Nicki Jhabvala to tweet this:
And this (with some additional context about the state of Wednesday’s offensive line):
A play documented by the Washington Post’s Tashan Reed, showed how bad things can get when the center spot’s not right:
We’ve reached an untenable situation at center, which simply must get fixed before the regular season starts. The Allegretti injury exposed a major flaw in Peters’ positional construction.
He earmarked Allegretti to take over at center despite him primarily playing guard in the NFL, without protection should injury or ineffectiveness take hold. Good-Jones doesn’t have tons of experience at center entering 2026. Gulbin’s just a sixth-round pick trying to find his way.
Where else was Quinn supposed to turn, except to the front office asking for help? There are only so many levers he can pull at this point.
It’s low-hanging fruit to relitigate entire the offseason, about why Tyler Biasdaz was released without the need for cap relief or why an outside veteran wasn’t signed once Tyler Linderbaum went to Las Vegas. It’s borderline lunacy to reimagine NFL draft picks in the first round or the third round going to a center over Sonny Style and Antonio Williams.
The Commanders are where they are at the center spot. They need depth at the very least. What is Peters going to do about it?
There’s no doubt Peters and his pro scouting department understand the lay of the land when it comes to centers still on the street, including former Lions starter Graham Glasgow. They’ve also got a good idea of who might get cut and what that person’s market value might be.
They’ve got salary-cap space to spare, plus two sixth-round NFL draft picks and a seventh should Washington need to grease the wheels to secure the center they want most in trade.
It’s hard to imagine landing a true, every-down starter at this point. The Commanders will surely hope their confidence in Allegretti is well placed and that he can play enough catch-up once healthy to be ready and capable on Sept. 13 against Philadelphia.
Look, it’s entirely possible Allegretti returns and plays well at center and doesn’t get injured again and all this center consternation is but a blip.
There’s reason for doubt, as this training camp showed. That’s why Peters must be aggressive in the marketplace and find an experienced backup and someone with the savvy required to step in and play meaningful snaps.
As we’ve seen to this point, the reserves aren’t quite ready. Even dominant showings in Friday’s preseason finale won’t change that.
That leaves the offensive line in flux over the next few days, even beyond the initial 53-man roster formation.
The offensive line’s in a tough spot and has been since Laremy Tunsil tore his triceps a few weeks back. That moved Brandon Coleman to left tackle and ended his position battle with Chris Paul at left guard. That’s not an overall plus for the starting lineup or the position group’s depth, which must be reconstructed on the fly.
This week’s D.J. Humphries signing was a start. It’s not the end. The Commanders need clear help at center and should continue looking for upgrades on the back end of the depth chart as we move forward.
