Josh Conerly doesn’t look how he did last year. That’s not to say last year’s first-round NFL draft pick was a slouch during his rookie campaign. The right tackle from Oregon played relatively well. He was already built right, but there’s something different about his body comp and his mindset heading into the 2026 campaign.
That’s no coincidence.
Conerly spent a large chunk of his offseason working with elite Commanders left tackle Laremy Tunsil, who has a workout program that doesn’t miss. Tunsil spends
most of his time in Tunsil’s native Auburn, Alabama, working with his own team and to great effect.
Conerly showed up to Washington’s offseason program in excellent shape. Tunsil was not surprised.
“Come on, now. That’s ‘Bama,” Tunsil said Wednesday in a post-practice scrum with on-site reporters, via 7News reporter Scott Abraham. “That’s us working our asses off. That’s us working every day. Every single day, we ate right. We ate protein for lunch and breakfast. No carbs for dinner. There were supplements every day. We established a routine that we had to live by to change our body.”
Tunsil doesn’t work with the team for most of the offseason program, but the organization doesn’t mind. His workout program is legendary, and he always returns to the team in elite condition. Tunsil made a point to show up for the first week of OTAs this time, and again for minicamp.
That’s a small sign that he cares about learning David Blough’s new offensive system and helping to develop younger Commanders offensive linemen.
“We’re going to attack a little bit more than we did last year, in the sense of a lot of things,” Tunsil said. “It helps Jayden, it helps the receivers and it helps us.”
Tunsil was seen several times counseling Conerly, helping to mold him into a better player.
They kept working after practice and without coaches, as Tunsil refines the young tackle’s game.
Tunsil considers Conerly a “dawg.” Tunsil called teammates “dawgs” several times, using the term endearingly and with affection. He used it for quarterback Jayden Daniels. He used it for Conerly. Others would use it for him.
What exactly does “dawg” mean to him?
“Somebody who wants it,” Tunsil said. “Somebody who is dying to be great each and every day. Somebody who simply has to get one percent better. That’s who I think a dog is.”
