Expected to be a team strength in 2026, the Washington Commanders’ offensive line has been anything but over the first six weeks. It all started Aug. 8, when star left tackle Laremy Tunsil was injured during a training camp practice. It was revealed that Tunsil tore his triceps, meaning he would be out for most, if not all, of the 2026 season.
It was a massive blow before the season even began. Fortunately for the Commanders, they had Brandon Coleman, who started at left tackle in 2024, to move back there. The problem was that Coleman was expected to win the starting left guard job. Now, Washington would be without its two projected starters on the left side. Chris Paul, last season’s starter at left guard, would remain in the starting lineup
with Coleman at left tackle.
The good news is that the Commanders’ projected right-side starters—guard Sam Cosmi and tackle Josh Conerly Jr.—were healthy.
The one position Washington botched this offseason was center. While general manager Adam Peters didn’t want to live in the past, he made a mistake by releasing two-year starting center Tyler Biadasz without a clear replacement. So when the Commanders missed out on Tyler Linderbaum in free agency, they spent the offseason telling everyone veteran guard Nick Allegretti would be a quality starting center.
Peters passed on multiple chances to sign veteran centers with starting experience, including Lloyd Cushenberry and Ethan Pocic. He waited until the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft to select a center — Matt Gulbin.
Allegretti missing almost all of training camp highlighted Peters’ fatal offseason mistake. Not only did Allegretti, almost exclusively a guard and mostly a backup throughout his NFL career, need the reps, but the team had no backup plan. Julian Good-Jones and Gulbin were the backups. They performed as expected in the preseason. It wasn't pretty. But Washington said everything would be fine once Allegretti returned.
It took head coach Dan Quinn two weeks to bench Allegretti. After signing veteran Lucas Patrick in September, he quickly replaced Allegretti at center. Allegretti started one game at right guard in Week 3 for an injured Cosmi, but has been on the bench ever since.
Placing all the blame on Allegretti would be extremely unfair. He struggled, but he shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with. Paul has been solid in pass protection, but has struggled with run blocking and has stepped on the foot of quarterback Jayden Daniels more than once, including in two critical situations. He also had an unnecessary facemask penalty that wiped out a touchdown in Monday’s loss to the 49ers.
Cosmi has missed two games, but he’s been outstanding otherwise. Conerly has looked much better this season, but had his worst game on Monday. Coleman has been solid as a run blocker at left tackle, but has struggled blocking talented edge rushers.
Tunsil isn’t coming back, but with Washington on a bye this week, could Quinn look to shake up the offensive line ahead of Week 8? He certainly sounded like he’s considering it.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say that,” Quinn said when asked if he’d seen enough to determine whether the Commanders found the offensive line combination they’ll use for the rest of the season.
“I thought this performance was below the standard that we’ve set for ourselves at offensive line. And that’s gonna continue to look and find the right combination. So, I wasn’t pleased. With the standard that we have set for our group, and I don’t think we met that yesterday. I thought we left ourselves short.”
One move the Commanders could make is moving veteran Andrew Wylie to left tackle and sliding Coleman back to guard. However, that’s riskier than sticking with Coleman at left tackle. Wylie would make more sense at left guard to replace Paul.
One intriguing possibility is practice squad tackle Esa Pole. A former basketball standout, Pole had never played football until he enrolled at Chabot College (California) and started at left tackle for two years. From there, he transferred to Washington State, where he was a starter before entering the 2025 NFL Draft.
After going undrafted, Pole signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs waived him during final cuts, and the New York Jets claimed him. In October, the Jets waived Pole, and the Chiefs brought him back. He appeared in five games for Kansas City, including four starts. Head coach Andy Reid praised Pole. When Kansas City waived him in August, it hoped to re-sign him to the practice squad, but he chose the Commanders.
Could he be a part of Quinn’s reshuffling?
It’s hard to say what Washington is thinking, but it has two weeks to decide whether the current combination is good enough. Most on the outside would say it’s not good enough.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders may not be finished making offensive line changes
