Evaluating Sam Cosmi and Chris Paul’s performance at guard against the Browns

Taking a closer look at how the Commanders starting guards performed in their preseason opener.

One of the biggest questions facing the Washington Commanders entering preseason was how the offensive line would hold up. For about 20 snaps against the Browns, we got a glimpse of how the starting offensive line might shape up. It’s fair to say free agent right tackle Andrew Wylie didn’t have his best game, but he has years of experience in this league and Eric Bieniemy’s system, so I think we can back him to get it right by the time the regular season starts.

The potentially bigger issues came from inside. Washington has an entirely new interior offensive line. Nick Gates was signed to start at center, and I thought he handled the calls very well, but the questions are more at the guard positions. The left guard spot is an open competition between Saahdiq Charles and Chris Paul, but Charles is battling an injury so Paul got the start against the Browns. At right guard, Sam Cosmi is set to be the starter, but this is his first full offseason as purely a guard, so it’s interesting to see how he’s developed in that regard. Cosmi and Paul were two of the players you guys asked me most about after the Browns game, so let’s take a closer look at how they got on.

Sam Cosmi

After watching the All-22 footage, I thought Cosmi was the Commanders best offensive lineman. He looked far more comfortable and protected at guard than tackle, where he struggled to protect the edge without oversetting, which opened up big lanes inside. At guard, he always had Wylie outside of him limiting how much a defender could challenge his outside shoulder. This enabled him to be far more balanced and confident in his sets which in turn let him show off his athleticism.

Here we have Cosmi’s rep from third and six on the Commanders opening drive. This is an obvious passing situation and the defense shows its intentions by widening the alignment of all four defensive lineman to give themselves the best rushing angle. At tackle, this meant Cosmi would have had to worry about getting all the way outside to cut off a wide 9 technique defensive end, but at guard the defensive tackle can only get so wide. Off the snap he does gain some depth and width with his set and possibly goes a step too far outside given the rush angle of the defensive tackle. However, because he’s playing inside rather than outside, there’s less space for the defenders to attack. Cosmi is able to show off his foot speed and mirroring ability to change his momentum and shuffle back inside to cut off the inside move.

Once Cosmi cuts off the inside move, the defender attempts to spin back outside. Cosmi remains calm, shuffling his feet back outside and staying in front of the defender. When the defender gets his back fully turned to Cosmi as part of the spin, Cosmi actually catches him to gain full control of the block. With the defensive tackle facing the wrong way, Cosmi decides to finish off the block emphatically, driving the defender to the ground, showing a bit of a nasty streak that you love to see in offensive lineman to completely take the defender out of the play. 

For Cosmi, it was clear to see throughout the game that he was so much more comfortable at guard knowing he had protection outside of him. I was also impressed by the way Cosmi was able to adapt to the different types of rushers he’ll face at guard. At tackle, the majority of the time he would have faced an edge rusher. At guard, he’ll face bigger bodied defensive tackles that can range anywhere from 290 pounds to 350 pounds, while also having to deal with situational rush packages that move flexible guys inside. In Washington, we’ve seen guys like Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith in the past that are able to slide inside in obvious passing situations to try and create a mismatch on a guard. The Browns have Za’Darius Smith, who can do this exact same thing.

On this play, the Browns moved edge rusher Za’Darius Smith inside to try and create a mismatch on Cosmi at guard. Smith stands up a yard off the line of scrimmage at the snap, which allows him to build up his rush a bit more as he initially looks to fake an inside rush. He sells a hard jab step inside before then attempting to burst back outside. At tackle, Cosmi might have struggled with this type of rush, but here he knows he has protection both inside and out, so he remains calm and plays the rush on its merits. He adjusts from his initial set to the inside jab step by Smith, opening his inside hip just a bit as he prepares for an inside rush. When Smith then bursts back outside, Cosmi does well to adjust his hips and feet to get his momentum going back outside. 

Because the space is so restricted at guard, Cosmi can then engage in the block quickly, getting his hands on Smith to disrupt the rush. At tackle, Cosmi might have lunged at the defender and the defender could have used the extra space on the edge to get by him on the outside. But there isn’t the same space when rushing inside because the path to the edge is blocked off by the right tackle. Cosmi does slightly lunge at him, but it just cuts off Smith’s rush outside and forces him to rethink his plan. Smith attempts to transition into a long-arm rush, but Cosmi is able to anchor and the ball is already being thrown by that point. 

Just because the guard spot affords him some extra protection doesn’t mean that Cosmi wasn’t good in his own right though. He did a solid job throughout the game in pass protection and was able to maintain some long blocks one-on-one.