Evaluating Sam Cosmi's development at right guard

Looking forward to the future by evaluating the development of RG Sam Cosmi

With the Commanders season effectively over with no realistic chance of making the playoffs, it’s time to start looking ahead to next season. Obviously there will be some big changes to the organization with the new owners expected to clean house and hire a new general manager and coaching staff. I’ll start looking at some potential candidates for those positions when we get to the end of the season, but for now I thought I could evaluate some core pieces on the team to see where they’re at and what they can offer to the team going forward. 

This isn’t going to be focused on guys like Terry McLaurin or Jonathan Allen as we know what they are as players now. Similarly, I’m doing a weekly breakdown on Sam Howell’s performances at quarterback, so this series won’t be focusing on him. Instead I’m looking at younger players under contract with a chance to claim their spot as a core piece for the new regime. 

The first player I thought I’d look at is offensive lineman Sam Cosmi. We all know this offensive line as a unit is lacking talent and hasn’t been great, but that doesn’t mean every individual piece is bad. In reviewing Cosmi’s play this season, I think any new general manager or head coach will value him as a core piece of the offensive line next year, regardless of the scheme the offense runs. 

Cosmi was messed around in his first two seasons in the NFL, switching from left tackle in college to right tackle in his rookie year. That on it’s own is fine and many college lineman undergo that transition in the NFL, but in his second season the Commanders had a frankly ludicrous method of using him. They couldn’t seem to decide if he was a better tackle or guard, so they rotated him in and out of drives within the same game, sometimes playing him at guard, sometimes at tackle and sometimes sitting him on the bench. It was an insane way to try and develop a young player. This year has been much more settled for Cosmi, with the team putting him at right guard early in the offseason and letting him stick there all season. The results have been promising. 

One of the best traits in Cosmi’s game is his awareness in pass protection. Awareness might not sound all that special, but as an offensive lineman, Cosmi clearly has a strong grasp of the bigger picture rather than just his role within the protection scheme, which allows him to pick up blocks that other lineman just don’t think about. 

This is one of the best blocks I’ve seen from an offensive lineman in Washington purely because of the awareness from Cosmi. Back in the opening game of the season, the Cardinals look to bring a simulated pressure, rushing three interior lineman and bringing the inside linebacker up the middle, while the two edge rushers sink back into coverage. At right guard, Cosmi starts this play anticipating having to block the defensive tackle on his outside shoulder. However, as the ball is snapped, that defender widens to attack the edge. Cosmi gets a hand on him to help secure the defender but then leaves him to Andrew Wylie at right tackle. 

In the meantime, Cosmi keeps his head on a swivel and scans across the field. He understands instantly that if his defender is widening outside, it’s likely he’s creating space for another rusher to join inside. He spots the center and left guard occupied by the other interior defensive lineman but sees a linebacker joining the rush. He quickly realizes that the linebacker is unaccounted for in the protection scheme, so even though it’s not at all his responsibility to get back across to the left side of the line here, he slides across and gets there just in time to block the linebacker and allow quarterback Sam Howell to step up in the pocket away from the pressure. 

It really was an outstanding play from Cosmi as it was one that not many offensive lineman would have had the awareness to make. He spotted that the Cardinals were attacking a weakness in the protection scheme and adjusted to save the play, even when his assignment within the scheme was completely unrelated. That type of awareness is a huge trait that will catch the eye of the new coaching staff immediately. 

But it’s not just one play that Cosmi shows great awareness. He’s consistently scanning the defense and looking for potential threats in pass protection, even when he’s already engaged in a block. There’s been multiple occasions this year when he’s blocked two defenders on a single play. 

This clip shows two examples of Cosmi picking up multiple defenders on a single play. The first play of the clip comes against the Giants. The Giants look to overload the right side of the Commanders offensive line with a blitz. The nose tackle lines up over the center and widens out to the left side of the line while both linebackers join the rush. The edge rusher works outside to occupy right tackle Andrew Wylie and a defensive back joins the rush from deep. There’s a lot here for Washington to sort out but the Commanders do a solid job sliding the line into the blitz and picking it up. 

Cosmi initially picks up the second linebacker and stuns his rush with a strong punch, causing the defender to turn away from Cosmi and have to rethink his rush plan. As he does so, the defensive back blitzing from deep approaches. Cosmi spots him coming while still engaged with his original block. Cosmi isn’t sure if the running back has seen the defensive back blitzing, so he takes it upon himself to pick up the blitz. He cuts off the defensive back while the linebacker peels off to recover from Cosmi’s initial block. Before the linebacker can restart his rush, Howell delivers his throw. 

On the second play of the clip, the Cowboys look to attack the right side of the Commanders offensive line with a stunt. Both defensive tackles align to the right side of the line and they look to widen outside while the edge rusher loops around them back inside. In an ideal world, Cosmi passes off the outside defensive tackle to right tackle Andrew Wylie before sliding inside to pick up the other defensive tackle. That would then allow the center to peel off and pick up the looping defensive end. However, Wylie gets caught watching the defensive end too long and is in a bad position to pick up the outside defensive tackle. 

This leaves Cosmi in a tough spot because he can’t just leave the outside defensive tackle, but he also sees the inside defensive tackle working his way too. Cosmi does his best to keep in front of both defensive tackles, using his right hand to hold off one and then engaging the other with his left hand. This allows the center to peel off for the looping defensive end. Cosmi does get driven back but that is understandable given he’s trying to block two defenders. He does a great job staying in front of both and allowing Howell time to scramble out to his right in order to avoid the pressure and extend the play. 

Again, the awareness to understand the bigger picture and willingness to fight as hard as he can to pick up multiple defenders instead of just being content with doing purely his own assignment speaks to a smart football player. Coaches will love that and will want to build an offensive line around that kind of intelligence and work ethic, even if he has other flaws in his game. 

While that last clip showed the Commanders struggling to handle a stunt, generally Cosmi and right tackle Andrew Wylie have been pretty solid handling stunts so far this season. The left side of the line is a different story, but Cosmi typically looks very smooth when dealing with stunts. 

Here are two good examples of Cosmi and Wylie passing off stunts smoothly. The first clip is a tackle-end exchange stunt, known as a TEX stunt. The defensive tackle looks to engage with Cosmi but also work up the field and attack his outside shoulder, dragging him wider. The defensive end takes a few steps up the field on the edge before then looping around the defensive tackle back inside. Cosmi handles this perfectly, slowing the defensive tackle’s initial rush and then providing a strong push to shove the defender outside towards Wylie as he disengages. Cosmi then has the athleticism and foot speed to slide back inside and pick up the looping defensive end, cutting him off easily and giving quarterback Sam Howell plenty of time in the pocket. 

On the second play of the clip, we see another version of the TEX stunt, this time from the Bears. The roles of the stunt are reversed here, with the defensive end crashing inside first while the defensive tackle fakes an inside rush before looping outside to the edge. Cosmi initially works inside with the defensive tackle, but senses something is up with how tentative the tackle is rushing. He realizes what’s happening and quickly adjusts, picking up the defensive end crashing inside. By adjusting so quickly, he’s able to gain full control of the block almost immediately, which in turn allows Wylie to peel off quickly and pick up the defensive tackle looping to the edge. 

Dealing with stunts is a strength in Cosmi’s game at guard. Coming out of college, Cosmi was a very athletic tackle prospect, so shifting inside to guard means his athleticism on those stunts shines even more so. You can see in those clips how easily he’s able to change direction and redirect from one block to another, which makes it hard to beat him with stunts. Compare that to someone like left guard Chris Paul, who has a bigger, stouter frame but struggles to get his feet to change direction and you can see why teams attack the left side of the line with stunts more than the right side. 

Playing guard has also allowed Cosmi to hide some of his flaws while making use of some of his strengths. Cosmi generally speaking has good hands in pass protection. Even if he loses some ground initially, he fights hard to reposition his hands, gain leverage and then drop anchor to slow down the rush.