Free Agent Fits: Interior Offensive Lineman

Taking a look at a few interior offensive lineman that the Washington Commanders could potentially target in free agency

NFL free agency is quickly approaching and the Washington Commanders have the most cap space in the NFL. With a completely new regime from this time last year, including ownership, general manager and coaching staff, we’re likely to see some significant roster turnover from the Commanders this offseason. Washington also has a number of its own free agents which it must decide to try and retain or let walk on the open market. So while the Commanders do have a ton of cap space currently, they also have a lot of holes on the roster that need to be filled. They won’t be able to spend huge amounts at every position, so I thought I’d take a quick look at a few different tiers of free agents that they could target, starting with the interior offensive line. 

Big name: Kevin Dotson, 27

Dotson wasn’t a big name this time last year. He was a fourth-round pick of the Steelers back in 2020 and in August he was traded to the Rams for very little. The Steelers sent Dotson, a 2024 fifth-round pick and 2025 sixth-round pick to the Rams in exchange for a 2024 fourth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick. Considering the Rams gave up very little for him and the trade happened in late August, it was a surprise just how good of a season Dotson had. He and rookie guard Steve Avila were behind the resurgence of Sean McVay’s Rams as they shifted from a wide zone run scheme to a duo-based gap scheme team. To tell you just how well he played, Spotrac, the salary cap tracking website, projects Dotson to receive a contract in the four-year, $66million range. Obviously, the guarantees and cap hits will be significantly lower than that, but it speaks to just how good Dotson was this year. 

What also speaks to how well Dotson played is the film. As I mentioned, he was a big reason for the Rams shifting their run game mentality to more of a gap scheme style instead of McVay’s traditional wide zone. 

Here’s an example of Dotson running a version of duo. His job here is to work a double team with the center to secure Ravens defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, one of the top free agent defensive tackles this year, before then climbing up to block linebacker Roquan Smith. Dotson gets off the snap well and is immediately hip to hip with the center while getting his hands on Madubuike. He forces the defensive tackle off his spot and shoves him inside before then peeling off to get to Smith. The back cuts behind him and follows him to the second level, where Dotson is driving Smith backwards. Unfortunately, a blocker on the back side failed to keep their block contained and the back got tackled, but Dotson did a good job on the play. 

Dotson provides some power up front in the run game, but he’s not just a run blocker. Dotson is probably more prolific in pass protection. 

On these two plays, we see examples of Dotson picking up multiple blocks. The Cowboys align star pass rusher Micah Parsons in the A gap between Dotson and the center. Meanwhile, first-round pick Mazi Smith lines up on Dotson’s outside shoulder. On both of these plays, Dotson does a fantastic job holding his position at the snap and not rushing out to block Smith. If he leaves a gap too large, he knows Parsons will burst through that gap and the center won't be able to stop him, so Dotson holds his position and jabs Parsons with his inside hand on both occasions. But he also knows he can’t purely focus on just Parsons either. 

He does an excellent job to keep a hand on Parsons while staying engaged with Smith on the outside. Both plays end up resulting in Dotson effectively blocking both Parsons and Smith at the same time and somehow managing to keep both in front of him. The ball is out quickly on both plays too, which helps, but it’s certainly an impressive effort from Dotson that helps show the fighter he is in pass protection. 

Where Dotson excels that other bigger guards can often struggle is handling stunts. We saw in Washington last year that Chris Paul has a ton of power but his feet are slow and he struggles to redirect on stunts. Dotson doesn’t have that issue as he’s able to pass off and pick up stunts well, often doing so in an aggressive manner.