How did rookie LT Brandon Coleman perform in his Commanders debut?

Breaking down how Coleman played in his limited reps during the Commanders season opener

After missing all three preseason games, we finally got a chance to see Commanders rookie left tackle Brandon Coleman in action in Washington’s season opener against the Buccaneers on Sunday. Coleman didn’t start, but substitute in for Cornelius Lucas for a few series to give him some actual live game action while still ramping him up in his return from injury. He played just two series, totally 14 snaps, but I know fans are eager to hear how he performed regardless. So let’s take a closer look at how he played. 

Run Game

The first play that Coleman was in the game for was a run play, so let's start with how he fared there. 

On this play, the Commanders run a counter scheme, with right guard Sam Cosmi pulling from the right side of the line to kick out the edge defender on the left side. At left tackle, Coleman has to block down inside to try and seal the rest of the defense off and create a lane between himself and Cosmi’s kick out block. At the snap, Coleman comes off the ball perhaps a little high instead of exploding up into the defender, but he does manage to seal him off inside. In an ideal world, you’d like to see Coleman keep pumping his feet and drive the defender down the line, but he does achieve what is required of him on this play, sealing off the defender inside and preventing him from penetrating in the process. Cosmi gets a nice block on the kick out but unfortunately tight end John Bates misses his assignment so the run ends up gaining very little.

Later in the drive, the Commanders came back with another version of the counter scheme. 

This time, the Commanders pull both the right guard and the tight end on the counter scheme. They also add in a wrinkle with running back Austin Ekeler lining up on the same side as the direction of the run, which is opposite what you typically see from a shotgun run scheme. The defensive alignment is shifted slightly here, so instead of Coleman having a defender in the gap between himself and left guard Nick Allegretti, the defensive tackle is inside one gap further. That means Coleman’s role on this play is slightly different too. Instead of just sealing off the defensive tackle, he has to help Allegretti secure his block, but then work up to the next level to block the linebacker. 

As the ball is snapped, you can see Coleman lands a powerful punch on the defensive tackle, shoving him inside to help position him better for Allegretti to try and seal him off. Coleman then peels off and works up to the next level, where he takes on the linebacker. The scheme design helps him out a little bit here, because the linebacker initially took a step to the right side of the line on the assumption that the running back would be working to that side. That initial step to that side buys Coleman a bit of extra time to help Allegretti and then peel off and work up to the linebacker. Coleman makes the most of that help, climbing to the linebacker and sealing him off inside. Unfortunately, Allegretti lost control of the defensive tackle who made the play, but Coleman did a nice job overall. 

I liked that Coleman showed a bit more power and thump in the run game than we saw from him in college. It makes sense because in pass protection, one of his best strengths is his punch, but in college he struggled to make it translate to the run game. Clearly he’s worked on that as he looks to have a lot more power to him in the run game now. But adding that power didn’t cause him to lose any athleticism.