Washington Roster Review: Offensive Line
Taking a closer look at how Washington's offensive line played in 2021 and where the team stands at the position heading into 2022
With the 2021 season in the books for Washington, it’s time to look back at the roster and evaluate each position to see where the team stands going into the offseason. Last week, I looked at the defense, breaking down the safeties, cornerbacks, linebackers, defensive ends and defensive tackles. This week, I’m moving on to the offensive side of the ball, starting with the offensive line.
Under contract for 2022: Charles Leno, Ereck Flowers, Chase Roullier, Wes Schweitzer, Sam Cosmi, Saahdiq Charles.
Notable free agents: Brandon Scherff, Cornelius Lucas, Tyler Larsen, Keith Ismael (ERFA).
Unit analysis:
The offensive line was the pleasant surprise of the season for Washington. The team had plenty of turnover with three new starters in left tackle Charles Leno, left guard Ereck Flowers and rookie right tackle Sam Cosmi joining Chase Roullier and Brandon Scherff as holdovers from last season. That unit rarely played together though, with Cosmi missing time and Cornelius Lucas taking over at right tackle, then Scherff missing time and Wes Schweitzer playing at right guard. When Roullier went down, it would have been easy for the group to cave under the sheer mass of injuries. Washington went through Tyler Larsen as the back up center, then Schweitzer took over when Larsen got hurt and Scherff returned at right guard. Schweitzer got hurt himself, so Keith Ismael finished the season as the team’s fourth center. Flowers and Scherff both missed some time down the stretch too, so Saahdiq Charles spent time at both right and left guard to end the season.
Throughout all that turnover along the line, the group remained the strength of the offense. Offensive line coach John Matsko deserves a huge amount of credit for getting the personnel ready to play each week even with the number of injuries. Throughout the season, Washington’s offensive line was able to generate plenty of movement in the run game. The interior group, almost regardless of who was in there, almost always managed to either get defensive tackles running sideways or reach them and cut them off on the back side to create clear cut back lanes in the zone running scheme Washington leaned on.
It gave Washington a sustainable form of offense and when the team was winning games this season, it was often because the offensive line and the running game were dominating time of possession, eating up the clock and keeping the team ahead of the chains.
In pass protection, the unit wasn’t quite as effective, though it was still very good, especially considering all the injuries. I think Chase Roullier’s absence was felt significantly in this regard because he had been so good at setting protections and making sure Washington’s offensive line was ready to pick up whatever look the defense threw at them.
With Roullier out, the Cowboys gave them significant issues late in the year with the different looks they had moving Micah Parsons, Randy Gregory and DeMarcus Lawrence around and using various stunts to further confuse things. But other than the occasional game here or there, the line was mostly solid in pass protection too and gave the quarterback time to deliver the ball.
With Leno re-signed, Washington has four of it’s five starting lineman under contract for 2022. Brandon Scherff is expected to hit the open market in free agency after playing on his second consecutive franchise tag, making it unlikely he’ll reach a long-term deal in Washington until the market sets his value. I’d be surprised if Washington brought back Scherff at this point and while he would certainly be a loss, the play of Schweitzer earlier in the year was very good and Charles showed some promise at the end of the season too, so Washington does have in-house options to replace him at a much cheaper rate.
Of the other free agents, I would think Washington would like to have most of them back, given how well they all performed when called upon this season. Cornelius Lucas is a little overrated by fans, but he’s a solid back up swing tackle to have and held down the right side of the line pretty well when Cosmi was injured. I would think Washington would look to bring him back, Same could be said for Tyler Larsen as the back up center. He knows the system well and can make the calls, which is almost more important than his actual play when the ball is snapped.
Perhaps the team lets Larsen test the market and keep the younger option in Ismael, who is an exclusive rights free agent, making him much simpler to sign. Ismael improved the more he played and is a very athletic center which makes him a nice fit for the zone run schemes Washington uses, but he did have some pass protection issues to work on. There’s certainly room on a training camp squad for both guys, so ultimately I think Washington will look to bring back both Larsen and Ismael, along with Lucas to keep the depth along the offensive line.
Individual analysis:
The standout performer on the offensive line for me was Chase Roullier. Much like Jonathan Allen, he played well last year and earned his contract extension in the offseason. What Washington must be very excited about is that he also replicated Allen in terms of taking a step forward after getting paid, rather than a step back. Roullier was superb before getting hurt, getting all the targeting sorted in the run game and then generating a ton of movement up front, while also taking on some tough pass protection assignments.
Washington knew rookie Sam Cosmi would struggle in pass protection early in the season, so they tried to help whenever they could by having Scherff pass off any defensive tackle he had inside to Roullier and then slide out to help Cosmi on the edge. This worked to help Cosmi, but put a lot of pressure on Roullier to take on some tough blocks one-on-one, but he held up extremely well. His success allowed Scherff to continue helping Cosmi out, which let Cosmi stay on the field and develop without constantly surrendering pressure.
Scherff had another strong year at right guard, despite once again missing time with injuries. When healthy, he allowed Washington to do lots of things in the run game. He can climb to the second level, he can reach and seal off defensive tackles, he can pull to the edge on pin-pull schemes, block down on power runs or pull and lead on counter schemes. He gave Washington the total package as a run blocker and in turn, allowed them to do some play-action fakes that very much sold the run fake to get linebackers to bite up.
With Scherff’s athleticism, Washington often pulled him from the right side of the line to the left, faking a power or counter scheme on a play-action pass. A pulling guard is a huge run key for defenders, so linebackers will almost automatically step up when they see the guard pulling. Scherff (and Roullier) made this work because Roullier was good enough to cover the area vacated by Scherff and Scherff was athletic enough to pull to the other side and cut off an edge rusher before the play was blown up.
This isn’t to say other lineman can’t do these things, but Scherff did all of that and more to a much higher level on a consistent basis than anyone else, which is why he’s one of the best guards in the league. He’s likely to leave in free agency and Washington will miss what he allows them to do, and his technical prowess in pass protection. His mixing up of quick sets, flashing hands and separating his hand strikes are all excellent and set a great example for the younger players on the roster. It was clear to see Saahdiq Charles started to learn some things from Scherff after just a few games.
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