What LG Nick Allegretti brings to the Washington Commanders
Breaking down what the Commanders are getting from free agent LG Nick Allegretti
One of the lesser known names that the Washington Commanders signed during their busy opening week of free agency was guard Nick Allegretti. Allegretti was a seventh-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2019 and has slowly worked his way up the ladder as a versatile back up offensive lineman. Over the years, he’s filled in at both guard and center whenever the Chiefs have had an injury, including most recently during the playoffs when he started at left guard in place of the injured Joe Thuney for both the AFC Championship game against the Ravens and then the Super Bowl against the 49ers. In the Super Bowl, he tore his UCL in his elbow and played through the pain to stay in the game.
Allegretti explained in his introductory press conference that he felt he was now capable of being a starter in the league instead of backing up one of the strongest interior trios in the NFL. The Commanders seemingly agreed when they went and signed him in free agency, but with so few snaps on film, it’s still somewhat of a projection. The contract doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a lock to start at left guard, but it’s enough money to suggest he’s being penciled in there for the time being. So what exactly are the Commanders getting in Allegretti? Let’s take a closer look.
Run Game
In the run game, the Chiefs use a variety of different schemes, mixing in different gap and zone scheme runs. That means Allegretti has experience running lots of schemes and is solid, if perhaps unspectacular, in all of them.
We’re expecting the Commanders to transition into more of a gap scheme run team under offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and offensive line coach Bobby Johnson, both of whom have tended to rely more on gap scheme runs than zone. This clip has two examples of basic gap scheme runs that require Allegretti to pull from his left guard spot and kick out the edge defender on the right side of the line, creating an extra gap inside for the running back to work through.
Now, Allegretti isn’t a huge mauler in the run game, he’s listed at 6-foot-4, 310 pounds. The stereotypical run game maulers that bulldoze people over are typically more in the 330 pound range. But you don’t have to be a mauler to be successful on this type of block. On the first play of the clip, you can see Allegretti pull with very efficient movement, something offensive line coach Bobby Johnson is big on. There’s no wasted step and he’s immediately pulling from his spot which enables him to get across the line quickly. Because of that he’s able to meet 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, one of the best defensive ends in the NFL, closer to the edge rather than allowing Bosa to squeeze down the line of scrimmage. Allegretti shows solid technique at the point of contact too, keeping his pad level low and getting his hands inside, getting some movement on Bosa to open up the lane inside.
It’s not a huge amount of movement, but it’s all that’s required to create the lane for the back to work into. The second play of the clip is very similar, but this time you can see Allegretti has a big cast on his left elbow because he tore his UCL during the game and played on with it like that. But because of that injury, Allegretti’s use of that left hand was severely limited, so instead of looking to get his hands inside here, he uses his momentum to give him a bit more of a pop at the point of contact and lets him work more into the backfield, allowing the running back to run past him cleanly.
While not a mauler in the run game, he is capable of holding his own at the point of attack. This is important because if you want to run counter or power to the left side of the line, Allegretti will need to block down inside and pin a big defensive tackle inside. In fact, the Chiefs have even used him to pin a nose tackle inside in order to allow the center to pull to the edge.
This play comes from 2022, when Allegretti filled in at left guard. The Chiefs look to pull their center to the edge, but in order to do that, Allegretti has to block down on a big nose tackle lined up head up over the center. If Allegretti misses that block, the nose tackle can simply run right up the middle of the defense into the lane vacated by the center. The defender reads the pull from the center and looks to almost follow him, stunting across the face of Allegretti. In an ideal world, Allegretti doesn’t let him get across his face like that and pins him inside, but he does manage to recover and catch the defender by getting both hands on his chest to cut him off. Allegretti then battles for position and repositions himself on the play side of the defender to pin him inside and seal the lane for the running back.
That type of block might not seem all that likely to happen too often given that centers aren’t typically asked to pull that frequently, but the Commanders did sign an athletic center in Tyler Biadasz who is capable of pulling often and Bobby Johnson had an athletic center in Buffalo that he often had pull more than most centers in the league. So being able to execute that type of block consistently on a big nose tackle could be important for Allegretti in Washington.
There is also a scenario where the Commanders feel their offensive line is more suited to zone run schemes than gap schemes. While we’ve seen Bobby Johnson and Kliff Kingsbury lean more towards gap scheme runs, the Commanders also hired Anthony Lynn to be their run game coordinator and he just spent the past few years under Kyle Shanahan, who is one of the best zone running coaches in the NFL. The personnel is key here. Biadasz and Cosmi are the two locks to be starters at center and right guard and both are versatile enough to block in any scheme but they’re also both very athletic and probably suit zone more. Andrew Wylie is likely to play right tackle as things stand and he’s also versatile enough to play any run scheme but is certainly athletic enough to play zone. Allegretti falls in the same category. So how is he in zone?
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