Why the Washington Commanders signed RG Sam Cosmi to a 4-year extension

Breaking down the strengths of Cosmi's game and why he's an anchor to build the offensive line around

The Washington Commanders announced on Wednesday that the team had reached an agreement with right guard Sam Cosmi on a four-year extension. Cosmi was entering the final year of his rookie contract and was set to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason, but the Commanders have now locked him up to a reported $74 million contract with over $45 million in guaranteed money, making him the sixth highest paid guard in the NFL. So why did the Commanders look to get Cosmi tied down for the long term as an anchor of the offensive line? Let’s take a closer look.

Note: This piece contains chunks of an article I wrote about Cosmi back in December, but given his extension I wanted to highlight a lot of those points again.

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 last 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, Cosmi slides across and gets there just in time to block the linebacker and allow the quarterback 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 help him adjust quickly to a new system in Washington under Kliff Kingsbury. 

But it’s not just one play that Cosmi showed 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 were multiple occasions last year where he 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, the quarterback 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 the quarterback 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, which is clearly what the Commanders have decided to do. 

While that last clip showed the Commanders struggling to handle a stunt, generally Cosmi and right tackle Andrew Wylie were pretty solid handling stunts last season. The left side of the line was a different story and will hopefully be much improved this year, 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 the quarterback plenty of time in the pocket. 

On the second play of the clip, we see an E-T 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 stands out 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. 

The switch to guard has also allowed Cosmi to hide some of his flaws while accentuating some of his strengths. Cosmi generally speaking has good hands in pass protection. Even if he loses some ground initially, he will fight hard to reposition his hands, regain leverage and then drop anchor to slow down the rush.