The Washington Commanders have plenty of 2026 questions hanging over them, but one area that isn’t drawing much concern is the offensive line. That’s a little surprising considering how much turnover and evaluation there’s been around the roster, yet the group comes into the season with a lot of familiar pieces and a new voice guiding it.
Former assistant offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton has been promoted to replace Bobby Johnson, and he’ll be working with a zone-based approach that offensive coordinator David Blough plans to use. Under Johnson, Washington leaned more heavily into a gap-based scheme. The change matters, but so does the personnel Stapleton inherits.
Left tackle Laremy Tunsil signed a two-year extension this offseason, making him the NFL’s highest-paid offensive lineman for the third time in his career. Josh Conerly Jr. is entering his second season after a rough start that gave way to a much better second half, and he spent the offseason reshaping his body while working with Tunsil.
Sam Cosmi is back at right guard, where he remains a borderline Pro Bowler. Chris Paul also returns, while Brandon Coleman is back in the mix and will compete with Paul at left guard.
Coleman has been a valuable piece over his first two seasons because of the way he’s been able to move between guard and tackle. Andrew Wylie is back as well, bringing plenty of starting experience at both tackle and guard.
The one major departure is center Tyler Biadasz, who was surprisingly released before free agency. Veteran Nick Allegretti is back for his third season in burgundy and gold and is expected to start at center.
Even with all that continuity, the league doesn’t seem sold. Several outlets have the Commanders’ offensive line ranked 22nd or worse, and Scott DiBenedetto of Fantasy Points slotted them at No. 23 in his 2026 rankings.
“Talk about a flop. I had the Commanders' OL pushing the top 10 heading into last year, after an impressive 2024 campaign.
But Jayden Daniels’ injury magnified an entire team regression, and the unit finished with a large split between run and pass performance. There are multiple moving parts up front, but the silver lining is that everyone was on the team last year.”
DiBenedetto also pointed to Tunsil as the clear anchor on the edge, while noting that Conerly still has plenty of growth ahead of him in both pass protection and the run game. The interior, though, is where the biggest questions sit.
Allegretti is stepping in for Biadasz, and Cosmi is coming back after an injury-riddled 2025. DiBenedetto said Cosmi was good in the games he played, but asked whether he can get back to form.
He also flagged Paul’s split between pass protection and run blocking, calling it surprising that Washington still averaged the fifth-best yards per carry at 4.73 despite having one of the worst run-blocking left guards.
There’s at least a case for optimism here. DiBenedetto acknowledged that he had Washington’s line ranked 11th before last season, and the unit didn’t live up to that billing.
He also raised the possibility that Jayden Daniels may have made the line look better in 2024 than the underlying numbers suggested. Still, Tunsil was phenomenal in his first season with Washington, and the Commanders had two new tackles last year.
Paul took over for Coleman at left guard in Week 3 and held the job the rest of the season. Coleman later filled in at left tackle for Tunsil late in the year.
Paul re-signed this offseason on a modest one-year deal and will battle Coleman for the left guard spot again. DiBenedetto’s evaluation suggests that could be a real competition, since Paul was a much better pass blocker than run blocker.
The Commanders’ offensive line may not be getting much respect outside the building, but the pieces are there for a rebound. If Allegretti can give Washington the kind of center play Biadasz delivered in 2024, or even a little better, this group has a chance to climb again in 2026.
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