The Washington Commanders have a tackle setup that should draw plenty more praise than it has so far.
Laremy Tunsil is locked in on the left side after agreeing to a two-year extension this offseason, a deal that made him the NFL’s highest-paid offensive lineman again. On the right, Josh Conerly Jr. gives Washington a young bookend who already logged every game as a rookie after the Commanders took him in the first round in 2025.
Conerly’s first season came with the usual rookie turbulence. He was thrown straight into the fire in his first three NFL games against Brian Burns, Micah Parsons and Maxx Crosby, and the first half of the year brought plenty of uneven moments. But by the end of last season, he looked like a different player.
That late-season surge matters, even if some analysts are still leaning on his full-year metrics to make their case. Conerly spent the offseason reshaping his body and working closely with Tunsil. He brushed off the idea that the transformation was dramatic.
"Honestly, I'm still around the same weight, like 310-315. I did cut a heavy amount after the season because I ended the season at like 318 or something around there," Conerly said last month. "I was pretty fat, so I cut down a lot of body fat and added some muscle, I guess."
The bigger picture in Washington is pretty encouraging. Tunsil and Conerly are both back, Sam Cosmi is healthy again at right guard, and Chris Paul and Brandon Coleman return as options on the left side.
Paul and Coleman are competing for the left guard job, while Coleman’s versatility has already shown up in multiple spots. He has mostly been a left tackle since entering the league in 2024, but he started last season at left guard, filled in at tackle late in the year when Tunsil was out, and even lined up as an extra tight end at times.
The one real unknown is veteran Nick Allegretti, who is set to take over at center for Tyler Biadasz.
Still, the Commanders’ line has not gotten much love. A number of analysts have placed Washington in the 20s in preseason offensive line rankings for 2026, and part of that comes from how the group played last season.
That skepticism showed up again when Gilbert Manzano of Sports Illustrated ranked his top five tackle duos for 2026 and left Tunsil and Conerly off the list entirely. His top five were Buffalo’s Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown at No.
5, Philadelphia’s Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson at No. 4, Tampa Bay’s Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke at No.
3, Denver’s Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey at No. 2, and San Francisco’s Trent Williams and Colton McKivitz at No. 1.
It’s a strong group, no question. But there’s an argument that Washington belongs in that conversation, too, especially if Conerly’s finish to last season is the real version of him. The Eagles, in particular, feel like a legacy choice after their line wasn’t the same last year, and Philadelphia will also be without legendary OL coach Jeff Stoutland in 2026.
Conerly still has plenty to prove, and he doesn’t sound interested in chasing praise. He’ll keep taking every snap and trying to get better. If he and Tunsil stay healthy all season, Washington’s offensive line could look a lot different in the rankings by the time six months pass.
In Other News...
Commanders May Be Down To One Familiar WR2 Gamble
The Commanders are still sorting through ways to give Terry McLaurin a reliable running mate, and the search has started to narrow toward a familiar face. With the receiver market not exactly overflowing with clean fits, Washington is at least exploring the idea of leaning on a player it already knows, one who could make sense in a broader offseason plan rather than as a quick fix.
The timing matters here, because the discussion is centered on a possible 2026 move and not an immediate answer. Nothing is official yet, and that leaves the Commanders in the same place plenty of teams find themselves this time of year: weighing familiarity, fit and availability while hoping the right option does not disappear before the roster gets a chance to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders May Finally Have A Forgotten Draft Pick Worth Watching
Kain Medrano barely got a chance to show what he could do after Washington took the linebacker in 2025, spending his rookie year on special teams without cracking into the defense. Now he enters a different kind of conversation, because Daronte Jones new scheme is built around linebackers and could finally give the athletic young defender a real opening to matter beyond kick coverage.
Medrano still has work to do, though, with Sonny Styles, Leo Chenal, Frankie Luvu, Jordan Magee and several edge rushers all in the mix for roles in the new look defense. Even so, his offseason progress has kept him on the radar, and for a player who was easy to overlook a year ago, that alone makes him one of the more interesting names to watch as Washington sorts out its front seven. [Read more 🡒]
Jayden Daniels Just Entered A Different Tier For The Commanders
Jayden Daniels has already given Washington a rare kind of hope at quarterback, and now his profile is stretching well beyond the field. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner and 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year has joined Gatorades athletics team, a notable endorsement move that puts him in a different category of NFL face for the brand and underscores how quickly his rise has accelerated since arriving in the league.
For the Commanders, the bigger picture is still about what Daniels means when he is healthy and on the field. He dealt with injuries in 2025, but the expectation is that he returns healthy for 2026, which is the part Washington cares about most as it tries to build on what he has already shown. The commercial spotlight is nice, but the franchises next step still hinges on whether Daniels can keep turning promise into production. [Read more 🡒]