Things are looking a little dicey at the center of the Commanders’ offensive line.
The team’s presumed starter at the center position is actually a converted guard. His backup is also a converted guard. The rookie they drafted in the sixth round of April’s draft — a converted guard. The center they signed earlier this week to fill in due to injuries? You guessed it.
As the Commanders make their way through the second week of training camp, the centers have drawn a fair amount of attention. With the offense seeking to rebound from a bottom-10 performance last season, it’s unclear what one of the unit’s most important positions will look like next week, let alone next month.
Coach Dan Quinn isn’t in panic mode. Despite the absence of starter Nick Allegretti due to a calf strain, Quinn said the offensive line has held up.
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“Both sides of the line I thought had, you know, advantage here, advantage there, and that’s what I’m hoping to see,” he said ahead of practice Tuesday. “If one gets tilted too much to the other, then I’d be more concerned. So I like the back-and-forth, honestly, to say good run here, good blitz there.”
Despite Quinn’s optimistic take, there are still plenty of question marks. Allegretti has not practiced since July 29. His backup, Julian Good-Jones, has had an up-and-down run as fill-in with the first team, including one snap that went over Jayden Daniels’ head during team drills on Tuesday. Rookie Matt Gulbin has rolled almost exclusively with the second team, but depth is clearly a concern.
The team worked out centers Gus Hartwig, Joe Michalski and Trey Hill on Saturday. Hill, a sixth-round pick by the Bengals in 2021 who played guard early in college, was signed the following day. Following Saturday’s and Monday’s practices, guards Timothy McKay and Brandon Coleman and tackle Trent Scott stayed to take snaps with Marcus Mariota.
Quinn said all the maneuvering has been aimed at building depth (before Hill’s arrival Gulbin was the only player on the team roster listed as a center), but is also an experiment to see who is capable of handling center responsibilities.
“If you can play inside, you want somebody that can play both [center and guard],” Quinn said. “And that’s basically kind of the rhythm behind it.”
The center position is pivotal to the offense. The job isn’t solely about successfully snapping the ball to the quarterback. Centers are responsible for calling out defensive alignments, coordinating blocking assignments and, of course, handling the defender in front of them.
And yet Washington has not had consistency at the position for years. Since 2021, at least 10 players have taken snaps at center for Washington. Last season, the offensive line was just about average in ESPN’s pass- and run-block metrics, and that was before starting center Tyler Biadasz was released in February.
Quinn has commended Gulbin for his command of the second unit line.
“I think it’s just kind of a next-man-up mentality,” Gulbin said. “I have to step up to the plate and make sure the O line’s functioning, and I’m getting out calls.”
Allegretti has helped coach up Good-Jones and Gulbin from the sideline. Those three, and now Hill, can be seen bouncing ideas and techniques off one another. After practice they often put in extra work with assistant offensive line coach Shane Toub.
“I come off the sideline, he’s [Allegretti’s] helping me out with ‘Oh, what was this? What was this look?’ We break it down together,” Good-Jones said. “So it’s a brotherhood, man. It’s a collaborative unit.”
Quinn has said he doesn’t expect Allegretti to be out much longer. And even though the seven-year veteran started just one game at center for Washington last season, his teammates, the coaching staff and front office have raved about him.
“What stands out to me with Nick is just his leadership, his command, his confidence, the way the guys gravitate to and listen to him,” general manager Adam Peters said at a press conference before camp. “And so that’s a big part of it. Knowing what to do, knowing where to go, knowing where to direct the guys, just the calling up in the huddle — it’s a big deal.”
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