The short and long-term future of the offensive line

May 21, 2020

by Steve Thomas

This year, I thought I’d branch out in a slightly different direction than in prior years and do written breakdowns of each Redskins position groups throughout the offseason.  I’ll get back to the film studies, too, I promise, because I enjoy doing them and I’m under the delusion that you, the readers, appreciate them as well.  This week, though, is going to be position group breakdown, part 1, and for no real reason or forethought at all, I’m going to start with the offensive line.

The Redskins offensive line has been through some gyrations, injury, and controversy in recent years, culminating in the trade of Trent Williams to the San Francisco 49ers in the middle of the draft.  The most obvious resulting point of contention is left tackle.  2020 fourth round pick Saahdiq Charles could solve a number of problems by showing that he’s ready to start at a high level immediately, but I think that’s unlikely due to the combination of the natural development most players need and the maturity issues that caused him to drop in the draft in the first place.

This is important because of the chain reaction of events that could happen if Charles actually is ready to step right in.  Morgan Moses has a big cap number and hasn’t played up to his contract for at least two seasons and has also generated an enormous number of penalty flags.  I’m sure the team would very much like to improve the current performance-to-cost ratio at right tackle, but it actually hinges on Charles.  Cornelius Lucas could possibly be a decent right tackle, but that can’t happen if he needs to start at left tackle.  The other option is to move Brandon Scherff back to his college position of tackle and let him take over Moses’ job, but this is a terrible idea.  All that would do is create a hole at right guard, and Scherff has massive shoes to fill.  For 2020, I don’t believe that either Wes Martin or Wes Schweitzer at right guard and Scherff at right tackle is ultimately better than Scherff / Moses at right guard and right tackle.

If Charles isn’t ready to play this year, the Redskins are probably looking at the following starting lineup for 2020:

LT – Lucas (cap hit $1.66M)

LG – Martin (cap hit $752K)

C – Roullier (cap hit $2.69M)

RG – Scherff (cap hit $14.781M)

RT – Moses (cap hit $8.65M)

Total cap hit for starters: $28.533M

If he is ready to play, this lineup is possible:

LT – Charles (cap hit < $1M)

LG – Martin (cap hit $752K)

C – Roullier (cap hit $2.69M)

RG – Scherff (cap hit $14.781M)

RT – Lucas (cap hit $1.66M)

Total cap hit for starters: approx. $20.5M

The extreme and unrealistic option is this:

LT – Charles (cap hit < $1M)

LG – Martin (cap hit $752K)

C – Roullier (cap hit $2.69M)

RG – Schweitzer (cap hit $2.5M)

RT – Scherff (cap hit $14.781M)

Total cap hit for starters: approx. $21.5M

The Redskins can afford the cap hit from Moses’ contract this year, so the total cap hit is not as much of an issue as simply finding the best combination of players.

Also, we don’t really know if Cornelius Lucas is truly going to be a starter-level player at right tackle, so that’s an open question.  I’m going to discount Geron Christian as a starting option; he’s had enough time to prove himself, but it just hasn’t happened.

The center situation is interesting as well.  Chase Roullier doesn’t get enough credit for what he does because he plays an anonymous position on a bad team, but he’s one of the better centers in the league.  However, the Redskins have drafted centers two years in a row, Ross Pierschbacher in 2019 and Keith Ismael in 2020.  In what is probably not a coincidence, Roullier’s rookie contract expires after the 2020 season.  I think both Pierschbacher and Ismael have a chance, this year, to prove that they are starter-worthy; if so, it wouldn’t wholly surprise me if the Redskins let Roullier walk in a cost saving move despite his performance.

So given all of this, what does the future hold?  First, I’m going to assume that the Redskins eventually reach a long term deal with Brandon Scherff – the team can afford it and giving away his brand of home-grown talent would be a monumentally stupid thing to do.  I don’t care even a little bit about his slightly-lesser-by-his-standards 2019.  Brandon Scherff needs to be a Redskin for life.  Second, it’s reasonable to think that Saahdiq Charles eventually gets his chance to start.  I don’t pretend to be an offensive line expert, but from what we’ve been told on the show by several people who are, Charles seems to have real talent and would’ve been drafted much higher but for his character questions.  I think he’s going to make it and nail down the starting role – maybe not this year, but in 2021, at least.

As far as the center position goes, I’d love to be able to say that the team won’t have to spend big money on Roullier, but it’s just too big of a big stretch to think that Ismael can perform well enough as just a rookie, and I’ve never been convinced about Pierschbacher.  So, I’m going with Roullier on a good-sized contract of at least 3 years in length; plus, the Redskins can afford to dole out one more big-dollar contract in this position group and be fine, money-wise.

The left guard slot seems to be Wes Martin’s for the taking, and he played pretty well in relief of Scherff, so he should be able to hold down the job for at least year or two.  That only leaves the long-term answer at right tackle in serious question, and I’d propose that the answer isn’t on the roster.  Morgan Moses’ time with the Redskins is going to come to an end at some point.  As for Cornelius Lucas, I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that a guy who’s essentially been a spot starter at best for 4 different teams over the last 6 years is going to suddenly morph into a full time starter-quality player.  The truth is that the solution at right tackle probably isn’t on the roster and will have to be addressed with a fairly high draft pick next year.

Therefore, that puts the long-term future of the offensive line as:

LT: Charles (cap hit < $1M)

LG: Martin (cap hit $1.127M in 2022)

C: Roullier (cap hit $8M+)

RG: Scherff (cap hit $15+)

RT: unknown draft pick (cap hit <$1)

I think enough of Keith Ismael to give him the principal backup interior guard / center job, but they probably don’t have a real long-term developmental swing tackle on the roster, so look for Washington to spend another pick on a tackle next year in addition to a starter-level right tackle.

The combined cap hit for this group will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $30M in total, which is doable in the coming years, particularly with the inevitable rise in the salary cap.

What do you think will happen with this position group?