2022 Position Group Breakdown – Interior Offensive Line
May 20, 2022
By Noonefromtampa
This is the second part of a two-part review covering the offensive line. In this article, the focus will be on the center and guard positions.
In this breakdown for this group, I’ll cover departures, starters, key backups and those players competing for a roster spot.
Departures
Ereck Flowers was released in March in a salary cap move after the Carson Wentz trade. Washington traded for Flowers, the former Giants first round pick, from Miami in April of last year. He played 94% of offensive snaps, gave up 6 sacks and committed two penalties.
Brandon Scherff, a former top 5 pick and perennial Pro Bowl player, became a free agent after being franchise tagged twice. He played in 62% of offensive snaps and gave up zero sacks but committed six penalties. Jacksonville signed Scherff to a three year, $49.5 million contract this offseason.
Starters
Chase Roullier is slated to be the starting center. He’s coming off a broken fibula suffered in the week 8 Denver Broncos game. A six year veteran, he’ll be 29 at the start of the season. He signed a 4 year contract extension during the 2021 offseason. Roullier played in only eight games last season but didn’t yield any sacks and only committed one penalty.
Andrew Norwell played for Jacksonville last season so the Commanders effectively swapped guards during the offseason. Norwell signed a two year, $10 million deal. He started all 17 games for the Jaguars and played 99% of offensive snaps. He committed two penalties and gave up three sacks. He figures to take over the left guard spot from Flowers.
Trai Turner was just recently signed to one year, $3 million deal and is expected to compete with Wes Schweitzer for the right guard position. He played in all 17 games last year for Pittsburgh. Turner was on the field for 92% of the offensive snaps, allowed seven sacks and committed six penalties.
Key Backups
Wes Schweitzer, who will be 29 this season, signed with the team back in 2020 and is on the last year of a three year deal. He started in 18 games over the last two seasons and played 35.5% of overall offensive snaps last season. Schweitzer gave up one sack and committed five penalties. His versatility of having started all three interior line positions cannot be underestimated in the value to the team.
Tyler Larsen, in his first season with Washington, was also injured late last season, but the team re-signed him in the offseason. The seven year veteran will be 31 years old this season but remains a capable backup center. He started three games last season.
Competing for a Roster Spot
Beau Benzschawel, who will 27 before the start of the season, has appeared in three games with other teams in his short NFL career. He spent last season on Washington’s practice squad. The 6’6”, 300-pound player is a graduate of Wisconsin.
Deion Calhoun, who goes by Shaq Calhoun, has started 8 games in his career and appeared in one game last season. The 26 year old Mississippi State alum is 6’3” and 310 pounds. Calhoun was re-signed to a futures contract during the offseason.
Keith Ismael was a 5th round draft pick in 2020 and started five games last season when all the other centers were injured. Given his performance in those games, his roster spot may be on the cusp this year.
Nolan Laufenberg, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, spent most of last season on Washington’s practice squad after going undrafted. He 23 years old and stands 6’3” and weighs 315 pounds.
Chris Paul was one of Washington’s 7th round draft picks in the 2022 draft. The Tulsa grad is 6’4” and 324 pounds. He started over 40 games at Tulsa at both guard and tackle on both sides of the line. Worst case scenario for Paul is that he ends up on the practice squad and best case he displaces some from the roster from last year such as Ismael.
Tyrese Robinson is an undrafted free agent signing from the 2022 draft. The former Oklahoma player is 6’3” and weighs 317 pounds. He played both right guard and right tackle for the Sooners, starting over 35 games, giving him some flexibility in position.
Jon Toth was the feel-good story from last season. The part-time male model was added to the roster when the center position was decimated by injury. The staff thought enough of him to bring him back on a futures contract for this season.
Wrap-up
There is probably at most one spot on the 53-man roster open for the group competing for roster spots. There are probably a couple of spots on the practice squad for these players depending on how large of squad the NFL allocates for this season.