Free Agency 2022 – Interior Offensive Line
February 4, 2022
By Noonefromtampa
In this look at the 2022 free agency pool, we’ll examine the interior offensive line, which includes guards and centers. With Chase Roullier coming off a major injury and Brandon Scherff possibly leaving through free agency, this might be an area where Washington could sign a veteran player to give additional stability to the position group going into next season. Additionally, Tyler Larsen is an unrestricted free agent. Keith Ismael and Jon Toth are exclusive rights free agents, and Beau Benzschawel was re-signed shortly after the season ended.
Top Guard Candidates
Filtering the pool of unrestricted free agent guards for players who are 30 years old or younger and who played at least 35% of their team’s offensive snaps in 2021 yields this list:
| Player | Pos. | 2021 Team | Snaps | Age | PFF Grade |
| Laken Tomlinson | LG | 49ers | 100.00% | 30 | 75.4 |
| Mark Glowinski | RG | Colts | 75.90% | 30 | 71.1 |
| Trai Turner | RG | Steelers | 92.40% | 29 | 69.4 |
| Ike Boettger | RG | Bills | 53.10% | 28 | 59.8 |
| Austin Corbett | RG | Rams | 99.20% | 27 | 69.6 |
| Will Hernandez | RG | Giants | 95.20% | 27 | 55.9 |
| James Daniels | RG | Bears | 100.00% | 25 | 71.8 |
| Lucas Patrick | LG | Packers | 81.60% | 29 | 57.6 |
| Connor Williams | LG | Cowboys | 77.30% | 25 | 75.5 |
| John Miller | RG | Panthers | 57.10% | 29 | 52.1 |
| Chris Reed | LG | Colts | 46.90% | 30 | n/a |
| Matt Skura | LG | Giants | 69.80% | 29 | 50.8 |
| Andrew Wylie | LG | Chiefs | 44.10% | 28 | n/a |
| Alex Cappa | RG | Buccaneers | 100.00% | 27 | 74.2 |
| Matt Pryor | RG | Colts | 39.60% | 28 | n/a |
One strategy in free agency is to sign players away from your division rivals, thereby strengthening your team while simultaneously weakening an opponent. However, in the case of the players from the Cowboys and the Giants, there is much to be desired. Williams, while a decent guard, was one of the most penalized players in the league for this past season. Hernandez and Skura have an even bigger issue, which is that they are just not very good football players. John Matsko may be able to work magic with players but I am not sure he can redeem those two. Tomlinson, Turner, Corbett, Daniels and Cappa are the players to target in free agency if Washington needs to replace Scherff. The issue will be that these players will also be targets for their current teams to re-sign them.
Top Center Candidates
Using the same filtering criteria for guard, the center list is:
| Player | Pos. | 2021 Team | Snaps | Age | PFF Grade |
| Ted Karras | C | Patriots | 75.30% | 29 | 73.0 |
| Ethan Pocic | C | Seahawks | 60.60% | 27 | 68.0 |
| Billy Price | C | Giants | 89.40% | 28 | 62.3 |
| Mason Cole | C | Vikings | 41.40% | 26 | n/a |
| Brian Allen | C | Rams | 82.90% | 27 | 80.1 |
| Bradley Bozeman | C | Ravens | 90.70% | 28 | 73.3 |
Roullier is one of PFF’s top rated centers with a grade of 84.6, behind Creed Humphrey, Corey Linsley and Jason Kelce. Unless something happens with Roullier’s recovery, I do not see the team pursuing one of the top tier center free agents. The most likely scenario is that the team re-signs Larsen to go along with Wes Schweitzer as backup centers for the team. Washington will probably extend a qualifying offer to Ismael also.
Alternative Play
The other scenario the front office of Washington might put in play is to wait until the frantic part of free agency is over and see if an older, veteran player can be signed to a value deal for next season. Players like Quinton Spain of the Bengals, Andrew Norwell or A.J. Cann of the Jaguars or even a veteran coming off an injury like Oday Aboushi of the Chargers could figure into a scenario of that nature. The thought being that you can acquire a solid, veteran player on an economical, cap-friendly, short-term deal.
Sources: overthecap.com, pff.com