Hogs Haven
Laremy Tunsil should be a cornerstone of the Commanders team for at least the next 5 years. To make that happen, he will need to be paid a lot of money.
I was listening to the most recent Bram Weinstein podcast today, and Bram’s podcast/broadcast partner, Callow, said something so quickly that it almost slipped by me unnoticed. Almost, but not quite. He said that he didn’t expect Commanders left tackle Laremy Tunsil to be on the Commanders roster beyond his current contract, which will expire at the end of the ‘26 season.
Personally, I think this is a gross misreading of the team’s intent. In my view, when Adam Peters traded for Tunsil, who will turn 31 in thee more weeks, the Commanders GM did so with the intent of locking down the left tackle position for the long-term.
For comparison and context, let’s take a quick look at Trent Williams, who was traded by the Redskins to the 49ers in 2020, Williams’ age 32 season. While the career experience of one player may not be predictive of that of another, there are enough similarities between Williams and Tunsil that I think Trent’s experience can inform our opinion (to some extent, at least) of what’s possible for Tunsil.
At the time of his trade to the Niners, Trent Williams was a year older than Tunsil is now. In the subsequent five seasons, Trent has been named to 4 Pro Bowls and has been a 3-time 1st-team All Pro. Heading into his age 37 season, Williams was, this week, named the 4th best offensive tackle in the NFL by ESPN. Tunsil was ranked 7th.
It is, in fact, not particularly unusual for elite offensive tackles to play at a high level well past their age 35 season. Jason Peters played for 21 seasons, retiring at age 41, and while he played a lesser role in his final couple of seasons, he was a full time starter through his age 39 season. Andrew Whitworth earned 1st team All Pro honors in his age 34 and age 36 seasons, and was a full time starter until he retired at the end of the 2021 season at 40 years of age. His team, the Rams, won Super Bowl LVI in the final game of his career.
All of this is to say that Trent Williams, who remains elite at the position 15 years after being drafted #4 overall by the Redskins in 2010, is not some one-of-a-kind unicorn who discovered the fountain of youth. Elite offensive tackles can play long past the age when most running backs, receivers and defensive backs have lost the elite athletic ability that allowed them to thrive in the NFL.
Laremy Tunsil, of course, was drafted 13th overall by the Dolphins in the 2016 draft when he fell due to the appearance on the internet — just 10 minutes prior to the start of the draft — of...
