The Washington Commanders' offense was on a world-record pace for sacks allowed after the first seven weeks of the season as Sam Howell was taken down 40 times.
Howell was getting sacked for fun as the Commanders' offensive line simply couldn't protect their young quarterback.
While there was some improvement in the second half of the season, they would still end up allowing the second-most sacks in the NFL (65) as Howell got beaten up consistently.
But while the offensive line struggled, guard Sam Cosmi was a bright spot as his efforts in the run game stood out the most. As such, NFL.com listed Cosmi as a surprise contributor for the 2023 season.
"The Commanders’ offensive line struggled for much of the season, but Cosmi’s play stood out," NFL.com wrote. "The third-year pro had a career year, showing the ability to open holes in the run game and improving as a pass blocker. After two seasons at right tackle, Cosmi moved to right guard in 2023 and shined. He allowed 31 pressures but gave up just one sack and four QB hits in 17 starts on 736 pass-blocking snaps, third-most among guards, per PFF. Changes are afoot for the Commanders in 2024, including likely moves along the O-line, but Cosmi showed he could be a building block on the interior."
Cosmi, who more than doubled his snap count from 2022 (1,103) as he played every snap for Eric Bieniemy's offense, was a beacon of solid production. Also, he only had three penalties all season, so the team wasn't getting put behind the chains all too often either.
With so much change expected in Washington this offseason both on and off the field, Cosmi showed that he could be a valuable member of the offensive line that could be protecting a new quarterback come Week 1.
As the Commanders have the No. 2 overall pick, the thought is that the new ownership group led by Josh Harris and general manager Adam Peters will take a quarterback, possibly Drake Maye to lead the franchise going forward.
If that is the case, some offensive line reinforcements might go hand in hand with drafting a quarterback. But one change won't be Cosmi as he established himself as a starter in the league for a long time.
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