Commanders center Chase Roullier facing extended absence on IR

After an eight-game 2021 season, Chase Roullier is facing a second straight year with an extended absence. The Commanders center is heading to IR with what ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes is a significant knee injury.

Roullier, who suffered a season-ending fibula fracture in Week 8 last year, will seek a second opinion, according to John Keim of ESPN.com. The veteran center left Sunday’s game with barely a minute remaining and exited Ford Field on crutches.

Last year’s injury required extensive procedures, leading Roullier to begin Washington’s 2022 training camp on the active/PUP list. He joined Chase Young and Logan Thomas among those needed additional rehab from injuries last season. Roullier returned to work and was good to go by Week 1. Now, the Commanders will need to make another center adjustment.

Wes Schweitzer will take over for Roullier at center, Keim adds. Schweitzer, one of many veteran presences on Washington’s O-line, began his season at right guard but missed Week 2 with a hamstring injury. The Commanders signed longtime Panthers starter Trai Turner this offseason. After not starting Washington’s first two games, Turner will make a first-string re-emergence as the Commanders’ right guard. This will form a Carolina guard reunion, with the team having used offseason addition Andrew Norwell at left guard.

Washington gave Roullier a four-year, $40.5M deal at the end of the 2020 season. That deal entered this campaign as the NFL’s sixth-most lucrative center contract.