The Washington Commanders already will be without star quarterback Jayden Daniels for the final 3 games of the regular season, which includes 2 games against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
The Commanders won’t have 5-time Pro Bowl left offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil for at least the first of those 2 games in Week 16 with an oblique injury.
“Commanders LT Laremy Tunsil ruled out for Saturday against the Eagles, per HC Dan Quinn,” NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo wrote on X on Thursday, December 18.
Tunsil has played in all 14 games for the Commanders this season after they acquired him a trade with the Houston Texans on March 10 in exchange for a 2026 second round pick, 2026 fourth round pick, 2025 third round pick and 2025 seventh round pick.
The Commanders are 4-10 and eliminated from the playoffs. Washington snapped an 8-game losing streak with a win over the New York Giants in Week 15.
Despite his team’s struggles, Tunsil has been one of the NFL’s elite offensive tackles in his first season with the Commanders. According to Pro Football Focus, Tunsil’s 84.7 overall grade puts him seventh out of 82 eligible players at his position.
“The Commanders big offseason move was to trade for LT Laremy Tunsil,” NFL reporter Mark Bullock wrote on X. “He’s been quietly excellent for Washington this season.”
Commanders Have Big Decision Ahead on Tunsil
Tunsil, 31 years old, has one year remaining on the 3-year, $75 million contract extension he signed with the Texans in March 2023 and is due $21.35 million in salary in 2026.
In 2025, Tunsil helped the Commanders by converting $18 million of his 2025 salary into a signing bonus in order to clear $14.4 million in salary cap space.
Here’s the thing about elite NFL players — if they have one year remaining on their contract and there’s no extension on the table they can become pretty testy. The Commanders showed they were loathe to give aging players big-time contracts in the 2025 offseason with their messy contract negotiations with wide receiver Terry McLaurin.
McLaurin eventually got paid to the tune of a 3-year, $97 million contract extension. The Commanders might be smart to pay Tunsil along those same lines — possibly a 2-year, $50 million extension that keeps him in Washington through the 2028 season.
“I’m for whatever helps Jayden Daniels,” 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen said on December 17. ” … Even if he’s asking to be the highest paid left tackle and that number goes up to $29 million or $30 million, the Commanders might might want to do it.”
Left Offensive Tackle Unique Position in NFL Terms
If the Commanders are reticent to pay aging players, they might want to reconsider that approach with Tunsil because of the position he plays.
The reason age is usually a factor in NFL contracts, it’s because players slow down in terms of closing speed and open field speed. That’s not really a factor with left offensive tackles.
According to Over the Cap, 4 of the Top 10 highest paid left offensive tackles in the NFL are 30 years or older and 6 of the Top 10 are at least 28 years old.
If the Commanders don’t want to keep Tunsil around, it might mean right offensive tackle and 2025 first round pick (No. 29 overall) Josh Conerly might make the move over and protect Daniels’ blind side.
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