What are the Commanders going to decide regarding center Chase Roullier?
Roullier was arguably the most dependable, reliable offensive lineman for Washington. In fact, Roullier played 100% of Washington’s offensive snaps in the 2018 and 2020 seasons. In addition, in the 2019 season, he played all 100 percent of the offensive snaps in his 14 games as well.
How did the Washington management respond? They quickly re-signed Roullier. Roullier and Washington agreed to a 4-year contract extension worth $40.5 million on Jan. 2, 2021. Roullier received a full guarantee of $13.67 million, including a $9 million signing bonus (Over the Cap).
Roullier continued to be durable, effective and reliable in the 2021 season. Then it happened. In the Week 8 loss at Denver, Roullier suffered a fractured fibula and was lost for the remainder of the season.
Working his way back to the starting lineup in time for the 2022 season, Roullier unbelievably injured his knee badly on the very last offensive snap in the Week 2 loss at Detroit. Just one more play, and he would have escaped injury that day.
As a result, Roullier missed the last 14 Commanders games, and management in free agency quickly signed former New York Giant Nick Gates to a three-year deal and also re-signed veteran center Tyler Larsen.
Roullier is scheduled to count $12,420,000 against the 2023 Commanders’ salary cap. Are the Commanders waiting to see how the knee of Roullier has recovered at their OTA or Training Camp?
Might they simply be waiting to cut him after June 1? You see, if they cut him before June 1, Roullier would be an $8,100,000 cap hit and a $4,320,000 cap savings. On the other hand, if they cut Roullier after June 1, he would be a $4,050,000 cap hit and an $8,370,000 cap savings.
Might they be waiting to see if they can draft a center in the 2023 NFL Draft? Whatever they determine, fans should be reminded that Nick Gates was not overly impressive last year. That is, he might not necessarily be an improvement over Roullier. On the other hand, Gates was coming off of multiple surgeries, and perhaps Washington is confident Gates will be much stronger this year than he was last year.
Roullier was so dependable; it is so unfortunate the bad injuries he has encountered the last two seasons. The DMV would love to see Roullier return to health and be effective again. However, if the Commanders are going to keep Roullier around, the best bet would be they are going to seek to reach a new agreement with Roullier on compensation.