Patrick starts at center as Commanders sideline Allegretti in Week 4

Nick Allegretti played no offensive snaps in Week 4 as Lucas Patrick started at center and rookie Matt Gulbin at right guard for Washington.

The player the Washington Commanders spent the offseason promoting as their starting center did not take a single offensive snap in Week 4. Lucas Patrick started at center and sixth-round rookie Matt Gulbin at right guard against the Colts, with both on the field for every offensive snap, while Nick Allegretti appeared on three special-teams plays.

The decision capped a turbulent year at the position for Washington. In February the club released starting center Tyler Biadasz, a move the Yahoo Sports report tied to declining play and communication problems at the spot. From that point forward, the organization publicly insisted Allegretti could handle the job at a high level despite limited NFL experience at center.

Washington engaged with the market's top free agent at the position, former Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum, but the Raiders closed that door with a three-year, $81 million contract the report described as record-breaking. General manager Adam Peters then stood pat, adding no veteran center for depth or competition.

The draft supplied the only other addition: Michigan State center Matt Gulbin, selected in the sixth round in April. The report considered Gulbin unlikely to contribute early in his career, leaving Allegretti — previously benched at guard and regarded as a rotational piece — as the projected starter at center.

Allegretti then injured his calf on the opening day of training camp and was sidelined for nearly the entire camp and preseason, deepening the concern at the position. Even so, the Commanders made no further move at center for the remainder of the summer.

That changed on Sept. 16, when Washington signed Patrick, an 11th-year guard/center whom the Giants had released in training camp because of an injury. With right guard Sam Cosmi sidelined by a concussion, Patrick started the last two games at center. Allegretti opened at right guard in the Week 3 win over the Seahawks, but in Week 4 Gulbin got the start there while Patrick remained in the middle.

Asked after the Colts game about the changes, head coach Quinn pointed to competition and practice evaluations. “I think, one, just keep competing,” he said. “Where we’re at with the O-line spot, with Sam being out, and we liked some of the things that we saw with Lucas. We liked some of the things we’ve seen in practice with Matt. So we thought, okay, let’s put him into the space as well.” On Allegretti, he added: “Nick got a little bit banged up last week, and he was going to be limited at the start. So we thought this was the best chance for this week with where we’d go. That’s all it was.” The report noted that Allegretti had not appeared on the team’s injury report the previous week.

The report read the reshuffle as a tacit acknowledgment that the offseason plan at center had failed, observing that coaches and general managers almost never concede such missteps publicly. Most of the criticism fell on Peters for standing pat after the Linderbaum pursuit collapsed, with Quinn sharing in it. The report also defended Allegretti as a useful interior reserve capable of stepping in at three positions and called the online ridicule directed at him unfair.

Cosmi is expected back this week, and if he plays Sunday, Washington’s choice at center becomes the next question. The report argued that Patrick, who it said had performed well at the spot for two weeks, should keep the job.