Stemming from a December 2021 injury, Tyler Larsen began this season on Washington’s reserve/PUP list. Larsen may end his season on a Commanders injured list as well.
Larsen left the Commanders’ Week 13 tie against the Giants via cart, and The Athletic’s Ben Standig tweets the veteran blocker suffered a dislocated kneecap. This injury will sideline Larsen indefinitely and could well shut him down for a second straight year. This will sideline a second Commanders center this season; the team lost Chase Roullier to a fractured fibula early this season.
Washington re-signed Larsen this offseason, bringing him back on a league-minimum deal, and turned to the former UDFA as a starter shortly after activating him from the reserve/PUP list. A five-year Panthers lineman who reunited with Ron Rivera via Washington free agency accord in 2021, Larsen started three games last season and suffered an Achilles tear in Week 16. But the team held a bigger role for the 31-year-old snapper this season; he started eight games before going down with his latest injury.
Larsen replaced Wes Schweitzer in the lineup earlier this season, with Schweitzer — a converted guard — working as the Commanders’ center in Week 3. Despite Schweitzer being activated from IR ahead of Week 13, Nick Martin replaced Larsen in Washington’s lineup. Formerly the Texans’ long-term starter, Martin has made two starts with the Commanders. Ditto Schweitzer, though he worked as a first-stringer often during his previous two years with the franchise.
Rivera did not confirm Martin or Schweitzer as his starting center for Week 15, but both figure to be in play for the gig. The player the team does not choose will represent quality depth. Martin, 29, has made 64 career starts. Schweitzer, 29, has 56 on his resume. The Commanders boast considerable experience up front, with ninth-year linemen in Charles Leno, Andrew Norwell, Trai Turner and Cornelius Lucas in place as starters. Turner missed Week 13 due to ankle and knee issues.
Larsen was hardly All Pro but going down to the third centre and removing Wes Schweitzer as a guard, or at least backup guard, is not going to help steady the line. The number of players injured every year is astonishing.