Commanders Free Agency: Jonah Jackson Would ‘Immediately Upgrade’ Offensive Line

One of the areas that the Washington Commanders struggled last season was along the offensive line.

Sam Howell, in his first year as a starter, was running for his life as he was sacked 65 times (second-most). While the line did show improvement in spurts, often Howell was too easily got at.

Part of that was on Howell, part of it was on the offensive line and as we enter free agency, the Commanders have the potential to be serious players.

With such a glaring need for offensive line help, ESPN has picked Detroit Lions starting left guard Jonah Jackson as a target would could come in and produce results straight away.

“Fitting into Kliff Kingsbury’s offense in Washington, Jackson would immediately upgrade the left guard position,” ESPN writes. He posted a 93.2% pass block win rate in Detroit last season. That’s needed in D.C., as the Commanders allowed 65 sacks in 2023, tied for second most in the NFL.”

With Jackson looking to get his first big payday as he enters his fifth year in the NFL system, his signing wouldn’t come cheap for Washington.

Due to Jackson’s caliber, he could feasibly fetch a contract worth upward of $15 million APY, and whether or not Washington would want to stump up that kind of money for a guard is unknown.

However, if the franchise does indeed take a quarterback with the No.2 overall pick, getting them adequate protection is a must as we have seen how things go for young quarterbacks with poor offensive lines (see Andrew Luck).

The Commanders have significant cap space to do some serious deals during free agency but will want to be careful to not overpay when they don’t need to.

Jackson looms as a solid target for Kliff Kingsbury’s offense and if the franchise wants to take a quarterback, spending a little bit extra on a quality lineman could prove to be good business. After all, no quarterback is good if they are constantly on their back.