Laremy Tunsil’s Torn Triceps Just Blew a Hole in Washington’s Season Before It Started
The Washington Commanders just watched their season take a hit before Week 1 even arrived. Laremy Tunsil, the five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Washington paid to protect Jayden Daniels, tore his triceps in Saturday’s practice and will need surgery. The recovery window sits between four and six months, which means the offensive line just lost its cornerstone for most of 2026.
Here’s how it happened. Tunsil was in a one-on-one drill trying to stop a bull rush from free-agent addition Odafe Oweh. The injury hit right there, on a rep that looked like any other rep. Football is brutal like that.
Washington Just Paid Him $30 Million a Year
Five months ago, the Commanders made Tunsil the first $30 million-per-year offensive lineman in NFL history. His two-year, $60.2 million extension reset the entire left-tackle market. That’s the kind of money you spend when you believe a player is the difference between a rebuild and a real playoff run.
Now they’re going to get maybe six or seven games out of him this year, if they get anything at all. Coach Dan Quinn said Washington hopes Tunsil can return this season, but “hopes” is doing heavy lifting in that sentence. Triceps tears on 30-year-old linemen do not have easy timelines.
Brandon Coleman Is Now the Guy
Coleman slides in at left tackle. He is a young player with real upside, but asking a second-year lineman to shepherd Jayden Daniels’ blindside through the NFC East is a bit terrifying. The Eagles have Nolan Smith. The Cowboys have Micah Parsons. Every Sunday is going to feature a defensive end trying to test Coleman until something breaks.
The Commanders had a magical 2025 season built on Daniels’ improvisation and a line that gave him just enough time. Take away the guy protecting his back, and everything gets harder. Not impossible. Just harder in a way you feel every drive.
What This Does to Washington’s Ceiling
Realistically? It caps them. Anyone who thought the Commanders were catching Philadelphia in the division needs to reassess. The margin between a No. 1 seed and a Wild Card team is often the health of five guys, and Washington just lost the most important one before a preseason snap was played.
Daniels will still make plays. He is that kind of talent. But quarterbacks who take extra hits do not hit February in one piece, and Washington needs Daniels in one piece more than any team needs any player. Every game where Tunsil is in a sling instead of a stance raises the injury risk on the entire offense.
The move to make now is short-term help at tackle. There will be veteran cast-offs after final cuts. Washington needs to work the phones. Bringing in a body who can spot-start or push Coleman in practice would ease some pressure.
None of this means the season is over. The Commanders won 12 games last year with plenty of adversity. But if the goal was to build on that and take a real swing at the NFC, Saturday’s practice made that swing a whole lot heavier. Losing your $60 million left tackle to a non-contact drill in August is the kind of thing that changes seasons. Washington is going to spend the next four months proving it can still be dangerous without him.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
