The Washington Commanders' unofficial depth chart for Week 1 provided some long-sought answers on the team's structure, and that includes who is listed as their starting right tackle.
Rookie offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. is set to make his professional debut as a starter when the Commanders kick off their 2025 season against the New York Giants at Northwest Stadium. It's a sign of how confident the team has become in Conerly, regarded as one of the best pass protectors in last year's draft, and while he is not even 22 years old, they believe he is ready for a serious role now.
"I feel like I've earned it," Conerly said. "And everybody around me has helped me get to this point."
The Commanders haven't been shy regarding how they feel about Conerly, who they were hoping would fall to them with the 29th overall pick. General manager Adam Peters said "it was an easy pick" for the organization because of his footwork, body structure and overall talent. They believed he had room to grow and develop into an even more impressive player.
The team did not hand Conerly a job, though; he had to earn it. He started off working with the second group of offensive linemen as he adjusted to the speed and physicality of the game. He also had to transition from being a left tackle to playing on the right, which can require an adjustment period.
Still, Conerly impressed coaches and teammates with his maturity and overall talent. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil said Conerly is going to be "a dog" and offered to give him any help he would need during his rookie year. Quinn called the tutelage "invaluable" for Conerly.
"I think it's a really cool thing," Quinn said. "It does have to happen on its own with spaces to do it. And we're really fortunate that way, but it makes me think of Marcus [Mariota] and Jayden [Daniels] and the importance of that, those talks [between] just the two of them, going through a technique or a situation, and it's a big deal."
Conerly often rotated snaps with Andrew Wylie during training camp -- a tactic the team used with Brandon Coleman and Cornelius Lucas last year to give Coleman a more gradual development process. When Tunsil missed practice with a veteran's day off, Conerly would be the starting right tackle with Wylie playing on the left.
Prior to the Commanders holding fully-padded practices, it was clear that Conerly needed more time before being a permanent fixture in the starting line. His technique needed to be polished, something that veteran pass-rushers like Von Miller and Dorance Armstrong exploited on multiple reps.
Then the pads came on, and Conerly began to show progress. He was more physical at the line of scrimmage and fared better in pass protection. He allowed just two pressures in the preseason, according to Pro Football Focus, and had the third highest run blocking grade on the team.
Run blocking is where Quinn saw the most growth from Conerly, saying the rookie was "even better than I thought."
"Sometimes you think of an athletic tackle and...your mind goes to pass protection, but he's a very strong run defender," Quinn said. "He can clamp on you; he can move you. You saw that with some double teams the other day. We've seen him pull, so that would be, probably, as big a shift for me as it was even from left to right, is in the run game."
The move to put Conerly in the starting lineup comes ahead of the Commanders having to face a Giants defensive front that features first-round pick Abdul Carter, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, 2019 first-round pick Brian Burns and 2022 first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Conerly said there are butterflies that come with every game, particularly against a front like the Giants possess. "They're great inside and out," he said, but he intends to do what got him the job in the first place.
"Keep Jayden up, and make sure we're able to establish the run game," Conerly said.
