The Washington Commanders feel like they have one of the best offensive tackles in the sport in Laremy Tunsil, and it turns out that the rest of the league agrees with them.
Tunsil, who was acquired via trade with the Houston Texans and became a key cog in the Commanders' offense last season, was ranked as the fifth-best offensive tackle in ESPN writer Jeremy Fowler’s annual series listing the top 10 players at each position.
The series, which has run for the last seven years, is constructed by surveying league executives, coaches and scouts to determine which 10 players they think are the best at their respective positions right now. Over 70 voters contributed to the survey, which did not consider career achievements of projections for players' future.
And based on the opinions of coaches and executives, the belief around the league is that Tunsil is one of the most dominant players in the game today.
"Underrated to me and bulletproof in both phases," an NFC executive said in Fowler's story. "[He] has another gear that others don't. Still violent."
During the 2025 season, Tunsil allowed 1.5 sacks in 14 starts. He earned an 88.9 pass block grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked second among all offensive linemen with a minimum of 554 offensive snaps.
From 2019-2024, Tunsil played for the Houston Texans where he started in 81 games and earned Pro Bowl honors each season. In 2024, Tunsil registered an 89.1 pass block grade from PFF among all offensive tackles. He also had a pass block win rate of 93 percent on 411 total snaps, tied for the seventh best among all offensive tackles, per ESPN analytics.
Since 2022, Tunsil has earned a 91.7 pass blocking grade (second among all offensive tackles) and allowed a presser rate of 3.1 percent, the third best among all offensive tackles.
"I always want to be the best," Tunsil said. "And the way for me to do that is work my ass off."
There weren't many tackles who played better than Tunsil in the run game. He was only defeated on 7.9% of run plays, which ranks second best among NFC offensive tackles with at least 250 run block snaps behind only Trent Williams. His run block grade from PFF was the highest of his career, while his overall grade of 87.5 is fourth best for NFC OTs with at least 250 total snaps.
And the Commanders benefited from Tunsil's improvements as a run blocker. They average 4.7 yards per carry -- tied for the fourth best number in the league -- and ranked fourth in yards per game (134.7).
Those stats were a result of how the offensive line as a whole has performed this season, but Tunsil's teammates know just how big of a role he had in elevating the position.
"I feel like the biggest thing is his ability just to grab hold of somebody in the run game and just completely run them off the ball," rookie Josh Conerly said of Tunsil.
