With Nick Allegretti’s calf proving to be his worst enemy, the Washington Commanders need Matt Gulbin to be a success more than ever.
Adam Peters selected the Michigan State product with the 209th-overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The 23-year-old played center full-time during his fifth collegiate season, his only with the Spartans, after four years of rotating between both guard spots at Wake Forest.
Gulbin was expected to spend the early part of his rookie season developing behind an established offensive line that included Laremy Tunsil, Brandon Coleman, Allegretti, Sam Cosmi, and Josh Conerly Jr.
Unpredictably, a wave of poor injury luck has already vaulted him into starting considertion. Dan Quinn now faces the dilemma of asking Gulbin to make his professional debut in one of the most unforgiving environments against Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter during a Week 1 visit to the Philadelphia Eagles, or to start an inexperienced veteran backup.
Allegretti’s injury struggles
ESPN’s John Keim reported on Wednesday that Allegretti, who was on a snap count, visited the medical tent before leaving practice earlier in the morning. This was only his second day back at practice after he suffered a calf strain on the first day of training camp near the end of July.
A Thursday update from Quinn revealed that Allegretti experienced tightness in his calf during Wednesday’s practice and was removed as a precaution. Imaging fortuitously came back negative, and he will be reevaluated after the weekend.
While Allegretti appears to have dodged a bullet, the only way to get ready to get in football shape is by playing football. That’s something he has done very little of since training camp began.
Career practice squad member Julian Good-Jones — who has a whopping two snaps of NFL experience — was the starting snapper in Allegretti’s absence. That was more out of necessity than desire, and he didn’t assuage many fears with his performances against the Miami Dolphins in a joint-practice and preseason game last week.
At 29, Good-Jones is a known commodity. Gulbin is not. His youth and relative inexperience at the position suggest that he is still growing, although they cloud his present level of ability.
With Allegretti’s return to play process sputtering, understanding Gulbin’s preparedness for a potential Week 1 start is more important than ever.
Here’s what stood out to me from his preseason debut.
A clear understanding
My favorite detail of Gulbin’s performance against the Dolphins can’t be measured by simple numbers.
Despite being a rookie, he never seemed unaware of his assignment. He picked up twists, stunts, and blitzes, and targeted his blocks effectively in the running game, despite facing a characteristically vanilla defense. This play demonstrates a clear example of that.
Sam Hartman starts off by communicating a change in protection. Gulbin initially gets his hands on the shaded nose defender, steers him, and hands him off to the left guard, before relocating to pick up the blitzing linebacker. The result? A clean pocket for Hartman, who throws a strike to Jaylin Lane for 17 yards.
Gulbin finished the game without allowing a single pressure in 22 pass-blocking snaps. Even more impressively, he did so while primarily working against players with noticeably longer arms, meaning that he was able to anchor down after absorbing the initial contact.
A powerful force
Gulbin showed real power in the running game. On his first play of the game, an 11-yard split zone run by Robert Henry Jr., Gulbin and UDFA rookie Tanoa Togiai worked together on a double-team block on Matthew Butler before Gulbin took over and drove Butler backward to open a hole for Henry Jr.
The very next play, however, Gulbin was played to a draw. He wasn’t knocked off his spot, but he didn’t run his feet through the block and didn’t get a forward push at the point of attack.
Obviously, Gulbin still didn’t lose this play, but it shows the difference between being neutral and a positive influence on a play. Whether or not the Commanders are in a position to be picky is a different ordeal.
Not the best athlete
Interestingly, one of the plays that made me a little wary of Gulbin as an athlete came on the Commanders’ best play of the day.
David Blough schemed up a run that resulted in Gulbin being the lead blocker as a puller for Henry Jr., who rumbled into the end zone for a 22-yard score. Gulbin correctly identified the immediate threat and made a crucial block to free Henry Jr., although his lateral agility and acceleration getting to the block were both underwhelming, given the final result of the run.
It’s impossible to critique the outcome, but that looked like the open-field ability of a player who only graded out with a 3.46 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) — 482nd of 735 centers tested since 1987. Notably, Gulbin’s worst scores came in the shuttle (1.61) and three-cone (0.9) drills, which primarily measure lateral movement and change-of-direction ability.
To Gulbin’s credit, he showed solid straight-line speed when working up to the second level of the defense, as seen below. So while he may not be very agile, there is some burst under the hood.
Will Gulbin take over at center?
Overall, I thought Gulbin produced a promising performance against the Dolphins. He didn’t win every rep and had a couple of technical deficiencies, for example, getting his angle wrong on an attempted reach block and allowing himself to be long-armed by a defensive tackle that could’ve blown the play up had it been targeted toward his area, but he was nothing short of solid.
At a basic level, there were enough positives on the tape to validate Gulbin’s status as a Day Three draft pick. Quinn said earlier this week that he would let the rookie lineman get reps at guard in practice, deepening the line’s positional flexibility and suggesting that he could be thrown into the fire if Chris Paul underperforms at left guard.
However, with Allegretti struggling to stack days on the practice field, fans are heaping pressure on Quinn to abandon the development plan and give Gulbin the opportunity to win the starting center job in Week 1.
Allegretti’s experience would be tremendous help against the Eagles’ menacing defensive line, but he’s running out of practice days to get himself sharp and in shape.
There are exactly 24 days left for the Commanders to settle on a decision. What do you think they should do? Leave a comment below and send me your thoughts on X/Twitter: @fullcommandshow
Watch the 45 snaps on YOUTUBE! I know you've already watched it enough times🫡. So you aren't going to look at you were saying. Show me another young C that can match him and that film so far? You and the local media said he was trash 🗑! Are you going to say you didn't?
You've been hat on Treylon Burks for months! You haven't?
Kaytron Allen and Henry Jr's game tape was pretty similar? You didn't say that? Henry Jr is the superior RB but he went to UTSA, and Kaytron Allen went to Penng Syate. Although he was 2nd RB to Singleton, was drafted in the 6th Round only because of where he went to school. He should of been undrafted with his film and skipping the combine(he didn't want to do the physical testing) because he wasn't explosive, and painfully slow. His Pro-Day came and again didn't physically tested at all. Last Friday look at the Miami pre-season tape and both backs! Their #'s, eye test of watching the 2 guys play it's plain as day who is the superior RB is going forward! Adam Peters and Matt Blough are to smart not to keep the right guy!
Bill
Rashaad White
Robert Jr.
Reynolds
He didn't miss a reach block! Never once got long armed! Treylon Burks still on the bubble and Dynami still a lock as a top WR??? Kaytron is not an NFL RB! NO patience Poor vision, not a good one cut explosive runner, hesitates before cut, too slow to be an NFL RB! Complete misfit for the wide zone scheme.