If we agree on anything, let it be this: Sam Cosmi is all of us.“I hate preseason,” the Commanders offensive lineman said this week. “… Preseason’s good for development and stuff like that, but I love the season.”Washington’s offseason has been oddly dramatic, with coordinator changes, a major roster reset, Brandon Aiyuk’s Instagram infamy, a wave of optimism from Stefon Diggs’ arrival, the deflating loss of Laremy Tunsil, and way too much time dissecting the roster.“Real football” — Cosmi’s words, not mine — is about a week away, and yet so many questions remain about the Commanders and their season ahead. Lucky for you, I attempted to answer some of the more pressing ones. Happy mailbag reading.(Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length.)Commanders camp takeaways: Jayden Daniels locked-in; injuries mountNicki JhabvalaWhat is the team’s thinking around the offensive line? It is now abysmal. What are the next steps? I believe depth and starters are needed. What are your thoughts? — Avinash P.The team’s thinking is that it likes the guys it has on the O-line and didn’t feel it was worth paying a center $27 million.But to say the group is “abysmal” is a leap at this point. (For the record, I said the offense looked the worst it has in years during Washington’s joint practice with the Ravens last week. The O-line was rough that day, and it was a group that featured three starters, plus a rotation of guys at the two other spots that the team ultimately deemed worthy of making its active roster and practice squad. But I never said the offense overall looked horrible for all of camp and the preseason. Hardly.)That joint practice at Baltimore isn’t necessarily an indicator of how the front five will play in the regular season. Neither are preseason games. But the center position and the overall depth on the interior worry me, much like the receiver depth worried me ahead of last season.Neither general manager Adam Peters nor coach Dan Quinn have explicitly said why they chose to move on from Tyler Biadasz at center. (Despite Peters’ recent claim that they had “already covered it,” he has never publicly explained the reason. In fact, he has said he won’t “get into specifics.”)Perhaps notable, though, is that they have repeatedly praised their current centers for their mental aptitude for the position. What Quinn said about Nick Allegretti before camp — “you count on him, and he’s going to be in the right spot, making the right call at the right time” — is awfully similar to what he said about Julian Good-Jones and rookie Matt Gulbin weeks later.“You know how important it is to direct everything up front — ‘this is the call, this is where we’re going,’” Quinn said. “With both of them, I feel good (about their) knowledge of the system.”I can get behind that.But it’s fair to question how the team rebuilt the interior line after releasing Biadasz.I agreed — and still agree — with the team’s decision not to give Tyler Linderbaum, or any center, a record contract. Washington had several premium positions to fill, will have more premium positions to fill next offseason, and will soon have to give Jayden Daniels a massive deal.I also don’t mind the decision to make Allegretti the starting center; he’s played both guard and center over the years. But the move meant losing a key piece of Washington’s depth, which was stripped again when Brandon Coleman moved back outside to tackle in the wake of Tunsil’s triceps injury (which, by the way, was undoubtedly the biggest blow to the line and offense overall).Adding to the concerns: Allegretti missed all of the preseason and almost all of training camp with a calf injury. He returned to practice this week, and you hope he doesn’t have to deal with any further injuries. But historical data suggests players may face a higher rate of soft-tissue injuries when they jump into a season with minimal or no preseason training.Good-Jones and Gulbin had some good moments when they filled in for Allegretti, but they generally didn’t seem ready to step in on a moment’s notice. Yet, Gulbin made the initial 53-man roster and Good-Jones re-signed to the practice squad, which means they’ll continue to be backstops for Allegretti. Undrafted rookie Tanoa Togiai, who made the active roster, and practice squad veteran Trent Scott are currently the only other players who could help inside.After all of this, could the line surprise and play really well together? Of course. Could the offense turn into one of the league’s more prolific groups? Sure. This team shocked the NFL in 2024 and could absolutely do it again with Daniels at the helm — if he can stay upright and healthy.Have you ever done this much reporting on a team’s center position before Week 1? — Jim S.I have not. But there was a good bit of center talk in 2021, when injuries decimated Washington’s line and it was down to its fifth center in practice for Week 14. Jon Toth, who doubled as a big-and-tall model (‘memba him?!), briefly took reps with the starters when Chase Roullier, Wes Schweitzer, Tyler Larsen and Keith Ismael were all dealing with injuries.Since the Peters/Quinn combo arrived in 2024, a lot of young players have had trouble getting meaningful playing time. Does it seem like the team/management has a priority to develop/assess its drafted players this season, or should we expect more playing time for free agent veterans? — Anonymous U.I beg to differ. First, if you’re looking solely at playing time, players with two years or fewer in the league were on the field for 23.8 percent of Washington’s offensive snaps and 9.7 percent of the team’s defensive snaps over the past two seasons. Those rates were the 11th- and 10th-highest, respectively, in the NFL in that span.That Washington’s first- and second-year players had the 10th-highest share of their team’s defensive snaps over the past two seasons actually undersells the playing time of its less experienced players; the Commanders had the oldest roster in the league from 2024 to ’25.But those numbers require context and really don’t provide much information as far as player development. Injuries obviously play a significant role. So do scheme, personnel groupings, whether a team has a young starting quarterback or some young starters on the offensive line, and so on.My point: How a team develops players shouldn’t be judged solely by playing time. Yes, time on task is ultimately what will make players better. But a winning franchise isn’t going to sit veteran starters so its first- and second-year reserves can begin to work toward 2028.To me, some better measures of player development — and these require context as well — are the number of young players who earn second contracts with the team, the success rate of the team when its first- and second-year players are on the field, and how many of those guys become foundational pieces for the franchise.Who has the actual final say on personnel decisions? Is it the first-time GM or the veteran head coach? Is it different for the draft versus early free agency versus roster cuts? — Stephen M.Depends on the team and its structure, but for the current Commanders regime, Peters calls the shots on the personnel and owner Josh Harris may ultimately approve larger deals, such as the eight- or nine-figure contracts given out to some veterans.That said, Peters and Quinn discuss the roster multiple times a day and have described their working relationship as very collaborative. It has to be; it doesn’t behoove Peters to acquire players who are not good fits for what Quinn and his coordinators are running.What do you make of the confidence Quinn and Peters showed this week? Are the new coordinators holding back so much that we cannot judge the poor preseason? — Eric M.I think they are confident, but they probably wouldn’t say it even if they did doubt their team. That wouldn’t go over well.And teams never show much in camp and preseason. That is not a new phenomenon. Teams also play their starters very little, if at all, in the preseason, so I would caution against judging a team or its coordinators based solely on those games. Washington went 1-2 and averaged only 14.3 points per game in the 2024 preseason. That group seemed to do OK in the regular season.My question centers around why this franchise can’t find a kicker. Special teams have generally been good under (Larry) Izzo, and punter Tress Way and long snapper Tyler Ott are solid-plus, but they’ve had 20 kickers in the past eight or nine years. Any insight? — Steve L.Wow, you’ve already written off the rookie, Drew Stevens?! I think he could be quite good and may even end Washington’s kicker carousel. He has the leg strength; the only question is whether he has the accuracy/consistency at the pro level. He made 4 of 5 field goals in the preseason, with his lone miss from 62 yards.The turnover at that position in Washington has been wild, and I don’t have a great answer for why the franchise has failed to find an answer there. The 2021 season was pretty epic after the team cut Dustin Hopkins and later turned to Chris Blewitt and Brian Johnson when Joey Slye was injured.The current regime actually tried to resolve the issue. Or, at least, it thought it had a good chance of resolving it. Brandon McManus was Peters’ first free-agent signing in 2024, but McManus was cut weeks later because of sexual assault allegations, which he denied. (The NFL found insufficient evidence that he violated the league’s personal conduct policy, and he later landed with the Green Bay Packers.)It’s been a turnstile in Washington ever since, thanks to injuries and subpar performances, but I’m bullish on Stevens ending the cycle.