Laremy Tunsil Injured Reserve: Commanders Lose Pro Bowl Left Tackle, Betting Market Reacts as Jayden Daniels’ Protection Takes a Hit

The Washington Commanders placed left tackle Laremy Tunsil on injured reserve Monday, officially confirming what had loomed over the franchise since training camp: the five-time Pro Bowler will miss significant time after tearing his triceps. Washington also placed defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton on IR with a torn pectoral, gutting both lines in one roster move just days before the regular season opener.

Tunsil arrived in Washington via a blockbuster offseason trade from the Houston Texans and immediately validated the move, delivering the best pass-protection season of his career. The Commanders rewarded him this spring with a two-year, $60.2 million extension that included $52.65 million fully guaranteed, betting that his blindside protection would be the foundation for quarterback Jayden Daniels’ next step forward. Instead, that protection is now gone for at least the first month of the season, with head coach Dan Quinn unable to offer a firm return timetable.

What Washington Loses Up Front

The injury is a brutal blow given how Tunsil played in his first year in Washington. Across 14 starts in 2025, he allowed just 1.5 sacks and posted an 88.9 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus, second among all offensive linemen with at least 554 snaps. His overall 84.7 PFF grade ranked sixth among qualified tackles, and Commanders Wire voted him the team’s MVP for the season. That level of blindside protection is not easily replaced, and Washington will now lean on Brandon Coleman as the starting left tackle, with recent addition D.J. Humphries occupying the backup role behind him.

Tunsil tore his triceps during a one-on-one pass-rush drill in training camp and underwent surgery, a procedure that typically requires an extended recovery window. Because he was placed on IR rather than given one of Washington’s cutdown-day return designations, the earliest Tunsil can rejoin the active roster is four games into the season, and reports have indicated a realistic best-case return closer to the second half of the year. Newton, a 2024 second-round pick who logged 38 tackles and five sacks in 17 games last season, faces a similarly uncertain timeline on the other side of the ball after his pectoral surgery.

How the Betting Market Is Reacting

Washington opened the season priced as a long shot to reach the Super Bowl, with lines in the +5400 to +7000 range depending on the book, and roughly +460 to +600 to win the NFC East behind the Eagles and Cowboys. The Commanders’ regular-season win total has been sitting near 7.5, and losing a top-tier protector like Tunsil for an extended stretch is exactly the kind of development that pressures a win total toward the under, particularly with Daniels needing a clean pocket to operate after an injury-shortened 2025 in which he played only seven games.

The market impact isn’t limited to team futures. Any sportsbook offering Daniels-specific markets, passing yardage, sack-rate exposure, or MVP-caliber long-shot odds, now has to account for a downgraded offensive line in front of him for the opening month at minimum. A Washington offense that leaned on Tunsil’s elite protection to keep Daniels upright now hands blindside duties to a far less proven option, and futures bettors weighing the Commanders’ division and conference odds will want to watch how the offensive line performs before that price moves back in Washington’s favor.