Who is Aaron Monteiro, the free agent tackle signed by the Commanders this week?

Aaron Monteiro is an offensive lineman who was undrafted out of Boston College in 2019. The 25 year old player is listed on the Commanders website at 6’7” and 320 pounds, and has spent time with three teams over 3 NFL seasons.

The Commanders website lists Monteiro as a tackle, but he seems to have positional flexibility.

As you can see from the chart above, per PFF, Montiero took snaps at three positions in the 2021 preseason — 32 snaps at right tackle, 29 at right guard, and 5 at left tackle. I imagine that this is one of the reasons that the Commanders coaching staff is interested in him.

Some people have suggested that the signing of Monteiro represents a reunion between the lineman and his former coaching staff.

You’ll notice that the announcement from the Commanders shows Monteiro dressed in his Carolina Panthers uniform. That’s because Monteiro was released by the Panthers on May 12 during their effort to get down to the 90-man roster limit for the start of rookie minicamp. He spent two seasons on the Carolina practice squad prior to his release two weeks ago.

We’ve seen this story with ex-Carolina Panthers before. Once they’ve left the Panthers, they either head towards former defensive coordinator Sean McDermott in Buffalo or former head coach Ron Rivera in Washington D.C., right?

Well, now we have yet another recently released player coming north from Charlotte, but the thing is — he was never around in Carolina with Riverboat Ron and OL coach John Matsko. See, it wasn’t until 2020, when Rivera was out and Matt Rhule was in, that Monteiro became a Panther.

After going undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft, Monteiro signed with the Miami Dolphins. Later in the season he was picked up by the New England Patriots, before being cut six days later.

He signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and ended up on their practice squad, where he has spent the bulk of his NFL career, such as it has been. He has yet to appear in a regular season game.

Based on details from Over The Cap, Monteiro has made a tidy living out of being a practice squad guy in the NFL, having earned close to $320,000 over 3 seasons. Here’s a fairly detailed breakdown of his contract history:

It’s hard to look at Monteiro’s history and expect anything more than a practice squad player, but he’s got size and experience, he can play both guard and tackle, and he increases the depth of the OL unit. Washington had to start 4 different centers last season, so depth is something the coaches and fans should appreciate the need for.

Updated Depth Chart

The numbers that appear beside some players’ names are 2022 cap hits per Over the Cap.

Please note that assigned positions and color coding are my own personal opinions. They do not necessarily represent the thinking of Washington’s coaches or front office, nor are they necessarily consistent with fan consensus. This chart represents my interpretation, and may not reflect the thoughts of other writers on Hogs Haven. Finally, when it comes to backup players, I don’t put much effort into making sure that they are on the right or left or behind the specific player that they backup. I mostly just try to fit everyone on the chart efficiently.

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