Is Parker Brailsford Big Enough to Play Center For Washington?

COLUMBIA, MO - OCTOBER 11: Parker Brailsford #72 of the Alabama Crimson Tide gets ready to snap the ball during a college football game against the Missouri Tigers on October 11, 2025 at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Parker Brailsford, C
School: Alabama | Conference: SEC
College Experience: Junior | Age: 22.5
Height / Weight: 6’2” / 289 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 5th Round
Player Comparison: Cam Jurgens

We think of NFL offensive linemen as enormous. Certainly, guards and tackles are, in general, quite large even though the ideal size has dropped a bit in the past 25 years. The ideal guard or tackle is 6’5″ and between 320 and 330 pounds, although certainly some are shorter and some weigh more or less than the ideal.

Most observers haven’t noticed that centers are different. They tend to be much smaller than other offensive linemen. Even seasoned writers make this mistake. Dane Brugler of the Athletic, in his new draft guide “The Beast”, labeled every center prospect weighing less than 310 pounds as “smaller.” But the most prominent centers of the era are less than that. Tyler Linderbaum, who just signed the most lucrative contract ever for a center, went 6’2, 296 pounds at the Combine. Combine weights for first and second team All-Pros in the last three years include the following: Creed Humphrey, 6’4″, 302 lbs; Aaron Brewer, 6’1″, 295 lbs; and Jason Kelce, 6’3″, 295 lbs. Kelce’s replacement
was Cam Jurgens, 6’3″, 303 lbs. This list includes centers playing in both gap and zone schemes.

Parker Brailsford of Alabama is this year’s candidate for “little” OL most likely to make it in the NFL. He’s 6’2″, 289 lbs. Like most linemen, Brailsford can probably add a few pounds of muscle with NFL weight training, but he may never be much heavier than 300 pounds given his frame. But with the recent success of smaller centers, should he be on Washington’s radar?

Even more interesting, Brailsford may be available at exactly the right point in the draft for Washington. The Commanders need a center to challenge Nick Allegretti, but there is a very good chance that they draft for other positions with their first two picks in Round 1 and Round 3. Their next pick is number 147 in Round 5. Mock Draft Database ranks Brailsford at 167. Brailsford is a top five center on most lists this year, and even higher on some lists. He may last so long partly because there are an unusually high number of good centers in the draft this year and because of his smaller stature. This could be a match of need and draft position. Let’s
investigate.

Player Overview

Arizona product Parker Brailsford was a four-star recruit who was part of a team that won the state high school championship when he was a senior. Brailsford began his college career at the University of Washington. He redshirted for a year, then started for the team that lost to Michigan in the National Championship game the following season. Head coach Kalen DeBoer moved to Alabama before the next season, and Brailsford followed him and started for two more seasons there. He started 42 games in three years before declaring for the draft.

Despite his small stature, Brailsford is an explosive player – indeed, he is one of the most explosive OL prospects in the entire draft. Seahawks Draft Blog has an article here that explains their Trench Explosion Formula, pioneered by former Seahawks OL coach Tom Cable, and which combines vertical jump, broad jump, and bench press scores. A mark of 3.0 or better is
outstanding. Brailsford is the best center and fourth best among all OL (not just centers) in the class with a 3.35 score. That bested centers Trey Zuhn (3.34), Jager Burton (3.23), Logan Jones (3.17, estimated), Jake Slaughter (2.92), and Sam Hecht (2.46).

College Statistics

Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 4/13/2026.

Brailsford’s pass protection statistics are excellent.  He allowed only one sack and 14 pressures last season, zero sacks in 2024, and one sack in 2023.  He is a surprising run blocker, recording 63 knockdown blocks according to the Tuscaloosa News. On the negative side, he was flagged for 17 penalties in three years.

Comparison to other Center draft prospects:

Source:  www.nfl.com/iq

Accomplishments

• Freshman All-American
• Team Captain 2025
• Second team All-American 2024
• Third team All-SEC 2025
• Watch list for many awards, including the Rimington Trophy, Outland Troy, and Lombardi Award

Strengths

• Scrappy, tough, competitive
• Excellent athletic ability, including outstanding explosiveness and surprising power for his size
• Movement skills are very good, especially laterally; good fit for wide zone
• Smart player, called line blocking well, adjusts well to blitzes and stunts

Weaknesses

• His size may make him a Center-only prospect – a difficulty for roster management
• May only fit a team using a zone blocking system due to his size
• Can be bull-rushed by some large Nose Tackles
• Sometimes too aggressive – can overrun the play

Let’s See His Work

The following is an interesting cut up of his battles with Byron Murphy of Texas in 2024; Murphy was the 1st-round pick of the Seahawks.

View Link

The following is an interview of Brailsford before the playoff game:

Game Film Analysis

I watched four games to get a better understanding of how Brailsford plays. Those were the Georgia regular season game, the Georgia playoff game, the Oklahoma regular season game, and the LSU game. My observations from those games are as follows.

First, Brailsford was clearly the best IOL for Alabama.  Both guards regularly gave up sacks or allowed their man to penetrate to stop the run.  This rarely happened to Brailsford, even when he was outweighed by dozens of pounds by the defensive tackle.  Mostly, defenses chose to leave him one on one to take advantage of the guards in blitzes. Brailsford played nearly mistake-free football, with no sacks against him in these games.

He was effective in pass protection even at his size; I was surprised by the extent to which he was able to stymie much bigger defenders. The only game where he struggled some was the Georgia playoff game, where the Bulldogs used a huge, 340 lb NT against Brailsford and relentlessly blitzed and stunted the entire Alabama offensive line.  Even in that game, Brailsford stood out, and he didn’t surrender a sack, even though the line as a whole struggled against the onslaught.

Second, he moved relatively well.  Alabama had him pulling as often as they did the guards, which says something about his movement skills.  Alabama used a conventional wide zone scheme on some plays, but they did ask the linemen to move on other plays, and he was able to get where he needed to be whatever the play.  He is comfortable moving forward and laterally.  Brailsford doesn’t always arrive with as much force as desired, but he gets the job done.  Third, I was able to compare him to the much more highly-rated Connor Lew of Auburn, since both of them played Georgia and Oklahoma in 2025.  I thought Brailsford was the more effective of the two, even though Lew is bigger and more celebrated.

How He Fits on the Commanders

If Brailsford weighed 20 pounds more and was two inches taller, he would be a second-round prospect.  His size – a tick smaller than that for the best centers in the NFL – means that he may well be available when the Commanders choose in the 5th-round.  Every player in the 5th round has limitations.  Are Brailsford’s worth accepting?

This is a case of whether actual play overcomes size. If you watch what Brailsford accomplishes in his games, he is a surprising and intriguing prospect.  But some general managers will just refuse to consider a guy who is that much smaller than the desired profile for the position. Adam Peters appears to be one of them.  I don’t think the Commanders will draft Brailsford, but if the draft falls the right way, I think they should, in the 5th round.

The choice of Brailsford would carry risks. He is much more suited to a wide zone system that can use his speed and movement skills than to a gap scheme.  Washington is reported to be moving to a wide zone scheme this year – but there is no guarantee that that move is permanent, and if they change coaches and return to a gap scheme in the future, he may not have a position.   He would need help on certain plays and against some large nose tackles from one of Washington’s guards – although that is not unusual for a guard of any size in the NFL.  Despite his limitations, I think he can be effective in the league.  My comment above makes it obvious that I think he is distinctly more impressive than Connor Lew, who may well be the first center taken, two to three rounds ahead of Brailsford.  In the 5th round, I think Brailsford could be a steal.