Redskins: Five bold predictions for the 2019 regular season
By Ian Cummings
No. 3 – Daron Payne leads the team in sacks
Edge rushers aren’t a dying breed. But in recent years, the interior lineman has made a name for himself as an equal sack-getter. Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald led the league in sacks last year, and other interior standouts such as Fletcher Cox, Jarran Reed, DeForest Buckner, Chris Jones, and Geno Atkins all reached double-digits as well.
Interior pressure is the quickest way to reach the quarterback. It’s a straight-line shot, once you beat your man. And as this becomes more and more apparent, teams are trending away from the flat-footed space eaters, and toward the athletic, multi-faceted interior defensive linemen who can stand tall in run defense, and wreak havoc as pass rushers.
Redskins defensive lineman Daron Payne fits that profile to perfection.
Entering just his second season, Payne could be on the verge of a breakout. He arguably looked like the Redskins best player in preseason, and in his recent defensive lineman tiers, trench expert Brandon Thorn ranked Payne as the best defensive lineman in Washington. He put Payne in Tier 2, just one tier shy of Aaron Donald and Fletcher Cox, among all of the other names listed above.
Payne is one of the few linemen in that tier to lack a ten-sack season, and in 2019, he earns his stripes. Payne will ascend to the top of the ranks, and become one of the unequivocal best interior linemen in the NFL. He’ll lead the Redskins in sacks, surpassing Ryan Kerrigan’s sturdy total of 10.0 or 11.0.