Three Redskins defenders heavily impacted by 4-3 scheme change
By Ian Cummings
No. 3 – DE Montez Sweat
You could almost hear the collective groan over the past decade, every time Ryan Kerrigan dropped back into coverage. Everyone knew he was essentially a defensive end, but the coaching staff employed him in roles which didn’t match his skill set, and while Kerrigan’s coverage wasn’t always the issue, needlessly subtracting from the pass rush hurt.
In the first year of Montez Sweat’s career, there was a similar issue being raised. Sweat, in truth, has enough athleticism and length to manage the outside linebacker role, but he’s at his best as a pure defensive end — defending the edge on every snap. He logged 7.0 sacks as an outside linebacker in 2019, and now in 2020, he’ll be in a role that’s even more conducive to pass rushing production. He’ll also have an extra year under his belt, and more talent around him.
The Redskins were confident enough in Sweat’s upside to trade up into Round 1 for him in 2019, and now, after showing growth in his rookie season, he’s in a position to make a leap in 2020. A lot of factors are contributing to that, but his new well-defined role as a pure edge defender will certainly help keep things simple, and fast.