Analyzing just how good the Washington Football Team’s defense is

Just how good is the Washington Football Team’s defense?

Eleven weeks into the 2020 NFL season, the Washington Football Team defense is ranked fourth in the league. This is what we would call a pretty good improvement over last year, when the team finished 27th in total defense.

There are a lot of statistical measurements for a defense, but the standard has been to determine rankings based on total yards allowed. By this measure, WFT is giving up about 75 fewer yards per game than they did in 2019.

That’s big. And not unexpected. As even casual fans know, Washington has devoted a lot of draft capital in the defense. Four first-round draft picks have been spent on defenders over the last four years.

There are other ways to measure defenses, and we can go into it at a later date if you want. I am still waiting for someone to devise a rating analogous to the QBR for quarterbacks, which would blend a variety of statistics into one comprehensive overall ranking. But no one has done that to my liking. If I had just a little bit more ambition, I’d do it myself.

By almost any statistical analysis, Washington’s defense is among the best in the league, and significantly better than it was in 2019.

But – how good is it really? As free agency looms for a lot of those former first-round draft picks, WFT has to do some deep evaluations of its current players to determine how they fit into the defense moving forward. We’ll do exhaustive analyses of players come the offseason. For now, let’s look at some key numbers.