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Washington Football Team: Three moves that will help open Super Bowl window

By Damien Bartonek

Aug 20, 2020; Ashburn, Virginia, USA; Washington Football Team quarterback Kyle Allen (8) and Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) participate in drills on day twenty-three of training camp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 20, 2020; Ashburn, Virginia, USA; Washington Football Team quarterback Kyle Allen (8) and Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) participate in drills on day twenty-three of training camp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 20, 2020; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Andy Isabella (17) makes a catch against Washington Football Team free safety Troy Apke (30) during the first half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 20, 2020; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Andy Isabella (17) makes a catch against Washington Football Team free safety Troy Apke (30) during the first half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

1. Upgrade at free safety

In the era of air-raid offenses, the emphasis on defenses holding their opposition in check has never been higher.

Washington currently has the sixth-best scoring defense and the fourth-fewest yards allowed to go along with one of the top defensive lines in all of pro football. The front four, or in some cases, the front five of Washington has solidified themselves among the elite, the question doesn’t involve them.

Washington’s questionable back seven is filled with one-dimensional players. They’re guys who struggle in coverage or struggle with their gap assignments in the run gam. Washington needs to tie up their back end.

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While a true “Quarterback of the Defense” is lacking, guys like Jon Bostic haven’t been the Achilles’ heel of the defense. That issue belongs to the questionable safety play of guys like Troy Apke, Deshazor Everett, and Landon Collins.

The starting safety duo to begin the 2020 NFL season was Troy Apke at free safety and Landon Collins at strong safety. The tandem underperformed, to say the least, struggling both in run support and in pass coverage.

In Collins’s case, that is expected. Never one that has impressed with his cover skills, Collins is best used in the box playing the run or being the plugger in Cover-One. For a team that runs their fair share of Cover-Two, as Washington does, Collins struggled immensely covering the deep-half, and so did his counterpart, Troy Apke.

The difference is, Apke’s responsibility is mainly to be the last line of defense in the run game, and in the passing game he’s supposed to defend his assignment in man or zone, and clean up whatever mess is in front of him.

He failed drastically, to the point where even after Landon Collins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury, he still doesn’t see the field.

In an era where the free safety is responsible for so much in this heavy passing era of NFL offenses, an upgrade is a massive hole to fill on this Washington defense. There’s no long-term answer for this void on the roster currently, so here’s something Washington can do.

Currently projected to hold two picks within the top 51 picks in the NFL Draft, Washington can select a guy like Florida State’s Hamsah Nasirildeen. Nasirildeen is the most versatile safety prospect in this class. He can play the deep zone in cover-one with ease, while also playing at the line of scrimmage in the slot and in the box.

Another answer could be signing a big-time difference-maker at the position in the 2021 offseason. That signing could be one of Marcus Maye from the Jets, Justin Simmons from Denver, or Anthony Harris from Minnesota. That trio has solidified themselves as some of the top coverage safeties in the NFL, with ball skills and playmaking ability that could take this defense over the top.

Solidifying your free safety position, something that’s been a hole on this defense since the post-Sean Taylor days, would tie this group together. It’s the biggest hole on that side of the ball by far.

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