Washington Football Team: Three defensive prospects who fit best in 2021

The Washington Football Team can tie their top ten defensive unit together with the selections of these prospects.

The 2021 NFL Draft is still two months away. With the modified NFL Combine coming within the next month, and pro days coming as well, several rising stars will finally emerge. This year’s draft will be one of the most important drafts of this decade for the Washington Football Team, as they help bolster a defensive unit that took the league by storm last season.

Washington’s defensive unit ranked top five in DVOA, EPA/Play, and dropback success rate, but still had their struggles game in and game out. Whether it be the big plays that were given up early in the season, to late in the year the struggles with stopping the run, Washington still can use some key additions.

For the Washington Football Team, three players fit the mold for what their highly talented defensive unit needs to firmly establish themselves as an elite unit.

There are concerns on the back end. For a team that plays Cover 1 and Cover 3 at a combined rate of around 53%, they haven’t found their free safety of the future. Their linebacker room was a unit that was severely one-dimensional, as their unit was severely gouged time and time again last season in the run game.

For the 2021 NFL Draft, the priorities for this organization seem simple. Defensively, what’s most important is tightening up the positions around their potent defensive line unit that’s littered with premier Pro Bowl talents like Chase Young and Jonathan Allen.

From coverage to run support, this defense has solidified themselves as being one of the better units in all of football, but they’re still missing a few pieces. Three prospects already fit the bill for what the Washington Football Team needs: Players who fit perfectly in the Ron Rivera – Jack Del Rio scheme, players who can be contributors from day one.