Here’s why Benjamin St-Juste landing on IR isn’t a significant loss

The Washington Football Team’s defensive line has largely been consistent for the entire year. What really plagued the defense as a unit before its turnaround leading into the bye was the secondary and linebacking corps.

Luckily for Washington, two recent tweaks made to the defense have paid immediate dividends. Landon Collins, who’s now in a Buffalo nickel role, has breathed new life into the second level of the defense, while Kendall Fuller has been impenetrable since moving from the slot back to the perimeter.

It’s pretty puzzling to think that the defense has flipped a switch with Benjamin St-Juste sequestered to the sidelines. The third-round rookie hasn’t played since the bye despite being available for each of the last two games.

Unfortunately, a concerning situation for St-Juste became all the more worrisome on Thursday, as Ron Rivera told the media the young CB has entered concussion protocol for the third time this season and will go on IR.

The move knocks him out until at least Week 16. While this is a troubling trend for St-Juste, the recent emergence of Danny Johnson suggests Washington can get bye while its promising rookie gets healthy.

The Washington Football Team is clearly satisfied with Danny Johnson amid his increased role.

Make no mistake about it; Washington’s secondary has been MUCH better with Fuller on the outside and Johnson manning the slot, then Fuller working along the interior and St-Juste being designated to the perimeter.

You might forget Johnson is on the field at times. His season high for tackles in a game was four back in Week 7 against the Packers. However, he’s more than made up for it by coming up with a big play in virtually every game.

We’d go as far as to call him the most sound tackler on the defense. Based on his 85.4 tackling grade for the season, Pro Football Focus would agree with that sentiment. Think about how many times this season Washington needed a stop on third down and Johnson executed a tackle in the open field.

Opposing quarterbacks have completed 9-of-14 passes and flaunt a 100.0 passer rating when targeting Johnson, but the important thing is he’s only allowing 7.7 yards per reception. That’s less than Kendall Fuller (10.2), William Jackson (11.9), St-Juste (14.), Collins (11.0) and Bobby McCain (20.0).

That’s gotta count for something, no? We know Johnson hasn’t played as many snaps as those DBs, but we’re going off the information at our disposal. It’s not his fault he didn’t play a snap in the secondary until Week 6.

St-Juste has played a combined 20 snaps over the last two games. All of those were on special teams, so it’s not like he was playing a huge role before he entered concussion protocol. That alone is its own story (three times in one season is A LOT), but Johnson’s consistency really helps soften the blow.