Reviewing Commanders player predictions made before 2022 season

Stand up and cheer – Darrick Forrest

I was not on the Forrest bandwagon when he was drafted. I just hadn’t seen him very much. But even though he made some mistakes in his rookie season, the more you watched him, the more it became apparent that this guy could play. I wrote at the beginning of this season that Forrest and Kam Curl were going to be regarded as one of the best safety tandems in the league before long, and at least according to PFF, that day came earlier than even I expected. Not bad for a couple of Day Three draft picks.

A lot has been made of the Commanders first-round defensive line, but do not overlook the fact that going back seven years, Washington has added a quality defensive player on day three of draft each year. (Hopefully, Percy Butler will continue that trend.)

My saddest day – William Jackson III

I don’t know what happened here. I was a big WJIII fan. I still am. I hope he recovers his career. I thought for sure that after a rough first year in Washington, he would bounce back big. He had done that a couple times in Cincinnati, But it didn’t happen. Whether it was scheme or injury – or something else – I just don’t know. But one thing is obvious. His departure coincided with a serious improvement in the overall secondary play.

Oh Danny Boy – Danny Johnson

I was going to mention Bobby McCain here, because I always liked McCain, and think he has deserved praise for his play once the current defensive scheme was finally set. But then along came DJ. I have been championing Danny Johnson from day 1. He was never supposed to make the team. An undrafted free agent from Southern, he arrived in 2018. It was the same year Washington drafted Troy Apke and Greg Stroman. A year earlier they have drafted Fabian Moreau and Josh Holsey. Those were supposed to be the Commanders secondary players. DJ has outlasted them all. He is not bigger or stronger or faster than any of them. He just knows how to play. He can return kicks. He can be your special teams gunner. And though he is not much of a boundary corner, he may well be the best zone cover DB on the roster. He can tackle – as he showed on his key sack of Daniel Jones last week. Last year, the secondary improved when DJ was called up late in the season, and I expect he will continue to have that kind of positive effect this year. Some of us have always known.

Oops (a thousand times over) – Russell Wilson

Then again, some of us also wanted Russell Wilson. OMG – I will have to live with that for a long time. This is worse than me advocating for Kenny Golladay a few years back. To paraphrase John Hiatt – “just when you think that you’ve got a grip … Reality sneaks off and gives you the slip.”

In this case, reality’s name is Russell Wilson.