Commanders' new defensive blueprint could save a star they nearly broke

Frankie Luvu's rapid fall from second-team All-Pro to potential also-ran for a Washington Commanders defense bereft of disruptive playmakers is a cautionary tale about believing the hype.

The Commanders believed the 2024 version of Luvu would only grow into a force capable of wrecking offenses on his own, a player whose physical skills were dynamic enough to be unleashed from anywhere Washington chose.

Sadly, the reality was very different. The 2025 version of Luvu struggled more as his usage plan expanded and the talent around him deteriorated. That's the bad news.

The good news is new Commanders' defensive coordinator Daronte Jones has the ideal way to fix Luvu. A strategy based on how the Minnesota Vikings used their inside linebackers last season.

Frankie Luvu can get back to what he does best in Commanders' new defense

Luvu's main issue was an inability to get to quarterbacks when rushing off the edge. A problem compounded after defensive end Dorance Armstrong Jr. tore his ACL in Week 7.

Numbers outlined by ESPN's John Keim on a recent episode of The John Keim Report detailed how things went wrong for Luvu:

"Weeks 7 through 18 he had only four quarterback hits, 153 pass rushes, only six considered wins, and a 7.1% pass rush win rate weight win rate. I think, you know, as an edge defender, this is the other big difference that in weeks one through six, 29.8% of his snaps came as an edge rush defender. After Armstrong was injured, it was 47.2% of his snaps came as an edge-rush defender, and it was not good. Like he had a 1.8% pressure rate in that role."

Armstrong's absence didn't help, but these damning stats show the Commanders weren't using Luvu the right way last season. Fortunately, Jones will change things for the better, the more he adopts what he saw in Minnesota as a member of rock-star defensive coordinator Brian Flores' staff.

Jones served as pass-game coordinator, so he played a big role in designing the elaborate pressures that are Flores' calling card. Many of those pressure packages involved blitzing from the middle of the linebacker level, according to Keim:

"You can anticipate that from the guys inside because you look at Blake Cashman as well. Now, in 13 games he averaged eight and a half pass rushes per game. 2024 it was 10.9 pass rushes per game."

Putting Luvu back into the heart of the linebacker corps isn't just motivated by Jones' work with Flores. Not when he also spent time with former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer.

The latter became one of the NFL's premier purveyors of the double A-gap blitz. A scheme based on sending inside linebackers through one or both of the gaps either side of a center.

Blitzing the A-gaps is about isolating linebackers against physically overmatched running backs in pass protection. It suits 6-foot-3, 235-pounder Luvu far more than rushing off the edge and running into 300-plus-pound offensive tackles or beefy tight ends.

Luvu showcased the threat he poses rushing interior gaps to collect this sack of Jalen Hurts against the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024 NFC Championship game.

Commanders' edge-rushing additions should be music to Frankie Luvu's ears

He can do more of this for Jones because the Commanders no longer need Luvu to line up outside. Not after they spent big to recruit Odafe Oweh, K'Lavon Chaisson and Charles Omenihu in free agency.

All three are natural edge-rushers, with Oweh in particular on the rise after logging 10.5 sacks across 13 games, including playoffs, following a mid-season trade from the Baltimore Ravens to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Oweh and Chaisson, not to mention a fully healthy Armstrong, will be bookends in the 3-4 hybrid front Jones is likely to deploy. It will leave Luvu free to focus on doing what he does best, charging downhill in a hurry from the inside.

Getting back to basics can help Luvu rediscover his 2024 form, but only if he's able to earn reps at a position now headlined by first-round rookie Sonny Styles and another free-agent recruit, Leo Chenal.

It's Chenal who poses the biggest threat to Luvu because he played in a similarly sophisticated pressure defense under decorated play-caller Steve Spagnuolo with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Chenal is the blueprint for how the Commanders can still use Luvu. Spagnuolo has won four Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator by rotating different blitzing defenders onto the field in waves. Flores and Zimmer have followed similar approaches.

It means Luvu can expect plenty of work, even in a sub-package role, on Jones' watch. And he could potentially thrive in this role.

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