Overpay was the best word to describe the Washington Commanders handing a $45 million contract to Javon Kinlaw in 2025. Especially when the defensive lineman promptly performed nothing like the player general manager Adam Peters had seen the San Francisco 49ers select in the first round of the NFL Draft five years earlier.
Fortunately, Peters can still have his faith in Kinlaw vindicated, thanks to an expansive new plan designed by defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. It's a strategy aimed at keeping him on the move and taking full advantage of his versatility.
Javon Kinlaw set to be unleashed in new-look Commanders defense
Kinlaw's already loving how the plan is unfolding at training camp. He explained the variety to reporters after a recent practice.
"I'm getting to play everywhere. The shade, the two wide, the three, the four, the five, the six. I'm playing it all, man. I'm loving how I'm getting to just give guys different looks and be all over the place, man. And I think it's going to play to my strengths well, man. You know, give a lot of guys fits."
This is an intriguing, multi-faceted role for Kinlaw. One that only shows how much the Commanders still believe in his so far largely untapped talents.
The new approach to deploying big No. 99 is also the latest example of how first-year play-caller Jones is willing to find creative ways to get underperforming senior personnel more involved.
This isn't the first time the Commanders have planned to move Kinlaw from the interior to the edge. Jones' predecessor, Joe Whitt Jr., wanted to do the same, but there's a little extra nuance to this year's attempts to unleash the South Carolina product.
First, the system Jones is likely to call, the type he learned from Brian Flores with the Minnesota Vikings, is more elaborate. He'll use moving pieces to disguise coverage and pressure in ways Whitt rarely did.
That's good news for Kinlaw, who could find himself facing more one-on-one matchups against offensive linemen on the lookout for blitzing linebackers and defensive backs. Few individual blockers are going to want to stand up to the 6-foot-5, 319-pound player on the edge.
The 28-year-old's comfort near the end of the line of scrimmage has been translating into some impressive performances at camp, but mixing up his alignments is the missing ingredient.
Shifting Kinlaw from end to a three-technique tackle able to attack the B-gap between guard and offensive tackle can unleash his underrated pass-rush skills. Meanwhile, putting him head-up over a tackle as a four-technique can create free rush lanes for outside linebackers Odafe Oweh or K'Lavon Chaisson to collapse the edge.
A more mobile Kinlaw can boost Washington's pass rush, but what's interesting is his reference to being used at the "shade" spot. Playing shade will put Kinlaw in the A-gap, between guard and center, but tilted (shaded) closer to the man with his hand over the ball.
The position is usually reserved for Daron Payne, but Kinlaw getting some reps in a shade alignment indicates two things. One of those things is positive for Payne's own role, but the other has worrying echoes of a complaint other linemen have made about this system.
Commanders plan to keep other defensive linemen on the move
Kinlaw isn't the only trench disruptor who will get to move around this season. Jones has a similar plan in store to help boost Payne's production in a contract year.
More movement should mean more chances for Payne and Kinlaw to make game-wrecking plays, but maybe it isn't so simple. Not when former Vikings nose tackle Javon Hargrave spoke out about how defensive linemen had to act more like block absorbers and space-occupiers in Minnesota.
Decoys up front serve the pressure schemes Jones helped Flores create. Linemen holding double teams open rush lanes for blitzing second- and third-level defenders to attack.
It's a necessary, but functional role that could mean Kinlaw's much-needed, often-talked-about turnaround is measured less by statistics and more by how he helps others thrive. This seems likely when the ex-New York Jets man also mentioned how he's playing two- and five-technique in Jones' defense.
Those positions put a defensive lineman head-up over a guard or just outside a tackle, respectively. Both techniques require Kinlaw to control the gaps either side of the blocker in front of him, keeping a linebacker clean to make the play.
Doing this unfashionable work is hardly the dominance Kinlaw is targeting, so he'll need to take full advantage of the different opportunities moving around will give him to make a splash play or two.
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