The Washington Commanders rode their Jayden Daniels-led offense all the way to the NFC Championship game last season. That looks a long way off this time around.
The 485 points they scored trailed only the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the conference. But the defense was a different story.
They were average, especially when it came to stopping the run. And it was even worse when Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley was the one doing the running.
Adam Peters attempted to address this issue in the offseason by bolstering his defensive line. Javon Kinlaw, Deatrich Wise Jr., and Eddie Goldman were all signed with the intention of making it harder for opposing offenses to run. Even with Wise’s early injury, the plan seems to be working.
Peters also made a couple of moves designed to improve the pass defense, but what were the results? A bit of a trainwreck, actually.
Commanders need a severe rethink on defensive passing downs to salvage their season
Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. are trying to figure out what is going wrong. Why is this defense performing so far below its talent level? More importantly, what, if anything, can be done to salvage the season?
On paper, this seems impossible. In 2024, the Commanders' three top cornerbacks, each of whom played more than 75 percent of the defensive snaps, were Mike Sainristil, Benjamin St-Juste, and Noah Igbinoghene. Basically, they swapped out the much-maligned St-Juste and Igbinoghene for veteran Marshon Lattimore and rookie Trey Amos.
Lattimore and Amos are both classic perimeter defenders. Their presence allows Sainristil to return to his natural slot corner spot. This should be a significant upgrade.
Quan Martin and Jeremy Chinn took the lion’s share of the snaps at safety. Percy Butler contributed to a little more than one-third of the snaps. This year, Martin is back, but the club allowed the big-hitting Chinn to depart and brought in Will Harris to replace him.
When Harris got hurt, veteran Jeremy Reaves took his spot. There have been some hints that newly arrived veteran Darnell Savage Jr. may soon take over the place opposite Martin.
Butler and Igbinoghene remain on the bench, playing fewer than 10 percent of the snaps after logging far more last year. Theoretically, they have given way to better players. But the results have not been evident.
Through the first seven games, passing yards allowed have increased by almost 50 per game. Yards per attempt are up more than a whole yard. Completion percentage is up several points. And the defense is committing nearly two more penalties per game, resulting in an additional 15 yards.
Despite supposedly better players, the Commanders have gone from having a decent, middle-of-the-league pass defense to having one of the worst. What makes it even harder to figure out is that Whitt has dialed back the blitzing a little bit this season, which should leave more defenders in coverage.
That lack of blitzing has come at a cost. The Commanders have one of the lowest pressure rates in the league. That places more pressure on the secondary.
The other confounding part of this problem is that Washington’s two linebackers — Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu — are having trouble this season. That in and of itself is not the confounding part.
Wagner has never excelled in coverage, and at 35 years old, he is not getting any quicker. Luvu is younger, but he also tends to be at his best when he can attack.
The tricky thing is, both those linebackers were on the field virtually every play last year, and their coverage deficiencies did not become a significant problem. This year, against a diminished pass rush, offenses are attacking middle zones with great success.
One apparent attempt at a solution would be to get Jordan Magee on the field in place of Wagner on obvious passing downs. But it may require more extreme measures, especially since Luvu has become a pass rusher in these scenarios.
Butler and Igbinoghene aren’t world beaters, but both have a lot of experience playing zones in the middle of the field. It may be time to try one or both on third downs and against 11 personnel.
Last year, Chinn was supposedly a liability against the pass, but his presence as a de facto linebacker allowed for the usage of better coverage players like Butler and Igbinghene. This year’s Commanders do not have that, but they do have Tyler Owens. He is still a very raw talent, but he has the size and speed to serve in that same role.
It may seem radical, but a passing-down lineup with Luvu up front, Owens in for Wagner, and Butler playing deep in place of the lineman removed to allow Luvu to move up, might be the best way for Washington to maximize its pass coverage.
Now, if Lattimore could just cut back on the defensive pass interference and holding calls…