3 defensive scheme alterations the Commanders should employ immediately

Much of the talk this week has been about whether the Washington Commanders should trade for wide receiver Davante Adams. There are plenty of general managers who should, but Adam Peters is not one of them.

Those teams could win a Super Bowl this year. Those teams have significantly better defenses than the Commanders. There is no immediate fix - no genius roster move - that would take Washington's current defense and suddenly make it championship-worthy. That applies to any defensive player who could become available this year, and it certainly applies to an offensive weapon like Adams.

It’s not that Adams wouldn’t immediately improve the Commanders. He remains an elite receiver, and Washington could certainly use such a player. The problem is he wouldn’t help them win a Super Bowl this year, and the cost involved in acquiring him would hinder Peters’ ability to build a contender two or three years down the road.

Teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, and perhaps the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints have better cause to make this move right now.

However, there are several things Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. could do right now to help improve that defense. None of them involve major personnel moves that would hamper the team in years to come. They all involve schemes with players already on the roster.  

To be fair, none of these moves come without risk, but each could pay major dividends by the end of the season. Here are three defensive scheme moves the Commanders should begin employing immediately.

Changes the Commanders' defense should make immediately

Commanders need to use more run stunts

Stunts, which involve defensive linemen crossing as they penetrate the backfield, are typically considered a pass-rush strategy. They can be even more effective against running plays. The idea is to confuse the offensive line, making it difficult for them to identify their assignments.

The Commanders have been gashed up the middle this season on running plays. This is surprising considering that the defense's spine - Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Johnny Newton, Bobby Wagner, and Frankie Luvu - is the supposed strength of that unit. All of them have made plays this year, but they have been disturbingly inconsistent.

We should also consider that Washington’s weakness on the edge is putting additional strain on the middle. The inability of defensive ends and edge linebackers to make plays is allowing a pretty steady diet of double teams against those interior linemen.

Run stunts can help with this. It is difficult to execute double teams against well-run stunts. On running plays, where offensive linemen are moving forward, the rapid shift in point-of-attack can get them off balance. That in turn can create lanes for the linebackers as well as the circling edge players.

They are not without danger. If they are not timed properly, the defensive players can crash into each other, effectively taking themselves out of a play. If the stunt is tipped off, offenses can bounce runs outside because this makes it harder to set outside edges. In the Commanders' specific case, a run stunt takes your best players and runs them away from the ball.

Washington should not run this type of strategy often. But mixing it in occasionally so that the offense needs to worry about it could pay big dividends.