I’ve been thinking about the history of the Washington Commanders' defensive tackles now that one of its best, Jonathan Allen, is no longer with the franchise.
Where does Allen rank on the franchise’s all-time list of interior defensive linemen?
Defensive tackles aren’t usually as flamboyant as the edge players who pile up sacks and often do a little dance when they get one. They tend to be more of the lunch pail variety. But Washington has had some larger-than-life figures at the all-important position, which is the heart of any defense.
Many of them were not drafted by Washington, as Allen was. They came via trades. That’s how the club acquired the services of Paul Lipscomb in the 1950s, Bob Toneff in the 1960s, and Diron Talbert in the 1970s. They acquired Dave Butz in a bizarre combination of free agency and trade.
Washington did have some success in choosing defensive tackles early in the draft. First-round pick Joe Rutgens (1961) and second-rounder Bill Brundige (1970) both had fine careers in D.C. After this duo, that luck seemed to fizzle.
Bob Slater, Tracy Rocker, and Jarvis Jenkins were all early-round busts. The club’s only first-round defensive tackle selected between Rutgens in 1961 and Jonathan Allen in 2017, Bobby Wilson, was not a total bust. But he did not live up to that pedigree.
For many of those years, Washington seemed just as likely to get decent production from players chosen deep into the draft than the bigger names selected earlier. Ninth-round pick Darryl Grant (chosen as an offensive lineman) was the best of this lot, but workmanlike performers such as Dean Hamel and Kedric Golston provided solid play as well.
After owner Jack Kent Cooke died, the club began trying to build its interior defensive line strength by signing high-priced free agents. It did not work.
Disastrous acquisitions of Dana Stubblefield (1998) and Albert Haynesworth (2009)set the franchise back. “Big Daddy” Dan Wilkerson, acquired by trade the same year as Stubblefield, fared somewhat better, but even he did not play as well as expected.
In the years between the failed Haynesworth experiment and Allen's arrival, Washington continued to patch together the defensive line interior with free agents. Veterans like Barry Cofield, Stephen Bowen, Chris Baker, and Ziggy Hood proved serviceable but nothing more. One of the problems was that for most of those years, the team ran a base 3-4 front. However, except for Terrance Knighton in 2015, they never really had a genuine nose tackle to anchor it.
Jonathan Allen ranks highly among the greatest Commanders defensive tackles ever
So, where do we rank Allen on the all-time list of Washington defensive tackles? I’ll leave Daron Payne out of this discussion for now since it’s wise to wait until a player’s career is over before doing any kind of historical assessment. His story with the Commanders is not over yet. Allen’s as he embarks on a new challenge with the Minnesota Vikings.
Dave Butz is the unquestioned alpha in the history of Washington’s defensive tackles. His longevity, production, and team accomplishments are unrivaled. Talbert, who may well have been the best leader, would be second on my list.
Then, you can make the case for Allen.
If Payne is not under consideration, he is certainly the best interior defensive lineman Washington has had this century. Cornelius Griffin is a distant second. The comparisons have to be made to Lipscomb and Rutgens, who performed in a vastly different era.
Statistical analysis is difficult. Older fans may still recall players from the ‘50s and ‘60s, but memories are often murky.
Allen’s résumé is strong. A couple of Pro Bowls. More than 400 tackles and more than 40 sacks. Sixty tackles for loss and well over 100 quarterback hits. Those are not Pro Football Hall of Fame numbers, but they are very good.
If you drop his first and last year — both of which were shortened by injury — Allen performed year in and year out despite playing on poor teams.
The shift from a base 3-4 to a 4-3 in 2020 allowed Allen to be at his best. His Pro Football Focus grades reflect that.
As a 4-3 tackle, Allen posted three straight seasons with a grade of better than 80. That is excellent. As a pass rusher, the former Alabama star consistently graded out as one of the 10 best tackles in the league.
The NFL has had some all-time greats line up a defensive tackle in the last decade. Future Pro Football Hall of Famers like Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, and Cam Heyward have hogged most of the year-end honors. Allen is not their equal and he is not headed to Cooperstown. He does reasonably slot into the next tier of tackles like DeForest Buckner, Fletcher Cox, and Grady Jarrett — all fine players who were among the best players on their teams.
For Washington, Lipscomb made more Pro Bowls and Rutgens was with the club longer, but neither was as dynamic as Allen. Nor were Grant and Brundige, though both were parts of teams that experienced far more success.
Those men are in the next group, but I am going to rank Allen as the third-best defensive tackle in the history of the franchise, after Butz and Talbert. He’s not going to make the Hall of Fame, but that’s still pretty good in an organization that has been around for 93 years.
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