A few years ago, I had a conversation with someone who knew a lot more about the inner workings of the team now called the Washington Commanders than I did.
I was wallowing in the mediocrity of the Jay Gruden years. As fans are sometimes wont to do, I mentioned how stupid my team had been for letting the popular special teams star Lorenzo Alexander depart via free agency a few years earlier. He eventually ended up with the Buffalo Bills, where he became a Pro Bowl linebacker.
My friend very politely explained that I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Alexander left for a variety of reasons, including some shady dealings by previous ownership that resulted in a league-imposed penalty. But what my friend pointed out is that he was never going to become a star linebacker in Washington.
He didn’t fit the team's needs at the time. More importantly, with promising younger players like Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith — the latter of whom is now back on the playing staff — Washington had better options.
Commanders should not have buyer's remorse despite ex-players impressing
I am reminded of that conversation all the time. It happened this past Monday, when I watched Nick Whiteside come up big for the Detroit Lions.
Whiteside was pressed into service due to multiple Lions’ injuries. He is only on Detroit’s roster because of health issues with several other cornerbacks, and he was only playing against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because of even newer complications.
Playing against NFL MVP candidate Baker Mayfield, Whiteside was credited with three pass break-ups, the most on his team. I paid particular attention to this because in the dying days of Ron Rivera’s final season, I had written that he was a player to watch. He’d never be a star, but he could develop into a quality backup.
The cornerback position is particularly ripe for this kind of thinking. Washington’s three primary corners — Marshon Lattimore, Trey Amos, and Mike Sainristil — were touted as being a strength of the defense. Their play thus far in 2025 has fallen short of expectations.
Meanwhile, a couple of draft busts who were run out of town — Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and Benjamin St-Juste — are playing pretty well for the two Los Angeles teams – the Rams and Chargers, respectively. Another former backup, Kyu Blu Kelly, has played more snaps at corner than anyone else on the Las Vegas Raiders.
If you place any stock in Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades, the former Commanders are outplaying the current ones. St-Juste’s ranking is much higher than that of Amos. Forbes' grade beats Sainristil’s. Kelly has a loftier mark than Lattimore.
But just as Alexander was not better than Kerrigan and Smith, there are plenty of reasons to believe that Washington’s cornerbacks are better than those PFF grades suggest.
For one thing, they play more. A lot more.
St-Juste is having a very nice resurgence with the Chargers, but he is a spot player. He is only on the field for about one-third of their defensive snaps. The same is mostly true for Forbes with the Rams. Washington’s three primary cornerbacks are almost always on the field.
In the most critical metrics, Washington’s defenders are significantly better. They give up fewer completions. None of them is surrendering an opposing passer rating over 100. Both Forbes and Kelly are well above that mark. That means that opposing quarterbacks have much more success throwing against those players.
Maybe the single best indicator of cornerback play — yards per target —also heavily favors the Commanders' trio. They are doing this without the benefit of a quality pass rush, which both Forbes and St-Juste enjoy.
The Commanders' corners are struggling in one central area. Penalties. Lattimore has primarily been a victim of pass interference and holding calls. Amos and Sainristil have not been immune either.
Meanwhile, in a stunning development for any Commander fan, Forbes has not been flagged a single time this season. St-Juste, who always seemed to get at least one DPI per game in Washington, has only been penalized for special teams plays.
Washington’s secondary — along with the rest of the defense — clearly must improve. Communication has to be better. Tackling has to be better. The pass rush has to be … you get the point. And those penalties have to stop.
But there is no reason as of now to assume that young players like Amos and Sainristil will not improve with experience. And even if Lattimore is never going to regain his once-elite status, his play has actually been improving in recent weeks.
The Commanders still have quality players at cornerback, even if one great week for Whiteside in Detroit makes fans regret what might have been.