Can the Commanders make use all their ILBs?

Looking at how the Commanders could look to get the likes of Sonny Styles, Frankie Luvu and Leo Chenal all on the field at the same time

The Washington Commanders have completely rebuilt their defensive front seven this offseason. They’ve added a lot of new pieces and improved not only the starting quality of the defensive front, but also the depth. There’s no better example of that than the linebacker position. The Commanders entered the offseason expecting Jordan Magee to take over from Bobby Wagner and partner Frankie Luvu at the heart of the defense. But the team went out and signed Leo Chenal in free agency to boost their linebacker options and then doubled up on the position by drafting Sonny Styles seventh overall.

That gives the Commanders real depth at the position, something they’ve lacked for a number of years. But it also raises another question; how do they fit them all on the field? Magee and Luvu are both capable starters, but the Commanders didn’t sign Chenal and draft Styles to sit on the bench either. This is further highlighted by the Commanders potentially switching from a 4-3 base defense last year to a 3-4 base defense under new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. Typically the base defense wouldn’t matter so much because most NFL teams live in nickel sub-packages, but Jones comes from the Vikings, who had one of the highest uses of base defenses in the NFL last year.

So we can expect the Commanders to be in their base defense a lot under Jones and judging by drills in rookie minicamp and OTAs, we can expect the Commanders to be shifting to a 3-4 defense. Why is that significant to this conversation about linebacker depth and getting everyone on the field? Well, in a 3-4 front, there’s only two spots available for inside linebackers.

Here’s a still image of a snap from the Vikings game against the Cowboys last season. You can see the Vikings defensive front here. They’re in their base 3-4 front with three interior defensive lineman, two outside linebackers playing on the edge and two inside linebackers playing off the ball behind them.

For the Commanders, this means only two of Styles, Chenal, Luvu and Magee can play in those inside linebacker roles. Given they drafted Styles seventh overall, I think it’s safe to assume he’s going to be starting in one of those spots, likely as the Mike (middle) linebacker that wears the green dot and makes all the calls and adjustments. That means Jordan Magee, who was in line to take that role from Bobby Wagner, is probably going to be relegated to a back up role behind Styles. So that leaves Chenal and Luvu to battle out for that last spot.

Or does it? Perhaps there’s a few ways the Commanders could look to get all three of Styles, Luvu and Chenal on the field at the same time? I think there’s three main options for Daronte Jones to consider here, so let’s break them down.

Option 1 - Bench or rotate Chenal/Luvu

The first option is the most obvious option. With Styles likely to be locked in for one of the inside linebacker roles, that leaves just one spot open next to him. Chenal was a significant free agent signing this offseason but the team constantly brings up Luvu as a leader on the defense. As harsh as it might be on one of those two, the most obvious option is to bench one of them or at least rotate them next to Styles. Given Chenal was signed this offseason and Luvu is coming off somewhat of a down year, I would expect Luvu would be the odd man out and Chenal would start alongside Styles.

It might be harsh on Luvu, who is on paper an excellent fit for this style of defense. We saw in 2024 when he got the chance to blitz from an off-ball linebacker spot, he excelled. But Chenal is the more athletic and younger option here, and has better coverage instincts compared to Luvu. Relegating Luvu and Magee to the bench behind Chenal and Styles would give the Commanders significant strength in depth at the inside linebacker position, something the team hasn’t been able to say for quite some time. We entered the offseason projecting Magee to step up into Bobby Wagner’s Mike (middle) linebacker role and Luvu to start next to him. To replace both guys, who are capable starters in this league, really overhauls the position and gives them great options to withstand injury or poor performance.

It could also lead to some interesting questions during training camp and preseason. If Luvu is the one that ends up on the bench, could the team potentially try and trade Luvu for something of value or for a player in a similar situation at a different position? That’s probably getting too far ahead of ourselves but it’s certainly something to consider and keep an eye on as we get to training camp and hear reports about the inside linebacker rotation.

Option 2 - Shift Chenal/Luvu to the edge

New defensive coordinator Daronte Jones is coming from a Vikings defense that values versatility at every position. One of the key players that makes that Vikings defense work is Andrew Van Ginkel. Van Ginkel plays as an outside linebacker in the Vikings 3-4 scheme, which would typically see him rush the passer a lot. Obviously he does some of that, but he’s also just as capable dropping off into coverage in order to allow the Vikings to blitz other defenders from other spots and maintain numbers in coverage.

The Commanders don’t necessarily have a natural option to be their Van Ginkel right now. But perhaps Chenal or Luvu could potentially shift to the edge and be used that way. Both Chenal and Luvu have spent time playing on the edge as an on-ball edge defender rather than an off-ball linebacker. The Chiefs moved Chenal all over the field while the Commanders had a number of injuries to their edge rushers last year and were forced to use Luvu there more often than they would have liked.

Here we can see an image of the Commanders in a 3-4 defense last year against the Cowboys with Luvu lined up as an edge rusher. This front enabled the Commanders to get their three big bodied defensive lineman on the field along with edge rusher Jacob Martin outside the right tackle. Jordan Magee lined up as an inside linebacker alongside Bobby Wagner and Luvu slotted in on the edge outside the left tackle.

The advantage of using Luvu in this way is that he has plenty of experience dropping into coverage due to his history of playing linebacker. Most edge rushers focus purely on their pass rush and occasionally some run defense, but very few work hard on their coverage ability. So using a linebacker in this spot gives the coverage upside the Commanders are looking for.

This play is a good example of the exact type of blitz we’re expecting to see from Daronte Jones this year. Luvu lines up on the edge but drops into coverage, enabling Jordan Magee to blitz from the other side. The offensive line is accounting for the three interior defensive lineman, plus Luvu and Martin on the edge. That means the fullback or running back in the backfield have to stay in to protect against Magee’s rush. The fullback ends up doing that and picks up the blitz well, but the ability to drop off an edge rusher into coverage and generate a matchup for a linebacker on a running back on the other side is exactly what the Commanders want to do.

Playing on the edge is more than just dropping into coverage though. Run defense is also very important and that was something the Commanders lacked from their edge defenders last year. Defending the run on the edge is different from playing off-ball linebacker, but Luvu has some experience in this area too.