Emptying the Notebook: Commanders defense vs Jets

Taking a closer look at a few players that stood out for one reason or another from the Commanders defense in the preseason opener

Earlier this week I broke down some of the Commanders different defensive sub-packages that they showed in the preseason opener against the Jets. Because that post focused more on scheme, I thought I’d put together some notes on a few individual players that stood out in that game, for both good and bad reasons. I’ve had a few questions about Jamin Davis and Emmanuel Forbes, while undrafted free agent corner Chigozie Anusiem caught my eye when studying the All-22. So I figured I would take a closer look at those three players, starting with Davis.

Jamin Davis

I’ve been pretty open with my view on the idea of Jamin Davis transitioning from an off-ball linebacker to an edge rusher. I wrote a detailed breakdown of why I don’t think this move will work for him, at least not in the final year of his rookie contract. But the Commanders appear determined to try him there and not very fond of the idea of him playing his regular linebacker position. In the preseason opener against the Jets, Davis played 19 snaps on defense and just two on special teams. All of those 19 snaps on defense came from the defensive end position, where he struggled to make much of an impact as a pass rusher. 

In that piece I wrote over the offseason, I explained that it’s a tough transition for a guy that has never really been much of a pass rusher in his football career until this point. He doesn’t have an array of pass rush moves to help him consistently give blockers issues and while he is athletic for a linebacker, he doesn’t have the burst or bend that you look for from an elite edge rusher. That meant that a lot of his pass rush reps in this game looked something like this:

Here we see Davis facing off against the Jets first round pick Olu Fashanu at left tackle. Davis doesn’t come off the ball with a particularly threatening burst. It’s not bad, but it’s also not going to give an athletic tackle like Fashanu any real issues. With the first step covered, Davis doesn’t really come with much of a rush plan. He extends his inside arm out to the inside shoulder of the tackle, but Davis isn’t someone with particularly long arms so this rush isn’t overly effective. In fact, Fashanu has a longer reach and stretches out his outside arm and lands it on Davis’ chest. 

The hand placement from Fashanu isn’t great here. The outside hand is right down the middle of Davis. The quality pass rushers in this league will see an outside hand down the middle of their chest as a huge opportunity to knock that hand down and clear a path to the edge, but Davis doesn’t have the experience to recognize this quickly and take advantage. Instead of using a swipe or a club to knock that hand down, Davis reaches up with his outside hand and grabs Fashanu’s wrist to try and remove his hand. Grabbing a wrist can be an effective move because it’s hard for a blocker to regain control, but Davis lacks assertiveness and conviction here. He doesn’t aggressively extend his arm and lock out his elbow to forcefully remove Fashanu’s hand, instead allowing the tackle to keep his grip on Davis’ chest. 

As a result, Fashanu completely stuns Davis’ rush and prevents him from generating any real pressure. Davis attempts a weak spin back inside but Fashanu catches him mid-spin and Davis is caught going nowhere with his back facing the quarterback. To his credit, Davis does hustle to try and close the rushing lane for the quarterback as he looks to scramble, but he’s so locked up by the tackle that he is unable to shed the block and make the play himself. 

After a few reps of Davis getting locked up in similar fashion, Davis did try something new. 

Just like before, Davis lacks much of a threat in terms of burst off the snap. Just compare him to defensive tackle Norrell Pollard inside of him and it’s quite a bad look for Davis. Pollard was listed at around about 280 pounds in college, which is roughly 50 pounds heavier than Davis. But despite that extra weight, Pollard gets off the snap quicker than Davis and is further up the field at every step. Now Pollard is an undersized, penetrative defensive tackle (who flashed quite a few times in this game, for the record), so his burst off the snap is a good trait for him, but the whole reason Davis is being tried as an edge rusher is his athletic ability, despite the fact it’s not enabling him to get off the snap quicker than a defensive tackle that’s likely 50 pounds heavier than him. 

Despite the slower get off, Davis does a good job of anticipating the hand placement from the left tackle, having already been stopped by it a few times. This time he looks to negate it before it lands to prevent getting locked up. He still doesn’t take full advantage by swatting the hand down aggressively, but he does manage to catch the wrist and lift it up before Fashanu can land the hand on his chest. To keep his chest clear initially is a sign of progress from Davis, however that progress is very quickly stunted by the fact Fashanu immediately resets his hands and lands both on Davis’ chest. That locks up Davis once again and he doesn’t get close to applying any pressure to the quarterback. 

Perhaps if we were talking about a late round rookie that was changing position based on athleticism, we’d see this as a sign of positive progress in their first preseason game. But Davis isn’t that. He doesn’t have time on his side to sit and learn and develop. He’s entering the final year of his rookie contract and his play as it stands right now is nowhere near worth the value of that contract. Pass rushing takes years to develop and perfect multiple techniques that can consistently give blockers issues. I just don’t see Davis being able to take the leaps in his game required to make it worth persisting with this plan beyond preseason. 

Any natural defensive end is going to be more effective as a rusher than Davis is right now and likely throughout the whole season. Sure, perhaps by the end of the season Davis will have developed a few moves that can make him an option as a situational rusher. But by that point it’s too late for him to make much of an impact this season and then he becomes a free agent next year that the team is unlikely to re-sign. 

Now it’s not all bad for Davis. He did have a few flash plays in the game, but surprisingly they came against the run.