Rookie Progress Report: Mike Sainristil

Checking in on the progress and development of second round pick Mike Sainristil

Cornerback Mike Sainristil has had an interesting rookie season so far. The Commanders spent a second round pick on the undersized but ultra competitive Sainristil to become their long term slot cornerback. He quickly locked down the starting role in the slot during the offseason, but had some struggles there early in the season. He was far from the only corner that struggled, but the Commanders ended up moving him outside and playing Noah Igbinoghene in the slot instead. Having had a run of games playing outside, Sainristil had an uptick in performance and the past few weeks, the Commanders have begun shifting him back inside at times. 

So how is the rookie coming along after seven games? I thought I’d take a closer look at his performance over the last few weeks to give an update on his development. We’ll start with some positives. Sainristil plays like a defender much bigger than his listed size of 5-foot-10, 182 pounds. He plays with the aggressive mentality and play style that Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. constantly talk about. When he sees something, he attacks it head on and that enables him to make up for his lack of size. His tackling has been good, especially over the last few weeks, and he’s made plays we saw him make in college consistently to blow up things like screen passes. 

This play is a good example of a play Sainristil made all the time in college. The Panthers call a swing screen to the running back, motioning him out of the backfield just before the snap to the three receiver side of the field. Those three receivers all become blockers, with the two outside receivers meant to block down inside while the inside receiver loops to the edge for Sainristil. It’s quite a clever blocking structure from the Panthers because it gives good angles for all three blocks. However, Sainristil is alert to the play. As soon as he sees the back beginning to motion out to the flat, he steps up from his outside corner position and is ready to attack it. The ball is snapped and Sainristil is ready to burst into the backfield to make a play. 

As a result, the outside receiver, who is meant to block inside on the slot, has to try and get a hand on Sainristil to stop him from blowing up the play. Sainristil works through the outside receiver and is met by the slot receiver who was originally meant to block him. The running back can’t cut back inside because the slot corner is now unblocked, so he has to try and bounce the screen to the edge. Sainristil fights off the second block and closes the path to the edge, taking the running back out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage for a loss, setting up third and long. 

Sainristil was a menace on screens in college and it’s good to see those same instincts haven’t been toned down in the NFL. In fact, Sainristil is very quick to attack anything in the flat, which is where he’s shown off just how good of a tackler he actually is, despite his size. Against the Panthers, he made two big tackles in space on bootleg passes to keep gains to a minimum, where other corners might have missed the tackle and given up a much bigger gain. 

This is the first bootleg tackle from Sainristil. The Panthers line up in a run-heavy look to try and sell the play-action fake. Quarterback Andy Dalton fakes a handoff to his right before rolling out to his left on a bootleg. He quickly throws the ball out to his tight end in the flat, who fakes a block before releasing out to the flat. Sainristil is the slot corner on this play and initially works inside as the receiver releases inside and vertical. However, he peels off that receiver once the receiver gets too vertical and gets his eyes back on the quarterback. He spots Dalton throwing to the flat and immediately breaks on it. 

Sainristil closes the gap quickly, making up ground to the receiver while the ball is in the air. With the gap closed, Sainristil could just use his momentum to try and land a big hit, but he doesn’t fall into that trap. Instead, he breaks down and makes a strong tackle, hitting the hip of the receiver and wrapping him up to bring him down for a minimal gain. 

The Panthers tried a similar play later in the game, which Sainristil also took care of.