State of the Roster Update: Commanders Defense

Breaking down where things stand with the Commanders defense after the draft.

Earlier this offseason I started a State of the Roster series, breaking down the Washington Commanders roster at different parts of the offseason to analyze their strengths, rank their needs and give an overall summary of where the team stood. Here is my first look at the state of the Commanders defense from back in February before any major moves had happened and here is my second look at the state of the defense after the main wave of free agency had finished, but before the draft. Today, I thought I’d finish off this series by looking at where the Commanders defense stands after the draft and evaluating both the short term and long term needs at each position. If you missed the post earlier this week looking at the offensive side of the ball, click here.

Defensive End 

On the roster: Dorance Armstrong, Clelin Ferrell, Efe Obada, Dante Fowler Jr., K.J. Henry, Andre Jones, Jalen Harris, Javontae Jean-Baptiste.

Short term need: Medium.

Long term need: High.

Analysis: Prior to the draft, I set the draft urgency for the defensive end position at medium. The team did a lot to help fill out the position in free agency after they inherited a roster with the defensive end spot stripped to the bare bones. Dorance Armstrong was perhaps the most obvious free agent signing, following head coach Dan Quinn and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. from Dallas. Dante Fowler followed the same path. General manager Adam Peters also brought Clelin Ferrell over from the 49ers, even only on a short term deal, to give the team another steady veteran that could be relied upon to at least help stop the run if not offer much as a pass rusher. They rounded off free agency by re-signing Efe Obada too, which gives them a flexible rusher with some pass rush juice to add into the rotation. 

If they had to play tomorrow, that group would be a solid but unspectacular rotation. I felt they lacked a real threat off the edge that could help drop everyone else down a spot in the rotation and make it look a lot stronger. Combine that with the fact that a lot of these guys are on short term contracts and I felt medium was a good place to set the need at. The draft didn’t do much to change that. The Commanders were linked with a bunch of second round pass rushers but ended up waiting until the seventh round to draft Jean-Baptiste out of Notre Dame, who doesn’t move the needle at this point in time. So with that in mind, I still feel the need is medium as they lack a real rush threat off the edge. 

However, they have a bunch of versatile guys that can be solid role players as part of a rotation. Quinn and Whitt are also very committed to moving guys around, finding good matchups and sending extra rushers to help generate pressure and force the ball out of the hands of the quarterback early. If this was the Rivera era where they essentially lined up with the same front four and trusted them to create pressure, this rotation wouldn’t be good enough, but Quinn and Whitt won’t do that. They will mix and match personnel, move guys around, make use of guys like Frankie Luvu as a roaming rush linebacker or defensive backs like Jeremy Chinn blitzing from the secondary. I’m confident they will still be able to generate pressure as a unit, even if this position group lacks a star talent. It just means that pressure will come from the depth of the interior defensive line and the added rushers from the linebackers and secondary. 

In the long term though, the need is more than medium. Armstrong signed a multi-year contract but just about every other defensive end in the top end of the rotation is a free agent after this season. That would leave the Commanders with just Armstrong and the likes of Henry, Jones and Jean-Baptiste going into next offseason at the defensive end spot. Perhaps one of those young guys breaks out and develops into something, but at this point it would be a big position of need. The roster Peters inherited was in need of an overhaul, so not every position could be stocked out the way he would have liked. I think he did a good job building up the defensive end position in the way he has, where the rotation could play right now and be solid, but looking two or three years down the road, I’m sure he’ll want to add more young talent to the room.

Defensive Tackle

On the roster: Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Jer’Zhan Newton, John Ridgeway, Phidarian Mathis, Benning Potoa'e, Haggai Ndubuisi, Norell Pollard.

Short term need: Low.

Long term need: Low.

Analysis: This group could help make up for the potential issues on the edge. Defensive tackle was always going to be a position of strength for the Commanders with Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne at the top of the depth chart. John Ridgeway was better than I think most fans realize, especially as a run defender. Mathis has yet to show anything of note in the NFL since being drafted in the second round. Of course some of that is down to injuries but even when he was healthy last year he looked some way off the level of Ridgeway, who was taken in the fifth round of the same draft as Mathis. But replacing Mathis as the fourth defensive tackle in the rotation wasn’t a huge priority with so many other needs across the roster. 

So it was quite the surprise when the Commanders selected Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton in the second round, given the strength of the defensive tackle group already on the roster. But Newton was just too talented to pass on and his addition now makes the interior defensive line super interesting. Newton is good enough to contribute in a big way in his first year, assuming he is healthy. The Commanders can just use him as the third man in a rotation with Allen and Payne, similar to how Matt Ioannidis was used a few years back. But they could also shift the front and get all three of Allen, Payne and Newton on the field at the same time. Allen and Newton could be used as a “heavy end” in a four-man front or they could both play as defensive ends in a 3-4 type of system. Having those three up front would allow the team to only use one edge rusher, likely Armstrong, and then use Frankie Luvu as the fifth rusher, either off the other edge or blitzing from the linebacker spot. 

However it plays out in the end, it will be fun to watch and one of the things I’m most excited to see from training camp and preseason going forward. Newton’s addition significantly boosts what was already probably the strongest unit on the defense, if not the entire team. It also means the team is future proofed if Allen or Payne start to decline or even be used in trade negotiations. I don't think the team will trade Allen at this point, but if they get off to a slow start, Allen could well fetch them a strong return at the trade deadline with Newton already in place to take over. Ultimately he provides them with a huge amount of flexibility, both on the field with the scheme and off the field in terms of roster construction.