If you go from 4-13 in one season to 12-5 and a trip to the NFC Championship Game in the next, it's fair to say that a lot of things had to go the right way. That certainly proved true for the Washington Commanders. This was a lost franchise under Ron Rivera in 2023, but the change to new head coach Dan Quinn, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. paid major dividends.
And of course, it's nice when you select LSU's Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick in the 2024 draft, and Daniels goes on to perhaps the best rookie quarterback season in pro football history. These new Commanders were an entirely different beast. They won seven straight games near the end of their season, including postseason victories over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions, before the Philadelphia Eagles pantsed them in said NFC Championship game in a 55-23 blowout.
But that loss was far more about how far ahead the Eagles were than anything profoundly negative about the Commanders. Especially on offense, this team has arrived, and they didn't take that for granted in the offseason. In the draft, Washington added Oregon offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr., Virginia Tech receiver Jaylin Lane, and Arizona running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt, and all three have the potential to add a lot on that side of the ball. Factor in the addition of receiver Deebo Samuel in an offseason trade, and this offense looks to have just about everything you want.
The defense last season was a different story. Quinn and Whitt had an uphill battle when trying to get past what ex-defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio did from a schematic perspective (spoiler alert: it was REALLY bad), so they did the best they could with what they had. While Washington's offense ranked sixth in DVOA last season, Washington's defense ranked 23rd.
The Commanders still got to the conference championship with a defense that was decidedly regular in pass defense and pressure rate, and with a run-stopping unit that... well, didn't. Only the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints allowed more regular-season rushing yards than the Commanders' 2,337, Washington tied for third among the league's worst yards per carry allowed at 4.8, and what the Eagles' run game did to that defense in the NFC title game (36 carries for 229 yards and seven touchdowns) was the equivalent of an All-22 snuff film.
So, everybody knows where the focus needs to be now. There are still some heavy questions about the edge-rushing group. The bad news is that Dante Fowler Jr., who led the team last season with 11 sacks and finished second with 50 total pressures, took his talents back to Dallas in the offseason. The good news is that the criminally underrated Dorance Armstrong, who came over to the nation's capital with Quinn (who had been the Cowboys' defensive coordinator from 2021-2023), is still around on the three-year, $33 million contract he signed in 2024. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Armstrong may never be an NFL sack leader, but he's one of those "glue guys" who can tie a defensive line together.
Beyond Armstrong, though, there's not much to brag about. The Commanders did nothing in the draft to fortify that group, and the addition of former New England Patriots edge guy Deatrich Wise Jr. to a one-year, $3.25 million contract was the most prominent move. Maybe the combination of Wise and veteran Clelin Ferrell, the former fourth-overall pick in the 2019 draft who hasn't lived up to that with multiple teams, and signed a one-year, $2 million contract to stay with the Commanders, will allow Quinn's defense to get to the quarterback with multiplicity as opposed to the knockout talents of one individual.
Farrell did have three sacks and 19 total pressures for the Commanders last season in 212 pass-rush snaps, and the tape tells you that he's more a rotational guy than anything else. Sixth-round pick Kain Medrano from UCLA did mix in some edge pressures with his off-ball linebacker duties in college, but it's not a primary construct.
"Well, I feel like we like what we have in that room," assistant general manager Lance Newmark said after the draft, when asked about the lack of edge talent added. "I think we're always looking to add if we can, if the right opportunity presents itself, I don't think we would've not added it. There was never a situation we're not going to add that. Every time we got to where we were picking these players made the most sense for us.
"It wasn't, we weren't going to address edge at any point. There was never any conversations of that mindset. It was these players made the most sense for us. And like I said, we like that room and we like what we have there. Certainly not closed to it, we have a lot of time between now and the season, so there's other opportunities to potentially add there, but these particular picks, we did what we thought was best for us."
The interior defensive line is undergoing its own transformation. The Commanders released veteran Jonathan Allen in March, and replaced his position on the roster with Javon Kinlaw, the 6-foot-5, 319-pound physical specimen who the San Francisco 49ers selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2020 draft. Kinlaw never lived up to his draft capital in the Bay Area, but he did put together a good year for the woebegone New York Jets last season, and his 24 stops, four tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles indicate some potential as a pass-rusher and a run-stopper.
“I think a player that's really connected and motivated to make an impact," Quinn said of Kinlaw on April 1. "The strength, the length, the disruption, that's a big deal.”
The secondary was also in transition last season, especially when playing the press coverage concepts Quinn prefers. Last season, Washington had at least one cornerback in press coverage on 34% of their snaps, which tied with the New England Patriots and the Cleveland Browns for the NFL's seventh-highest rate. Problem was, with even one cornerback in press, the 2024 Commanders allowed 105 catches on 158 targets for 7.2 yards per catch, 3.2 yards of separation per catch, and 14 explosive plays. The personnel Quinn inherited weren't ready for the new stuff.
However, the addition of second-round cornerback Trey Amos from Ole Miss could be the beginning of a big turnaround. In 2024, Amos was in press coverage on 138 of his 515 coverage snaps, and when targeted in press, he allowed six catches on 14 targets for 4.3 yards per catch, 2.3 yards of separation per catch, and one explosive play. Amos can play well regardless of the coverage, but the press ability stood out to the point where general manager Adam Peters said that the team came close to taking Amos with the 29th overall pick as opposed to the 61st.
"Love the way he plays at the line of scrimmage," Peters said of Amos. "He's a press corner who can be really physical to the line of scrimmage, but he is also a guy who can really play in any scheme you want. And I think that's what separates him from a lot of different guys. And talk about his ball skills, he's got excellent ball skills. He took the ball away this year. He had three interceptions. I think he's got 30-plus PBUs [pass break-ups] over his career. So, really a guy who we covet in terms of taking the ball away. And those are the things that we really look for. He can run, he's physical, he's big, he's kind of got everything he want as a corner."
So, things are at least a bit more in place for that defense to take the proverbial next step. All it should take is a standing above the middle of the pack to amplify things if Daniels and the offense continues to explode, but if everything comes together on the other side of the ball... well, who's got it better than Quinn's Commanders?
(All advanced metrics courtesy ofPro Football Focus andSports Info Solutions).