The Washington Commanders offense has been the focal point this offseason, with the change from Kliff Kingsbury to the unknown David Blough. The defense also got a new coordinator, with Daronte Jones taking over for Joe Whitt Jr., who was fired after the season.
Jones worked the past four seasons in Minnesota, including the last three as defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator under Brian Flores, a famously attacking DC. New Commanders linebacker Leo Chenal, who signed as a free agent this offseason after four years with the Chiefs, said Jones' scheme was one thing that attracted him to Washington.
"It really involves the linebackers," Chenal said Thursday on NFL Network's The Insiders. "It involves guys playing to their skill set. It's really cool being able to walk through different things with coaches and having feedback, feedback to the coaches, them talking to us, they really want to have us take advantage of what we're really good at. We kind of developed the scheme more and more, and we're going to continue to mold that around the guys that we have. It's really cool how personalized it is. As a Mike linebacker, being in the middle, you go each way, come downhill, you've got so much flexibility as a linebacker in this defense."
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Coach Dan Quinn's defense struggled mightily in 2025, leading to him taking over play-calling from Whitt down the stretch of the season. The Commanders not only imported Jones to give the defense a different flavor, but also completely overhauled the unit.
Along with Chenal, Washington signed pass rushers Odafe Oweh and K'Lavon Chaisson, defensive linemen Tim Settle, Charles Omenihu and DJ Davidson, and defensive backs Ahkello Witherspoon, Amik Robertson, Rasul Douglas and Nick Cross. They also added linebacker Sonny Styles in the first round to help complete the unit.
In the middle of the defense, with off-ball linebackers Chenal, Styles and Frankie Luvu, the Commanders have impressive diversity. The trio can all function in varying ways, including rushing the passer when called upon, which should make the Washington defense more difficult to predict.
"We've got a bunch of dogs," Chenal said of his new linebacker corps.
The key is for Quinn and his new DC to get all the pieces to mesh. We've seen teams dive heavily into free agency in the past to try to save units, particularly on defense, only to see it collapse. Washington believes its combination of new vets, holdovers and youngsters can avoid that fate.
"I love DQ," Chenal said of Quinn. "Before I even came here to Washington, that's also a factor that I put in. He doesn't ask for respect, it's just given to him because of what he's done and how he's earned it, the way he approaches things. He's super player-friendly. He's got so much energy, whether it's in the team meeting, he's getting people going in the mornings. It's really cool. He's so good at taking feedback, as well, from all his players and his coaches. It's really exciting.
"You feel welcome. You feel like you can let loose a little bit, and that complements the defense, too, like how we're being coached. Like, 'How do we feel about this? How can we maximize your skill set?' It kind of all plays in together."
With a revamped defense and Jayden Daniels returning healthy, the Commanders are a bounce-back candidate in 2026 -- if everything goes as planned.