If there was a difficult pill to swallow for the Washington Commanders last season, it was that their head coach in Dan Quinn was unable to completely fix their defensive issues.
Washington struggled mightily in both coverage and against the run last season. While there certainly were success stories for the group, they appeared clearly overmatched against some of the better offenses in the league in 2024.
It's why the Commanders could be focusing solely on defense as the 2025 Draft draws somewhat closer. In his latest mock draft, Daniel Jeremiah predicted that the Commanders would draft Azareye'h Thomas out of Florida State in the first round to help fix their secondary.
"Thomas is a long, rangy cornerback who can match up with some of the bigger receivers in the NFC East," Jeremiah said.
As things currently stand, the Commanders have Marshon Lattimore as one outside corner and nickel corner Mike Sainristil solidified in their secondary. That should be enough to get into the playoffs.
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But if they want to play deep into the playoffs once again, the Commanders are going to need to get another long and physical cornerback to fix those issues - especially against a top team like the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles have DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown. Brown has already dominated Lattimore in matchups last season.
Bringing in a physical player like Thomas can very well change how the Commanders operate on defense.
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This story was originally published March 23, 2025 at 1:40 PM.