Commanders defense puts preseason focus on performance, not hype

ASHBURN — Two years ago, a highly-touted and star-studded Washington Commanders’ defense strutted into the 2021 season with talk of breaking records. The unit, led by edge-rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat, was seen as one of the best in the league — and management had just added the top cornerback on the market, William Jackson III, to the mix.

What followed was a humbling experience: A defense that bought into its own hype finished near the bottom of the league statistically in almost every major category. 

“It just reminds you it doesn’t matter what happens the year before,” safety Jeremy Reaves said. 

It’s a lesson that has stuck with today’s Commanders.

After returning to elite status last season, the Commanders are again expected to be one of the league’s top defenses. But don’t expect to hear a lot of guarantees coming from Ashburn.

Coach Ron Rivera said he sees a “maturity” in this year’s group, one that stems from a core that has played together for the last three seasons. 

Make no mistake, this unit is still confident — even cocky. In Friday’s practice, for instance, Young’s near-constant trash talk helped escalate tensions on a day that featured multiple fights. That said, not even Young is inclined to make any bold statements about what he and his fellow defenders plan to do to opposing offenses this season. He’s said little about how he expects to play more than a year removed from his torn ACL other than to say he feels good and that his speed has returned. 

That’s a far cry from the player who once predicted Washington’s defense would be “scary” for years to come.

“(The 2021 season) was very important for us in terms of our development growth because I think it told our guys one thing, you just can’t show up,” Rivera said. “You just can’t pick up where you left off. Just because you were, you know, top 3, 4, 5, doesn’t mean you’re going to be top 3, 4, 5. You got to start from the bottom, be good with your base fundamentals, be good with your techniques, and then take that and transfer it onto the field every day. 

“There is no such thing as all of a sudden, ‘Hey, I’m back, I’m ready to go.’ No, you got to prepare yourself for what’s going on as far as the season’s concerned.”

If the Commanders’ defense were to regress in 2023, it would probably start on third down. No defense fared better in that area a year ago as Washington held opponents to just a 31.9% conversion percentage. But some defensive statistics, like third-down defense, can widely vary from year to year — making it hard to sustain over the long haul. 

But the Commanders have said they believe they’re well equipped to avoid a setback in large part because they’re mostly working with the same players in the same scheme. There are some small differences — gone are former starting linebacker Cole Holcomb and safety Bobby McCain — but there’s no glaring misfit like Jackson proving to be unreliable in Washington’s zone-match coverages. 

Players and coaches are also banking on improvement in areas that they struggled in 2022. For example, after producing the fifth-fewest interceptions last season, the Commanders used their first-round pick on ballhawk corner Emmanuel Forbes — FBS’ all-time leader in pick-6s. 

Beyond adding Forbes, the Commanders have also consciously tried to improve their ball skills: Players in the secondary now catch tennis balls from a machine after practice to work on hand-eye coordination. 

“If you get turnovers, third-down percentages got our way because you’re not on the field,” Reaves said. 

Last year, defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio harped on “humility” as a key theme for the defense. This year, Del Rio’s message is for players to start faster. Even in the years that the defense performed well under the coordinator, the unit was dogged by slow starts. In 2022, the Commanders allowed the third-most plays (21) of at least 20 yards through four games before clamping down and allowing the fourth-fewest (38) the rest of the way. 

Cornerback Benjamin St-Juste said there’s always a little bit of a learning curve to begin the season, particularly as offenses try to exploit coverages from the year prior. But said he believes Washington has “a lot more depth” this year and will allow the defense to be more versatile. That could, in turn, help Washington start faster.

“I don’t think we’re going to go back,” St-Juste said, when asked about regression. “We haven’t made that many big changes that we need to learn and know how to play (with each other).”