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I personally wouldn’t use Sainristil and punt in the same thought this week. 😉
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2025 Washington Commanders- All Things Defense
- Thread starter Chris
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Riggo44
The Team Captain
Don't say punt and Sanristil in the same post...
Agree. I do think there are two major upsides to Quinn calling the defense
1. Demoting Whitt. In addition, some of Whitt's local media defenders (no offense to them because I like them generally) would drive me nuts. Mark Bullock (and not just him) who I mentioned would go Whitt changes to man and then zone, then match. he's willing to change the coverage so what more do you fans want from him? And look Bullock knows more about X's and O's than me and I enjoy his takes generally. But I never understood this one. If all it took to be a good defensive coordinator is to know when to play zone and when to plan man and if one doesn't work, then shift to the other -- it felt super simplistic.
It's not like every man and zone coverage is run exactly the same way or taught the same way. Coaching as many have said is much about teaching. this gets to the other point Whitt's defenders loved to say. Hey if the players aren't doing it right over and over again, its on the players, not the coach. That to me is silly. If players don't know what the heck they are doing and are confused from play to play -- their "teacher" can't be that hot. Yeah, if I can have dollar for every time the best coaches have said its about teaching more than anything, I'd be a rich dude. But that point apparently doesn't apply to Whitt to some.
And look I got nothing against Whitt, seems like a nice guy. But I don't find ANY coach who has a team utterly confused on game day as a good coach where I put the confusion solely on the players.
2. To your point about Quinn getting a deeper dive into this players. I made a similar point last week. Nothing beats I persume having to dial up a game plan where you match your players to the opponent -- to understand what you got and what's your missing. I get that he would have an understanding without this. But there is nothing that beats having to cram and go full focus dive into a subject to get a deeper feel for it.
I think the offense with a few tweaks will be great again next year. The defense doesn't have to be great but just changed to average. I see on twitter among other places some fans are nervous because their thought is how do you fix every weakness in the off season. It's too many holes to fix, etc. But to me the premise of that is wrong. to make a run they don't have to fix every weakness. Even the best teams still have weaknesses.
But what can you do to shift a bad defense to an OK one?
A. Get a real defensive coordinator
B. Go bold at edge in FA -- sign a Hendrickson or a Phillips. Maybe draft one early
C. Sign a safety, CB doesn't have to be elite, decent-good players.
D. Replace Wagner with a FA LB, there are a bunch in FA.
If they add a big time pass rusher to a defense with Armstrong (assuming good health), Martin, Wise. It's a good rotation. Amos with a year under his belt should be even better. Add a good corner. It could be the draft or FA. Sign a solid safety, they aren't that expensive in FA.
I found it interesting that Quinn played Quan Martin less on Sunday. Quan has been low key bad this season. Going back to my point about Whitt, these dudes in the secondary haven't excelled or exceeded expectations under him. Most of them got worse. St. Juste, Forbes got worse -- both on the rebound elsewhere. Quan got worse. Sainristil regressed this season. Whitt for his faults as a play caller doesn't seem like a great groomer of talent.
But what can you do to shift a bad defense to an OK one?
A. Get a real defensive coordinator
B. Go bold at edge in FA -- sign a Hendrickson or a Phillips. Maybe draft one early
C. Sign a safety, CB doesn't have to be elite, decent-good players.
D. Replace Wagner with a FA LB, there are a bunch in FA.
If they add a big time pass rusher to a defense with Armstrong (assuming good health), Martin, Wise. It's a good rotation. Amos with a year under his belt should be even better. Add a good corner. It could be the draft or FA. Sign a solid safety, they aren't that expensive in FA.
I found it interesting that Quinn played Quan Martin less on Sunday. Quan has been low key bad this season. Going back to my point about Whitt, these dudes in the secondary haven't excelled or exceeded expectations under him. Most of them got worse. St. Juste, Forbes got worse -- both on the rebound elsewhere. Quan got worse. Sainristil regressed this season. Whitt for his faults as a play caller doesn't seem like a great groomer of talent.
Riggo44
The Team Captain
Reminded me of Chris Russell's repeated excuses for Joe Barry and Jim Haslett. And like you, I like Bullock--but we all have our biases.
When you get a round to it, I'd love to hear your take on Cashius Howell. I've seen 2-3 of his games (LSU, SC, and Mizzou) and he looks like an absolute demon--his speed and athleticism pops, chased down LaNorris Sellers in the open field. Looked like his get off was pretty fast too; against LSU, he was three steps into the backfield before their LT (forget his name) was out of his stance.
Riggo44
The Team Captain
Eagles did it. 2023 their defense was hot garbage. They added Vic Fangio, Quinton Mitchell, and Coope DeJean and went from 31 to 1. So that's step A. There are several that are intriguing--but I think Ulbricht from Atlanta might be my favorite. He's done a really good job there without elite level talent like the Eagles have. He also comes from the Quinn line of coaches--so same systems, no need to overhaul players--good and familiar is a great combination.
Not sure I want Hendrickson--over 30, has some injury issues this year and will be expensive as hell. Phillips has injury issues as well, and while younger, still too expensive. The one that intrigued me, though, was K'Laivon Chiasson. Former 1st round pick, 6.5 sacks with NE this year, playing ~70% of snaps. I think we draft one though--Bain, Faulk, Bailey, Howell. To take this mildly off topic, I think the money will be spent on the offense, primarily receivers: Pierce, Pitts, Likely, Doubs in that order.
Quenton Lake from LAR would be my primary choice to replace Quan Martin. He reminds me of The Sherriff, Stanley Richard, his ole tackles have given me migraines this year. Corner, I'd target Cordelle Flott from the Giants. Young, probably cheaper, and an ascending player.
There's two that I like: Quay Walker and Devin Lloyd. Both have wheels and can get outside the tackle box. CJ Allen and Sonny Styles also stand out in the draft, in the Not-Arvell-Reese division.
I am ok with risking it on Hendrickson, but Chiasson would be fine. Sign a marquee DE. They could have last off season. Josh Sweat has 10 sacks. I like Peters but IMO one of his weaknesses is he is too focused IMO on risk-reward with FA. As I've observed over time, Peters executes the Bruce Allen strategy of lets take low risk signings and excel at bargain basement signings. Bruce though sucked at executing this. Peters is a master of the bargain basement signings. But if he wants a SB IMO he needs to have the balls to make some higher risk signings. I think he will. IMO this off season exposed the flaws of living in bargain basement land in a way that I don't think he can ignore.
I like Lake, too. ditto Walker and Lloyd. Lloyd was a major draft crush of mine among others on ES back in the day.
As for edge, I've watched some of them for the upcoming draft. I've watched the WRs much deeper. On first blush am much more nervous about these edge players. But I'll dive deeper.
I saw a PFF article that hit the high numbers of busts or players that haven't lived up to their college hype, if I recall it had the DE spot as the highest bust rate in the first or 2nd to highest. Also, it can be a slow burn position. Abdul Carter might end up a stud, right now he has 1 sack. I loved guys like Chase, Keoin White, etc, and its been yawn as far as their careers.
Granted plenty of succeeded of course but it feels more like a wildcard postion than most and on first watch, lol the wild card element of these players comes to bear. Lets take Bain, he has a good motor, good bend, good against the run. But, short arms and low production. There is enough wildcard to make me pause. Not as much so as the WRs. But who knows that's just one person's opinion, but I know some share it, but also am early in my watchings, my take might change.
Riggo44
The Team Captain
I low key dislike the free agent options for Edge this year. Hendrickson scares the bejeezus out of me--I worry this is the beginning of his decline into "hurt and ineffective" territory. I agree on Sweat, but he's a higher-priced Dorance Armstrong--who was better than Sweat when he got hurt. I think they were expecting more out of Luvu this year--as were we all--and didn't feel it necessary to give Sweat all that money. He went from "must re-sign" to "let him play it out." Kinlaw was a good signing, Wise I think would be brought back, but everyone was pretty unimpressive. Fully agree, we need to be aggressive in free agency this year
If they took Tate over one of the DEs, you wouldn't hear an ounce of complaining from me.
method man
The Starter
- Assuming Sainristil looks solid as an outside CB, I'd focus more on finding a legit slot corner in FA. Given the responsibility and the emergence of slot receivers such as JSN, Egbuka and Nacua as WR1s, the really good guys are underpaid. Roger McCreary on a 3 year / $36M deal would be a great get. I would bring competition for Sainristil as well. Someone like a Martin Emerson on a 1 year $3M deal
- I would be shocked if Chiasson hits FA. The Patriots have the cap room to keep him around. I also don't think Hendrickson comes free. The Bengals will franchise him again and trade him. I do see Phillips, Mafe, Epenesa and/or Bosa coming free because their teams have tough cap situations and/or in house replacements. I really like Mafe and hope his value gets dinged because he has 1 sack this year (the pressures are there and he is a guy with a 9 sack season on his resume)
- I don't think our safety need will be easily to fill. The box safeties are a dime a dozen and easy to find (see Chinn and Will Harris). The deep safeties are harder to find though. I think Quentin Lake is the premier guy in this group and he'll get a huge deal. I pointed out former Thorpe award winner Coby Bryant in the FA thread. He failed as a corner with the Seahawks but has become a good free safety. I think he gets something like 3 years / $36M while Lake may get a $15M+ AAV with the reputation he has
- Lloyd is going to be interesting. The Jags can't tag him because EDGE rushers classified as linebackers are included in that category and he'd be due near $30M. So they need to get him signed to an extension sooner than later. If he does somehow hit the market, he is my FA #1 and I'm paying him $20M a year because he might now be the best off ball linebacker in the NFL now. If he doesn't hit the market, there are a ton of guys we could bring in. If we bring Ullbrich in, don't be surprised if he brings Kaden Elliss as his green dot. This would piss off people here because he is similar to Bobby where he is meh in coverage and a great pass rusher and run defender
Riggo44
The Team Captain
There will be a ton of extensions before March too. I'm hoping the Colts give all the monies (said in Rosie Perez's voice, iykyk) to Daniel Jones and let Pierce walk. They have some space but not a ton. We have 5th most effective space in the league, per Over the Cap, with more available by jettisoning Lattimore and Payne. I'd rather keep the latter for the year, because $26m for one year on a DT that has double digit sack potential isn't bad. Last time he was a pending free agent he was a monster.
Peters HAS to be aggressive. It's a moral imperative.
Peters HAS to be aggressive. It's a moral imperative.
It's just one game but the defense looked different. If that holds (hopefully) I'd presume its clear as a bell to Quinn that a defensive coordinator can make a big difference to the performance of this unit. To that point, hopefully Quinn swings big for a top coordinator.
Riggo44
The Team Captain
Quinn strikes me as someone who doesn't make the same mistake twice. I would stunned if he goes with an unknown again...and for the love of all that is holy, NOT Raheem Morris.
If the Texans give up on DeMeco, I’d be at his house with a fill in the blanks contract ASAP.
Listening to Logan Paulsen who is generally conservative from the context of criticizing coaches, he was a somewhat a defender of Whitt in the past but it felt like feint praise to me because it rarely included specifics.
He goes this is the best he's seen that unit play this season. They were fitting runs correctly. There weren't free runners in coverage. Better disguises. It was a consistently well coached and well spaced defense and he was shocked to see it. He thinks there is something to build off of this game for the defense.
He goes that game defensively was so bad, they weren't communicating coverages well, weren't fitting runs correctly, everything look bad, it was one of the hardest games for him to rewatch and it felt a bit hopeless for him after that watch.
He goes this is the best he's seen that unit play this season. They were fitting runs correctly. There weren't free runners in coverage. Better disguises. It was a consistently well coached and well spaced defense and he was shocked to see it. He thinks there is something to build off of this game for the defense.
He goes that game defensively was so bad, they weren't communicating coverages well, weren't fitting runs correctly, everything look bad, it was one of the hardest games for him to rewatch and it felt a bit hopeless for him after that watch.
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Which game?
Riggo44
The Team Captain
If I'm the Giants, I am offering him Kate Mara
Sorry the Seattle one
Riggo44
The Team Captain
Wait, we played Seattle? I don't recall that game. I vaguely remember being at a ceremony for Art Monk, but no memory of any game. At all.
I just rewatched the game, I fast forwarded through some of it. I missed how communicative Quinn was on the sidelines, I gather talking to Wagner nonstop. That along with his enthusiasm on the sideline, heck made me pumped up.
Can he sustain that level, with this skeleton crew? I got no idea. But it gives me some hope for next season.
A good coordinator can make a big difference. Look at Gregg Williams turning around a crap defense overnight here. Brian Flores did the same thing in Minny, etc. The defense is the unit that can be turned around more quickly compared to the offense traditionally.
The key is Dan don't make the next hire, your pal. It's the same thing that has plagued the team under Jay and Shanny. Hire one with serious pedigree who is inventive and brings some passion to the job.
Can he sustain that level, with this skeleton crew? I got no idea. But it gives me some hope for next season.
A good coordinator can make a big difference. Look at Gregg Williams turning around a crap defense overnight here. Brian Flores did the same thing in Minny, etc. The defense is the unit that can be turned around more quickly compared to the offense traditionally.
The key is Dan don't make the next hire, your pal. It's the same thing that has plagued the team under Jay and Shanny. Hire one with serious pedigree who is inventive and brings some passion to the job.
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