Position Group Breakdown 2021: Defensive Tackles
July 8, 2021
by Alex Zeese
This is the ninth installment of our annual, ongoing Redskins Washington position group breakdown series. This week, we’re going to begin our look at the defensive line with an examination of the defensive tackles. Here’s a list of what we’ve done so far:
Now let’s talk Defensive Tackles!
Departures:
None
Arrivals:
Daniel Wise
Gabe Wright
Returning:
Daron Payne
Tim Settle
Jonathan Allen
Matthew Ioannidis
Devaroe Lawrence
David Bada
Starters:
Jon Allen- 6’3″ 300 lbs. Allen’s been looking for a long-term deal here in Washington over this offseason, as he’s in the fifth and final year of his rookie deal. He’s the glue in the defensive line in many ways as he’s the most veteran player in the Washington’s rebuilding efforts along that front. Allen had a bit of a down year last season after the switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense, though he has steadily averaged over 60 tackles a game the last three seasons he had just 2 sacks rather than the 7 he had averaged the last two year before.
Daron Payne– 6’3″ 320 lbs. Payne was drafted in the 1st round in 2018. Payne has shown to be a dominant run stuffer. Payne has had only missed one game in his last 3 seasons while getting 10 sacks and 166 tackles in that time. While those numbers may not wow anyone, Payne’s has a real talent of being a major disruptor in the running game while clogging things up in the middle of the offensive line. Daron is entering his fourth season with Washington and has signed his 5th year option.
Backups:
Matt Ioannidis- 6’3″ 310 lbs. Turning 27 and in his 6th season in Washington, he’s been a nice little gem of a 5th rounder for this team. Ioannidis has at times seemed like the highest production player on the defensive line. His biggest issue these last 5 years has been health – he’s only had one season in which he played 16 games.
Tim Settle– 6′ 3″ 308 lbs. Settle is in the fourth and final season of his rookie contract. The stout Virginia Tech alumnus has been a reliable backup the last few years. He had a solid 5 sack season in 2020 despite his limited play time, during which he played just 1/3rd of the defensive snaps.
David Bada- 6′ 4″ 292 lbs. The German tackle who came over to the team last year and spent the bulk of the season on the practice squad. He was a feel-good story for the local news media last offseason.
Devaroe Lawrence– 6’2″ 295 lbs. Came to the team in mid-2020 and was active as a backup here for one game vs Dallas. Other than that he was either deactivated or back on the practice squad.
Daniel Wise- 6’3″ 280 lbs. A journeyman defensive linemen who sits at 280 lbs and is able to play both tackle and end. He spent the last two seasons on the practice squads of Dallas and Arizona.
Gabe Wright– 6’3″ 295 lbs. Another practice squad vagabond type. His last stop was on Jacksonville’s squad after a stint in the XFL.
Projections:
It looks like Washington’s head coaching staff knows they have a good thing in the defensive interior. Washington’s interior defensive line is stacked. Not only does the team have plenty of front-end talent with Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne returning as starting defensive tackles, but their key backups, Matt Ioannidis and Tim Settle, have enough talent to be starters on other NFL teams in the future. Few teams in the NFL have this much depth at inside tackle.
The real question with this group is less about 2021 but what happens after this season, because the team’s top four defensive tackles are all on deals that expire in the next year or two. It’s been well-publicized that Jonathan Allen is looking for a long-term deal to stay here on his hometown team and Tim Settle is probably looking at his last season here in DC, as he can probably expect a bigger payday and more playing time elsewhere. Payne and Ioannidis’ contracts will expire after the 2022 season, although the team holds a team option on Payne for 2022. The window on this talented group staying together is closing soon unless a few of these guys end up taking team friendly deals.