Roster Thoughts, 2022 Edition: Defense and Special Teams

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September 7, 2022

by Steve Thomas

Welcome to part 2 of my “Roster Thoughts, 2022 Edition” column.  This is the place right before the beginning of each season in which I take a look at the status of Washington’s final active roster.  I previously reviewed Washington’s offense (click here to read), so today I’ll focus on defense and special teams.  Without further ado, let’s get started.

Defensive line:

DE1: Chase Young (PUP)

DE1: Montez Sweat

DT1: Jonathan Allen

DT1: Daron Payne

Backup DEs: James Smith-Williams, Casey Toohill, Shaka Toney

Backup DTs: Phidarian Mathis, Efe Obada, Daniel Wise

This is a big year for Chase Young.  In part 1, I identified Carson Wentz as the player on this team who has the most to prove.  Young has that crown for the defense.  Young had a good rookie year, one that he could have built on, winning the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award despite having only 7.5 sacks.  However, Young’s 2021 season was a disaster on multiple fronts: in my view, he got caught up in his own hype last offseason, blowing off OTAs to shoot commercials, then absolutely disappeared on the field before going down for the season in week 10 to a very serious knee injury.  He’s currently on the PUP list, so there’s no telling when or if he returns for 2022.  Assuming he comes back, Young has quite a bit of work to do in order to prove that all of the “generational talent” hype during the draft process was accurate.  Montez Sweat has been good, but not spectacular, in his three seasons in DC.  The team has already exercised its 2023 team option on Sweat, so they have until the end of next season to figure out what to do with him.  Like Young, Sweat had a down year last season, albeit not as bad as that of Young, so he too has something to prove.

Jonathan Allen leads the way in the tackle group.  Allen, who made his first Pro Bowl last season, is the undisputed defensive leader and was rewarded with a 4 year, $72M contract extension.  In my view, Allen’s play took a big leap forward last season in terms of his ability to disrupt on both running and passing downs.  It seems likely that Washington has a 10 year career, ring of fame-type player on their hands in Allen.  The other starter on the inside, Daron Payne, is another talented player but is in the fifth and final year of his rookie contract and will likely depart in free agency next year.  Second round pick Phidarian Mathis was very impressive in preseason and looks to be well positioned to take over for Payne next year.  Of the other backups, Daniel Wise stood out in the preseason, so fans should keep an eye out on him.

Steve’s week 1 grade: B

Linebackers:

LB1: Jonathan Bostic

LB1: Cole Holcomb

OLB1: Jamin Davis

Backups: David Mayo, Milo Eifler

It’s a sad state of affairs when Jonathan Bostic is brought in at the last minute to be the savior of the position group.  Without Bostic, Washington would’ve almost certainly had the worst linebacker group in the NFL, without three even minimally-qualified starters.  Bostic does bring a modicum of normalacy to the situation.  I’ll never understand why head coach Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio chose to ignore this position group in both free agency and the draft when it was obvious to everyone with two or more functioning brain cells that the group needed massive help.  Bostic – who is coming off of a torn pectoral muscle suffered in week 4 last season – was the obvious short-term answer staring the team in the face all offseason.  He isn’t a long-term solution, but he at least is a legitimate starter who can play NFL football.  Cole Holcomb was a find as a fifth round pick in 2019 and is another legit NFL player.  His problem is fit – is he a 4-3 middle linebacker (probably not), a weakside backer (no), or a strongside backer (I guess so)?  Either way, given the sad state of Washington’s linebacker group, the team better hope that he stays healthy.  Note that I didn’t distinguish between “MLB” and “OLB” as to Bostic and Holcomb above, as it is completely unclear what the team is thinking here.

Jamin Davis was a bust from the get-go as a middle linebacker.  That seemed like a highly likely result from day one based on his college film and athletic profile, which screamed “outside linebacker”.  He’s therefore already on his second chance but is now where he should’ve been from the beginning.  About all that can be said about Milo Eifler and David Mayo is that they are two more linebackers on the team.

The elephant in the room here is that Washington seems to have moved to a 5 – 2 defensive front – perhaps becausr management wasn’t smart enough to find a proper linebacker corps – with a safety filling a hybrid linebacker – strong safety role.  Unfortunately, the perfect guy for that role was Landon Collins, whose humungous contract forced the team to cut him.  What safety can do this job in 2022 is anyone’s guess.

Steve’s week 1grade: D if Bostic is active, F if he’s inactive

Corners:

CB1: William Jackson

CB1: Kendall Fuller

CB1 (slot): Benjamin St-Juste

CB backups: Christian Holmes, Tariq Castro-Fields, Rachad Wildgoose

William Jackson and Kendall Fuller are, frankly, a weak starting tandem considering that they collectively count for $25M against the salary cap.  Neither one has consistently performed up to the level expected from two players making that much money.  Both had multiple blown assignments that cost the team last season.  Washington is stuck with both of them for now due to a lack of other available options.  Benjamin St-Juste currently fills the slot role, but would be better suited to the outside.  The backups, Christian Holmes, Tariq Castro-Fields, and Rachad Wildgoose, are players who exist, but their talent level is a totally open question.  After linebacker, this group is the weakest on the team.

Steve’s week 1 grade: D+

Safeties:

S1: Kamren Curl

S1: Bobby McCain

S2: Percy Butler

S2: Darrick Forrest

S3: Jeremy Reaves

At safety, Kamren Curl was a revelation as a 2020 seventh round pick.  He’s proven to be a plus-level safety who can be successful at both the free and strong safety, as well as in a cover 2 system.  Assuming Curl continues on his current trajectory and stays healthy, Washington would be wise to sign him to a long extension when he becomes eligible after this season.  Bobby McCain has had his ups and downs in Washington, but he’s a solid player who can perform at a starter level, and at a $2.78M cap hit, is a pretty good value.  The three backups, Percy Butler, Darrick Forrest, and Jeremy Reaves, are all solid young players with potential, so Washington is in pretty good shape at this position group.

Steve’s week 1 grade: A-

Specialists and returners:

P: Tress Way

K: Joey Slye

LS: Camaron Cheeseman

KR: Alex Erickson (?)

PR: Alex Erickson (?)

Tress Way is legitimately the team’s best player and is one of the most talented punters in the NFL.  The only reason that he’s made just one Pro Bowl and one All-Pro second team, both in 2019, is the fact that he plays for a clunking embarrassment of a franchise which has driven away most of its fans.  Kicker Joey Slye is . . . acceptable.  The long snapper, second year player Cameron Cheeseman, for his part, was fine last year after a bit of a rough start early.  Thumbs up for the specialists.

Washington’s kick and punt return game is another story entirely and has the potential for disaster.  Washington tried a bunch of different players at both kick and punt returns during the three preseason games, and aside from one 13 yard punt return by Alex Erickson, none of them did anything of note.  To be honest, the only reason I’ve listed Erickson as the starter here is that he’s the one listed on the team’s unofficial depth chart published on Washington’s website.  Why on earth Washington chose to let Deandre Carter – who wasn’t “spectacular” but was at least “good” – leave in free agency for a pretty minimal contract is one of those unsolved mysteries of the universe along the identity of John F. Kennedy’s killer and what’s on the other side of a black hole.  Yikes.

Steve’s week 1 grade for the specialists: A

Steve’s week 1 grade for the returners: F-