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Breaking down DT Johnny Newton’s rookie season and where he stands entering his second year
Much was expected of Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton when the Commanders surprisingly drafted him with the 36th overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft. He was a surprising pick because defensive tackle wasn’t a perceived need at the time, but the team felt he was just too good value to pass up. Unfortunately, Newton fell in the draft due to injuries, which kept him out of the majority of the offseason after being drafted. That put him behind the eight ball and he was playing catch up for a large part of the season.
Newton did see the field pretty early on though, only missing the opening game of the season. His numbers were pretty underwhelming and he managed just two sacks in his rookie year. That’s not a horrific return for an interior defensive lineman, but for one that was drafted with a high second round pick and was hyped up for his quickness and pass rush ability, it was a disappointing return.
But the stats don’t always tell the full story. So how did Newton actually perform in his rookie year and where does he stand going forward? Let’s take a closer look.
Run game
We’ll start with the positives in the run game. Throughout the season, we saw glimpses of the disruptive ability Newton has with his quickness in the run game. The Commanders under Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. want to be a very disruptive defense because they know the value of a blown up run. If you can get a tackle for loss on first and 10, the defense is suddenly ahead of the chains and can go into full attack mode on second and third down. Newton fits that style well thanks to his quickness.
That quickness can also be very disruptive on run stunts.
In the span of a month, Washington added two new starters in the trenches and will enter next season with a reconfigured offensive line. Center Tyler Biadasz is slated to be the only returning starter at the same position on the line.
Coleman started 12 games in his rookie campaign last season and was Washington’s left tackle for the majority of the year. He earned a slightly above-average 63.9 overall grade from PFF, but allowed nine sacks—the most on the team and the fifth-most in the league among tackles.
The addition of Tunsil allows Washington to kick Coleman inside to left guard. Though he played left tackle in most of his games at...
