Hogs Haven
More violent arrivers for the Commanders’ defense
Continuing my series on draft prospects can add missing pieces to the Commanders’ rebuild, this article takes a look through the 2025 edge defender class in search of players who excel at rushing the passer as well as stopping the run.
In the first year of Adam Peters’ “recalibration” the Commanders’ got off to a flying start on offense, thanks to rookie QB Jayden Daniels and his overachieving, rag-tag supporting cast. Statistically speaking, the defense was decidedly middle of the pack, ranking 18th in the league in points allowed and 13th best in yards allowed.
I’m not sure how many fans realize that the Commanders’ defense ranked 3rd in passing yards allowed and 15th in passing touchdowns. What dragged Joe Whitt Jr’s unit down to mediocrity was the run defense, which ranked 30th in yards allowed, 28th in yards per attempt and 18th in rushing touchdowns.
With the draft quickly approaching, edge rusher is frequently singled out as a top need for the Commanders to address early in the draft. If run defense is the team’s biggest deficiency, should Adam Peters really be throwing premium draft resources at a pass rusher?
Maybe, because edge defenders don’t just rush the passer. They play a crucial role in run defense by setting the edge to contain runners inside the tackles. Setting an effective edge funnels running backs to the middle of the field for other defenders to clean up and prevents big gains outside. The best edge defenders in the league disrupt running plays in the backfield and pile up tackles for loss.
The Commanders’ edge rushers were not particularly distinguished in stopping the run in 2024.
In this article, I will be using a Run Stop Rate as performance metric for run defense. A defensive stop is a tackle which causes failure of the offensive play. Pro Football Focus defines a stop as holding the offense to less than 40% of the distance to the line to gain on first down, less than 50% on second down, and preventing a conversion or score on third or fourth down. Run Stop Rate is the percentage of run defense snaps on which a defender made stops.
The Commanders’ most effective edge defender against the run was Dorance Armstrong. Dorance made run stops on 6.6% of rushing downs, which ranked 36th among 115 edge defenders who played a minimum of 100 snaps in run defense. The Commanders’ most effective pass rusher was Dante Fowler. Fowler was second among the team’s edge defenders in Run Stop Rate at 5.8%, and ranked 49th in the league.
If the Commanders hope to compete for championships with teams like the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, they are going to have to get better at stopping the run. It is a given that pressuring the quarterback is crucial in today’s passing league. But the team’s biggest deficiency overall is run defense.
In the hope that the Commanders can have it both ways, this...
