Hogs Haven
Previewing the camp battle to shore up Washington’s biggest weakness
Last season the biggest fans’ biggest concern heading into camp, as judged by Hogs Haven discussion threads and polling results, was why Adam Peters had not done more to upgrade the offensive tackles, and what the apparent neglect of the position would mean for the team’s rookie QB.
As it turned out, the biggest weaknesses in pass protection the previous season had been the QB himself and the interior offensive line. Those positions were the main focus of offseason investment, and the results were spectacular.
This year the big worry is why more was not done to shore up the edge defense. The team’s ability to pressure the quarterback has been a major concern, following the departure of 2024 sack leader Dante Fowler. But run defense was actually the Commanders’ biggest weakness last season. And my recent four part series showed that Right Defensive End (RDE) was the weak link on the defensive line. To compete against the elite rushing attacks they face this season, the Commanders will need to get better play out of their right edge defenders as well as the right interior defenders.
While questions remain about the pass rush, those concerns have been a little overstated as a result of taking raw production stats out of context. The Commanders defense ranked 11th in the NFL in total sacks during the 2024 regular season, according to official NFL stats, and 21st in total QB pressures, according to PFF. However, they also faced the 2nd fewest pass attempts of any team.
Adjusting for numbers of opposing QB dropbacks, to enable like-for-like comparisons, reveals that the Commanders’ pass rush was more effective than many appreciate. Expressing pass rush productivity as Sack Rate (percentage of dropbacks resulting in a sack), raises their league ranking from 11th to 5th. Similarly, their ranking at pressuring the QB improves from 21st to 12th, when Pressure Rate (percentage of dropbacks with a QB pressure) is used instead of raw pressure counts.
The Commanders’ pass rush was actually very effective last season. The sack and pressure totals were low because the Commanders faced the second fewest passing attempts. That was almost certainly due to opponents keying on the weak run defense, and the offense controlling the ball.
With the regular season quickly approaching, the biggest questions facing the defense are whether they can get better at stopping the run and whether they can make up for their leading pass rusher. Those questions are most acutely focussed on the RDE position.
Rather than investing an early round draft pick or making a big splash via trade or free agency, the Commanders opted for a low key approach at Edge Defender (ED), with three low-cost FAs brought in to compete with four returning vets.
Since right edge is the biggest area for improvement on defense, the competition for the starting and rotational ED roles could be the most impactful position battle in camp. Here is my take...
