Washington Redskins: The rising star of Bashaud Breeland

The Washington Redskins are 24th in the NFL in net yards per pass attempt allowed, but their chronically below-average secondary has one shutdown cornerback lurking; his name is Bashaud Breeland.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones is already up to 109 receptions this season, and he averages a whopping 109.7 yards per game as the breadwinner in his team’s offense. But in a narrow Week 5 overtime win over the Washington Redskins, in which Devonta Freeman effectively carried the team to victory, Jones was held to just five receptions for 67 yards. The reason for his down game? He drew Bashaud Breeland’s coverage, and the second-year CB out of Clemson added a pick with a whopping four passes defended.

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Breeland’s brilliance against stud receivers didn’t stop there, though, and he’s currently in the best form of his young career. Three weeks ago, New York Giants elite wideout Odell Beckham Jr., who is riding an insane streak of six straight 100-yard games that includes eight touchdowns, put up 142 receiving yards on the Redskins.

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When seeing that stat, your first inclination would be to say, “Well, Breeland must have struggled in that one,” but nothing could be further from the truth. Not only did it take 17 targets for Beckham to hit 142, but he averaged just 6.75 yards per target against Breeland. In fact, the 23-year-old corner had more passes defended (four) than receptions allowed to OBJ (three); it’s just that Beckham drew assignments against lesser players, too.

Just last week, Breeland added another marquee performance to his resume, shutting down another receiver who is averaging roughly 100 receiving yards per game.

Chicago Bears wideout Alshon Jeffery roasts defense to the tune of 99.6 yards per game as his team’s clear alpha dog, and he rampaged the Redskins secondary with six receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.

So Breeland gave up another 100-yard receiving day? As with OBJ’s 142-yard outing, box scores can be deceiving. Jeffery’s 20-yard touchdown came in Will Blackmon‘s coverage, and his 50-yard catch came when he roasted Quinton Dunbar. Per Pro Football Focus, Jeffery caught just one of his four targets for a grand total of two yards in Breeland’s coverage. Since Jeffery had six catches on nine targets against Washington, all of his incompletions came when drawing Breeland, who also had a pass defended in Week 14.

You can see that elite receivers tend to have plenty of success picking on the Redskins safeties and corner, with the exception of Breeland, who seems to be single-handedly preventing this pass defense from plunging into an abyss of embarrassment. In just his second season, Breeland has established himself as an elite player, and he’ll get to notch two more marquee “victories” against top receivers if he can shut down Sammy Watkins in Week 15 and Dez Bryant in Week 17.

Breeland, of course, had no problems handling Dez in Week 13, though it is unfair to expect much out of a wide receiver catching passes from Matt Cassel. Even so, Breeland deserves plenty of credit for notching another PD while simultaneously keeping Bryant quiet.

I keep bringing up Breeland’s passes defended, because he’s been among the best defensive backs in the league at making plays. With 14 PDs, he’s currently tied for tenth in the NFL in that stat, and he also has two interceptions, two fumbles forced, and two fumble recoveries on his resume. Without Breeland, the Redskins wouldn’t be ninth in the NFL in turnovers, which is a huge reason why they are 17th in points per game allowed despite being 21st in yards per game allowed.

Ryan Kerrigan, Chris Baker, Stephen Paea, Terrance Knighton, and Jason Hatcher help form a fearsome front seven in Washington, but the Redskins most important defensive player just might be Breeland. Beyond the fact that he’s a talented, physical, and athletic shutdown corner who is capable of making big plays of his own, he’s also the only competent defensive back on this team. Additionally, the Redskins lack depth in the defensive backfield, making Breeland’s brilliance all the more important to Joe Barry’s defense.

Oct 12, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Washington Redskins Bashaud Breeland (26) against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Redskins 30-20. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

We’ll see what the final three weeks of the regular season hold for both player and team, but it’s clear to me that the Redskins wouldn’t be in a position to win the division without Breeland. One defensive player rarely makes this type of an impact, but there are three reasons why I make this proclamation.

Firstly, the NFC East is a tight division in which three teams are 6-7. Secondly, Breeland is a beast. Thirdly, the Redskins would be 32nd in the league in basically every pass defense stat without him back there; having a corner like him who can play up to the likes of OBJ, Jeffery, and Jones is so valuable.

Even if he struggles against Watkins or Bryant (he destroyed the Philadelphia Eagles underwhelming pass-catchers earlier this year, so Week 16 should be cakewalk for him), he’s still been a star this season in my eyes.

Hopefully, more fans around the league take notice, because he would probably be talked up as a Pro Bowl-caliber CB if he played with better teammates in the Redskins secondary.

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I mean, we’ve all seen how much better David Amerson has been with the Oakland Raiders than he was in Washington, so you can only imagine where Breeland would rank among the league’s best CBs if he had even marginally better safety help.

On the bright side, he’s getting plenty of help from the front seven, so at least he has the likes of Kerrigan to thank.

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