Buffalo Bills: Tempering expectations for Adolphus Washington
The Buffalo Bills scooped up four of the most gifted rookies on the defensive side of the ball this offseason in Shaq Lawson, Reggie Ragland, Adolphus Washington, and Justin Zimmer. Plus, Eric Striker and Kevon Seymour aren’t bad either, giving Rex Ryan the type of young talent he needs for this defense to blossom in his second season at the helm.
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Unsurprisingly, the Buffalo Bills have high hopes for their youngsters, and they are ready to heap responsibilities on their first three draft picks. According to NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus, Bills GM Doug Whaley told Lindsay Rhodes on NFL Total Access that Lawson, Ragland, and Washington will start from Day 1.
"“At least three. Shaq Lawson is going to walk in off the bus starting. Reggie Ragland and then Adolphus Washington — all three of those guys will start right off the bus. And we’re excited for some guys from the fourth through sixth rounds that will contribute for us.”"
Call me crazy, but I like the fact that Whaley isn’t dancing around the issue, because there isn’t much of a competition in two of those cases. Lawson is clearly the team’s second-best edge rusher (behind Jerry Hughes), and he is my pick for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile, you could argue that Ragland is the team’s best off-ball linebacker, because Preston Brown and Manny Lawson are the only two other players to choose from.
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Lawson and Ragland received first-round grades from many pundits, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if Lawson heard his name called in the top five. Therefore, the fact that Whaley views Washington as an immediate starter is much more interesting, and there’s actually room to argue this point.
If we’re talking solely about talent, it isn’t outrageous to say that Washington is the team’s second-best 3-4 defensive end behind Kyle Williams, assuming Marcell Dareus spends his time manning the nose whenever the Bills are in their base set with a three-man front.
The problem is that we have to concern ourselves with more than just raw talent, and that’s where Whaley’s expectations should be re-assessed. Even in college, Washington was not a consistent player on a snap-to-snap basis, which is why most of his appeal lies in the fact that he’s a quick-twitch, explosive interior pass rusher.
Washington’s issues in run defense, per sources close to Walter Football’s Charlie Campbell, caused him to fall to the third round. Those concerns are legitimate, but the most pointed knock regarding Washington’s play is focused on something else.
Here’s NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein:
"Not even a participation ribbon as a bull rusher."
Yeah…let’s back up the hype train.
Interior pass rushers who win with speed are valuable in this league (Pro Football Focus ranked Aaron Donald as the best player last season), so Washington will play a role for the Bills this year. That said, he disappeared for chunks of time last season, he may be weak at the point of attack, and he’s a raw player who is still trying to figure out how to defend the run.
If Washington is a “starter”, then he isn’t an every-down player. Bills defensive lineman Corbin Bryant emerged as an average starter last season, and he should be the significantly superior option in run defense. To me, that limits how much Washington can play as a rookie, and that’s a good thing. Based on his snap-to-snap inconsistency at Ohio State, Washington is a better sub-package player, and because he has so much upside in the passing game, that shouldn’t be perceived as a knock.
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I know Whaley is excited about Washington, and he has every right to be. As a third-round pick, Washington is good value, and he joins a Bills defensive line that has two of the best in the business in Dareus and Williams. I like optimism, but it’s unfair to expect too much from a first-year player who has some holes to fix in the NFL. These deficiencies may never be corrected by the Ryans, but if those weaknesses can be limited by role, then the outcome could be just as positive for Buffalo’s defense, which, is mostly looking for a more potent pass rush in 2016.