Tim Settle has created a good problem on the Washington Football Team D-line.
The Washington Football Team is far from perfect. It does not really take a genius to spot that. Look no further than their 4-7 record for the proof. However, they do have some things going for them. For example, they are in a miserable NFC East that sees them in a perfect spot to win the division despite that record.
Another reason for optimism is their defensive line. While they have plenty of holes on the roster, Washington might just have the best defensive line in the entire NFL. Rookie Chase Young looks every bit the star (stop with the nonsense he has been fantastic and looks better as the weeks go by). Montez Sweat has already turned into a superstar.
Jonathan Allen is an elite run stopper with solid pass rush abilities, and Da’Ron Payne is great at both as well. Matthew Ioannidis might be the best all-around talent on the line, but he’s out for the year due to injury. It truly is an embarrassment of riches.
What’s so crazy about all that is that four of those five players are first-round draft picks. The only one that was not drafted in the first round is Ioannidis. He was a fifth-round pick by Washington back in 2016.
Actually, there is one more guy on the defensive line, and like Ioannidis – he is not a first-rounder. In 2018, Washington used their first-round pick on Payne. Obviously, that has worked out pretty nicely. That was not the only addition they made that year to the defensive line, though.
In the fifth round, Washington selected Tim Settle out of Virginia. He was extremely talented but raw at just 20 years old at the time of the draft. So Settle was seen as more of a project than anything else. For the first two years, Settle was depth. He played a minimal role on the defense, but was really good to have in case of an emergency.
But this year with Ioannidis going down, Settle was given a slightly bigger role. What has he done with it so far? Well though the first 11 weeks of the season, he has five sacks as a defensive tackle. That’s the third-most on the team (Ryan Kerrigan has 5.5 and Sweat has 6.0).
Five sacks through 11 games would be impressive for any defensive tackle. Settle is on a stacked team that is splitting sacks though and he’s played just 33 percent of the team’s defensive snaps so far this year. The only downside might be that it is creating a scenario where there are too many mouths to feed. However, is that really a bad problem?
Washington has a logjam on the defensive line with Tim Settle but that’s just fine.
Think about it this way. Not counting Settle, Washington has five fantastic defensive linemen. One is a rookie (Young) so you don’t have to worry too much about his contract. Sweat is only in his second year so he’s fine too. Meanwhile, Ioannidis has already gotten an extension so no need to worry about him.
However, Allen is set to become a free agent after the 2021 season. Meanwhile, Payne is currently signed through the same 2021 season (although he has a team option for 2022). Both of those players will command big contracts.
Now you have Settle to help cushion the blow. You can feel comfortable knowing he is available to slot in and clearly he’s more than up to the task. If Washington does not want to re-sign someone due to cap issues, Settle is a perfect option and he will likely come quite a bit cheaper still.
Over the years, it has been no secret that I’m a big fan of Settle. He gets brought up often when I’m discussing Washington’s defensive line and I’ve even advocated for him to get more playing time in the past.
Now Tim Settle is proving exactly why he deserved that praise. He is one of the best-kept secrets in the NFL. At just 23 years old, he’s enjoying a breakout year even with still limited opportunities.
It is no stretch to say that he is becoming one of the better defensive tackles in the entire NFL. And while that creates a tough playing time conundrum for Washington, it’s a great problem to have. They now have lineup flexibility, as well as flexibility when it comes to contracts in the future. One thing is clear though, the Washington Football Team should be ecstatic that Tim Settle is lining up on that defensive line every week.