Washington Football Team grades for the 2021 defense

The Washington Football Team came into the season with massive expectations when it came to the defensive side of the ball. So how did they do? Let’s grade.

The Washington Football Team came into the 2021 season with one of the more hyped-up defenses in all of football. To be fair, there was a great reason for that. They were near the very top in the previous season for one thing. They added pieces to improve their secondary and linebacker groups. And a lot of their best players were young and getting better.

With all that in mind, you could see why a lot of people were expecting major domination from the defense in 2021.

However, we didn’t exactly get that. We got flashes of it, sure. But we were never really treated to a full-on experience like so many thought they’d get.

Instead, we got uneven play. We’d see a defense that looked completely lost some weeks, but elite others. There were players that seemed out of position (we’ll talk about that later). It also felt like they were getting outcoached on a number of occasions. Where was the pressure? Why were certain players in certain spots?

What made it all the more frustrating was how things all went down. There would be great weeks and the potential would shine through. But we’d also get hit with some devastating blows. Like Montez Sweat playing great then breaking his jaw and missing a lot of action. Chase Young started to get going, then suffered a major injury.

Every team deals with injuries though, so that’s no excuse. No matter what, the defense did not play up to expectations.

How did they play though? Let’s go through each part of the defense and give them some grades for the 2021 season. Sadly, I don’t think this is going to be the most positive article. Positivity shines through here though, so let’s try and find some good stuff too.