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.
Washington Football Team defensive line
This was the biggest strength of the Washington Football Team heading into the season. For a lot of great reasons too.
The duo of Chase Young and Montez Sweat has to be considered one of the more exciting young tandems in football. Jonathan Allen is a star, so is Da’Ron Payne. Matthew Ioannidis impacts the game heavily, and Tim Settle would start on a lot of teams.
That’s an insane amount of depth on the line. The issue is, Young struggled to start the year. Once he started to show up more, he got hurt. It wasn’t great though and he’ll hold on to a C- grade. Sweat was playing great, then missed a ton of time due to injuries and COVID. Still, he made a lot of big plays and gets a B grade.
Payne was really solid all year (B+ grade), and Ioannidis didn’t put up the numbers but played well (C+ grade). Settle was mainly just reserves (C grade). It was Jonathan Allen that was the star. The defensive tackle was always known as more of a run stopper – and that’s still something he’s phenomenal at. In 2021 though, he upped his pass-rushing game.
Allen finished with a career-high nine sacks. He added 62 tackles (10 for loss) and had an insane 30 QB hits (literally doubling his previous high of 15). Allen helped keep the line together all year long no matter who was in the rotation. He gets an A+ himself.
Talking reserves, James Smith-Williams stands out as the best of that group. He did manage 2.5 sacks and had some nice plays. He earned a B grade. Casey Toohill and Shaka Toney both had a few moments, and Will Bradley-King was involved in some plays. No one really played enough to get a grade though.
That means we move on to the overall grade. They definitely didn’t live up to the insane hype. To be fair though, it was going to be really really hard for them to do that.
Young was a major disappointment. But it did feel like that injury came right when he was starting to get going. I’m not worried about him, but 2021 was bad. Sweat was good, but not great. Payne was great, Allen was elite. Everyone else was kind of just there.
In the end, they did finish eighth in the league when it came to stopping the run (104.4 rushing yards allowed per game). And that’s with playing the Philadelphia Eagles twice.
They weren’t bringing a lot of pressure to the quarterbacks though. The 38 sacks they had put them in the middle of the pack. And that definitely didn’t help a secondary that struggled.
Overall, the defensive line was still the best part of the Washington defense though. Good run-stopping and decent against the pass. That all holds up to give them a final grade of “B” in 2021.
Washington Football Team linebackers
Linebackers were definitely a weird position for the Washington Football Team even heading into the 2021 season.
They had just spent a first-round draft pick on Jamin Davis. Meanwhile, Jon Bostic was a decent veteran and Cole Holcomb isn’t perfect, but he makes plays.
Bostic appeared in just four games before an injury ended his season. He’ll get an incomplete on his report card. Doesn’t feel fair to judge him off of just four games.
Davis didn’t have a very good rookie season. He looked out of place a lot. The athleticism is there but there were missed tackles, missed assignments, and all that other fun stuff. That being said, Davis did seem to figure it out towards the end of the season and had some of his best games and plays in the final weeks
. Turning things around a bit at the end helps his grade a bit. As does head coach Ron Rivera admitting they weren’t playing him in the right schemes and positions. But you can’t ignore the overall body of work. So Davis gets a C- grade for his rookie campaign. Still a bright future ahead of him.
Holcomb did his thing. He had some issues in coverage at times. But at others, he looked phenomenal there. He’s got good speed and is a pretty safe bet when it comes to tackles. In fact, he led the team with 142. He also had two forced fumbles, two interceptions, seven pass deflections, one sack, and even a touchdown. Overall it was a very solid season but nothing elite so he gets a nice B grade.
I’m going to put Landon Collins here. He played both safety and linebacker during the season but ended as an LB. And I know he wasn’t a fan but he played a lot better there than he was in the secondary.
Collins finished the year with 81 tackles and three sacks. He also had a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, two interceptions, and two pass deflections. I’ll grade him overall on his full season. Secondary Collins gets a D+ but linebacker Collins gets a B- grade. So he’s getting a final grade of C.
Outside of that, there was a lot of mixing and mashing. David Mayo, De’Jon Harris, and Khaleke Hudson are just a few that got a small chance at some point during the season. So no one else is getting grades. It’s tough to grade depth players anyways. Especially when they are getting thrown in and out of the lineup at different points getting no playing time, then a lot, then none, then some. It’s all so confusing.
Overall though, they did pretty decent. The unit as a whole was “eh” at best though. We’re going to give them a “C” grade as a linebacker corps.
Washington Football Team secondary
The Washington Football Team added a few pieces to bolster their secondary this offseason. And while they all brought a little something to the table, it’s safe to say things didn’t go all that great for the unit as a whole.
Kamren Curl had a strong second season. The safety wasn’t perfect and at first and was getting weird playing time. But he was one of the more consistent players on the defense. Curl seems to make the big play when it’s needed. Expect him to be part of the defense for a long time. Final grade: B.
Kendall Fuller was elite last season. However, the cornerback couldn’t replicate that success in 2021. He was still really solid, but overall it was a letdown. Fuller only picked up one interception. More importantly, he wasn’t nearly the “lockdown” type corner that he was in the previous year. He wasn’t bad, but it still wasn’t anything to get too excited about. Final grade: C.
Bobby McCain had an up-and-down season in his first year with Washington. The last game definitely helped bolster his numbers, as the safety picked up some serious stats. In Week 18 McCain had three pass deflections, two interceptions, and one touchdown. That will make a season look great.
Overall though, he wasn’t bad – just not that good. McCain had four interceptions and nine pass deflections – so as you can see that last game made a difference. There were some games where he struggled, but you have to respect how he plays the game and he did make plays. Final grade: C+.
Okay, that last one felt like there were some incoherent ramblings going on. So let’s just get straight to the point for William Jackson III. The cornerback also had an up-and-down first season with Washington. He finished with two interceptions and eight pass deflections. In some games, he felt like a liability but in others, he was not only making plays but locking someone down. Final Grade: C+.
Benjamin St-Juste was the other big acquisition this offseason. He came via the third round of the NFL Draft. The rookie was actually the best of the bunch. However, St-Juste appeared in just nine games due to injury. It makes it a little harder to grade him, but the corner isn’t going to get punished for the injury. St-Juste didn’t have an interception but he was good in coverage and a solid tackler. When he was playing he was one of their better defenders. Final Grade: B+.
After that, it was mainly a rotating door of depth. Jeremy Reaves is the biggest standout and deserves some recognition. He doesn’t get a lot of chances but whenever he does, Reaves impresses. Danny Johnson also needs to get a shoutout, as he also always plays well when given the chance.
Overall, the depth wasn’t great though. Landon Collins was bad when he was playing safety. The cornerbacks were disappointing. No one was even really close to elite. And it showed. The Washington Football Team gave up 254.9 passing yards per game. That’s the fourth most in all of football. And I know you could say the defensive line needs to help, but they at least played fine. So this falls mainly on the secondary. Oh, and their 11 interceptions were amongst the worst in the league.
Final grade: C-
Overall thoughts and grade for the Washington Football Team defense
This isn’t a fun one to grade. The Washington Football Team was supposed to be elite with a ridiculous number of studs wreaking havoc. Instead, the defense was bad with a whopping one stud – Jonathan Allen.
Montez Sweat and good Da’Ron Payne were good. Benjamin St-Juste was good. Kam Curl was good. Cole Holcomb was solid and Landon Collins was decent when he moved to linebacker. Outside of that, there’s very little to say that’s going to be positive outside of praising a couple of depth players that didn’t get many chances to make a difference anyway.
They finished the year allowing 359.3 total yards of offense a game – the 11th worst in the entire NFL. That’s especially bad considering how good the rushing defense was. This was far from a “bend but don’t break” defense too. They allowed 25.5 points per game. That was the eighth-most allowed per game in the NFL.
Washington wasn’t really getting many turnovers either. They had 11 interceptions and eight fumble recoveries. That’s a total of 19 takeaways, which was tied for the ninth fewest in the NFL.
Washington was lacking playmakers. Your defensive tackle having to be the one to make plays isn’t the best strategy. Yes, you could say Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams do it. But Donald has a lot of help – like an elite cornerback in Jalen Ramsey.
There’s still a lot to be excited about with this defense. Allen is a monster inside and Payne is really good too. Sweat makes plays and Chase Young struggled before his injury but he’s still a freak. Linebacker Jamin Davis didn’t have a great rookie year but there were some highlights at the end of the year.
Curl and St-Juste are exciting young defensive backs. But Washington will still need to make some moves to bolster their secondary and linebacker corps if they want to be elite again.
2021 was certainly not what many were expecting. There were some positives, but it felt like those positives were far outweighed by the hefty number of negatives. The future is still pretty bright but 2021 was not it. Final grade: C-.