Summer Spotlight: Matt Ioannidis
Matt Ioannidis was a fifth-round pick of the Washington NFL franchise back in 2016. The 26-year-old Ioannidis played his college football at Temple, where he started for three seasons.
Not much was expected from Ioannidis once he arrived in Washington. Ioannidis was actually released on final cutdown day back in 2016 before the team re-signed him to its practice squad just one day later.
Ioannidis would finally get the call to the main roster on Sept. 25 and he never looked back.
As a rookie that season, Ioannidis appeared in 10 games, making seven tackles.
Over the next three seasons, Ioannidis would establish himself as one of Washington’s core defenders in a defensive line group that also included Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Tim Settle.
Inside the Numbers:
Ioannidis became an integral part of Washington’s rotation in 2017. He played in 14 games, made 22 tackles and finished 4.5 sacks.
In 2018, Ioannidis took another step forward, playing in 14 games and finishing with 7.5 sacks.
In one of the better moves of recent memory, Washington signed Ioannidis to a three-year extension worth $21 million ahead of the 2019 season.
After signing his extension, Ioannidis would go on to have his best season yet. He played in all 16 games and finished with career-highs in tackles with 58 and sacks with 8.5.
Throughout his time in Washington, Ioannidis has graded well with Pro Football Focus, especially in rushing the passer.
Video Analysis/Highlights:
Ioannidis has developed into a good pass-rusher due to his brute strength and incredible effort. Here is one such instance where Ioannidis beat the double-team and forced his way into the backfield to take down Mitchell Trubisky.
The next clip shows Ioannidis’ ability to dominate in the running game as he easily tosses aside La’el Collins of Dallas to make the stop. This is vintage Ioannidis.
What They’re Saying:
With a new head coach in Ron Rivera and a new defensive coordinator in Jack Del Rio, Ioannidis is excited about the defensive line group and the new staff’s ability to take them to another level, per Zach Selby of Washington Football Team’s official website.
"I feel like we've got a lot of good pieces up front," Ioannidis said. "I think this will be a good opportunity for everyone to showcase their abilities."
While there has been a lot of focus on No. 2 overall draft pick Chase Young and last year’s first-rounder, Montez Sweat on the outside, Rivera explained how important Ioannidis and the interior rushers are to the success of this defense, per Peter Hailey of NBC Sports Washington.
Those four guys are going to allow the speed on the outside to make plays for us," Rivera said. "That's what's so exciting about watching those young guys with the speed on the outside is, really, the push on the inside."
"When I was in Carolina in 2015, the biggest reason we had the success we had was the interior push," he continued. "The quarterback couldn't step out of the way.”
Mike Clay’s 2020 Projections:
Mike Clay - ESPN Twitter
ESPN fantasy expert Mike Clay released his projections for every Washington player in 2020. He projects Ioannidis to play 618 snaps, make 47 tackles and finished with around six sacks.
With Rivera more focused on rotating his defensive linemen, this sounds like an accurate projection.
Clay has updated his projections right here
For more Washington Football Team "Summer Spotlight" features - click on the players below.
Montez Sweat - Defensive End/Edge
Ryan Kerrigan - Defensive End/Edge
Terry McLaurin - Wide Receiver
Jonathan Allen - Defensive Lineman
Caleb Brantley - Defensive Lineman
Steven Sims Jr. - Wide Receiver
Adrian Peterson - Running Back
Geron Christian - Offensive Tackle
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Bryan Manning writes about the Washington Football Team for 'Washington Football' and contributes to "All Hokies" on SI.com. He has covered the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football and college basketball for almost 10 years for various outlets such as Bleacher Report, SB Nation, FanSided, USA Today SMG, and others. For his day job, Bryan works in engineering for a major communications company.
