Training Camp Preview - Defensive Line
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A person tends to take pride in what they build themselves. They invest their hard-earned time, sweat, and money to make it successful. The more you “spare no expense,” as John Hammond puts it in Jurassic Park, the more you expect to get in return on your investment. Clearly, I was watching Jurassic Park the other day when I saw a lot of similarities in the Washington Football Team’s defensive line and the fictional theme park.
Read Alan's Latest: Five Takeaways from Ron Rivera
Over the past few years there has been an investment to rebuild the defensive line. They have drafted a lineman in the first round the past four drafts (Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Montez Sweat, and Chase Young). They are literally sparing no expense when it comes to the front line. Now add in Ryan Kerrigan who was a first round pick in 2011 with the emergence of Matt Ioannidis, and now you have yourself arguably the best group of defensive linemen in the NFL.
WATCH: Washington Football Team Defensive Line Coach Sam Mills III
Unfortunately, over the past few years someone has turned the power off letting the untrained Raptors loose killing any hope of the defense reaching its full potential. Forcing Ryan Kerrigan and Sweat into coverage last year should not have been warranted. Even with the team only being in their 3-4 base defense roughly 33% of the time, the coaching staff still found ways to play to their players weaknesses. That will change this year.
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The Known Entities
The defensive line has been a highlight of head coach Ron Rivera’s whenever he answers why he took this job. They will be running more 4-3 this year which will allow for them to starting using their stars at what they do best. Getting after the quarterback.
There will be rotations to watch as defensive coordinator Jack del Rio looks to keep everyone fresh. Early in the season they are also likely to be playing in a negative game script. The rotation while playing behind will give us an idea of who the coaches rely on as rush defenders and have been separated out from pass rushers. We do know from watching film and hearing from Rivera that defensive end Chase Young is excellent in run defense with some nuances to work on at the NFL level.
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Flying Below the Radar
Ryan Anderson is another player to watch throughout camp and early in the season. Players and coaches have talked Anderson up unprompted about his physical and mental abilities. Anderson has been working with the defensive ends early in camp which might signal that he will be one of the run defense specialists and could be a key piece on special teams. You could compare him to what we saw with Lorenzo Alexander here in D.C. and when he played in Buffalo.
The four main linemen that are on the outside looking in are Ryan Bee, Nate Orchard, international signee David Bada and rookie James Smith-Williams. Orchard shined in his time on the field last year with people scratching their heads when he wasn’t getting more playing time down the stretch of a lost season. Bee was a part of the Washington Football Team to start the 2019 season but ended up seeing himself getting cut at the end of the year. All four can contribute on special teams, but I would expect to see most of this group on the practice squad to start the season.
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Expectations
There is no doubt that the defense will only go as far as the defensive line will take them. I would expect to see at least one player to make the pro-bowl along with Chase Young winning defensive rookie of the year. There are questions at linebacker and in the secondary that could easily be exposed if the front four does not do their job. There is depth that no other team across the league has. If one player were to miss a game, they shouldn’t miss a beat. It’s a lot of pressure on this young group. But you can’t say they didn’t spare no expense.
Alan Lepore's 53-man active roster and 16-man expanded practice squad projection 1.0
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Alan Lepore joins "Washington Football" on SI.com, while still doing outstanding work as an editor/writer at FullPressCoverage.com or @FPC_Redskins. You can follow him on Twitter @AlanLepore or on instagram @leporealan. Alan is a Villanova University MPA Nonprofit Management candidate and is a fundraising/development professional.
