This trade could put the Commanders' defense over the top

Winning cures all, but that doesn’t mean one win will do the trick, necessarily. For the Washington Commanders, shutting the Los Angeles Chargers out during their 27-0 run after falling behind by 10 early on is good, but it doesn’t have everyone sold that their issues have been fixed.

Instead, there is still plenty of conversation happening around the football-watching world about what the Commanders need to do, or continue to do, to fix the issues that plagued them early on during their 2-2 start through the first quarter of the season.

The National Perspective

“Washington's bounce-back victory over L.A. showed improvement from the defense, which won at the line of scrimmage. That pressure aided a secondary that had been picked on early in the year, and Marshon Lattimore had his best coverage game of the season, allowing just 8.5 yards per catch on two grabs, per Pro Football Focus,” NFL.com’s Kevin Patra says. “That said, the secondary could still use some help on the outside and at free safety.”

The last evaluation we got from the league’s in-house media outlet said much of the same, calling for a need in the secondary and looking for general manager Adam Peters to do basically what he did in the trade for Lattimore last season as a solution to that move not working well enough for them to this point.

Beyond taking the same approach to an issue, perceived or real, as they did to get to the current problem, Patra is hitting on something else that has had arguably the bigger impact on the Commanders’ defense this season.

The Real Position of Need

Washington did get to Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert five times in Week 5, helping the secondary by putting the passer under pressure all game long, and they did the same against Geno Smith and the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3.

In their three other games, the defense combined for five sacks. So, like Patra is sticking to his guns in claiming that the Commanders’ defense would benefit from a secondary trade, we’re sticking to our saying the pass rush should be the focus instead.

One target we lined up as someone who might potentially become available near the trade deadline is Cincinnati Bengals’ pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, who is on a 2-3 team that has lost three in a row since losing quarterback Joe Burrow for most of, if not the rest of, the season.

The Bengals traded for veteran quarterback Joe Flacco on Tuesday in a move that is clearly designed to try and keep them afloat until Burrow can possibly return to a squad with playoff aspirations intact.

A Perfect 'Buyer Meets Seller' Scenario

However, Cincinnati has four games remaining between now and the trade deadline on November 4, starting with a road trip against the Green Bay Packers this weekend. That is followed up by three home games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, and Chicago Bears.

Anything less than a split of the next four games puts the Bengals at 3-6 or worse heading into their Week 10 bye week.

If Cincinnati has less than four wins by then, it may be time for it to embrace its 2025 reality and move players it knows won’t be part of the future to try and get some draft capital back for a 2026 rebirth.

For Washington, even a 2-2 split of the next four games against the Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Seattle Seahawks has it 5-4 heading into mid-November against the Detroit Lions in Week 10 and in Spain for a Week 11 date with the Miami Dolphins.

The possibility of upgrading the pass rush and hitting their Week 12 bye with no fewer than seven wins and essentially in control of their postseason fate should be enough to convince the Commanders that making a trade is worthwhile. And having Hendrickson on the field to help chase down quarterbacks like Bo Nix, Jalen Hurts, and Dak Prescott in the final six weeks of the regular season could help them secure a ticket to the tournament.

There’s no guarantee Washington makes any move at or near the trade deadline, of course, but every week pushes half the league toward being buyers and the other half toward selling, and it is much better to be where Peters and his front office sit right now, than on the other side of those negotiations.

Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more FREE coverage of the Washington Commanders throughout the 2025 season.

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