The 5 O’Clock Club: Washington’s defensive ends

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere…

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Mark Bullock gave us his analysis of the Commanders’ defensive end unit this week, and it is undoubtedly very different from the group that was headlined by Montez Sweat and Chase Young for nearly all of Ron Rivera’s tenure.

The team did a lot to help fill out the position in free agency after they inherited a roster with the defensive end spot stripped to the bare bones.

Dorance Armstrong was perhaps the most obvious free agent signing, following head coach Dan Quinn and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. from Dallas. Dante Fowler followed the same path. General manager Adam Peters also brought Clelin Ferrell over from the 49ers, even only on a short term deal, to give the team another steady veteran that could be relied upon to at least help stop the run if not offer much as a pass rusher. They rounded off free agency by re-signing Efe Obada too, which gives them a flexible rusher with some pass rush juice to add into the rotation.

If they had to play tomorrow, that group would be a solid but unspectacular rotation. [Prior to the draft] I felt they lacked a real threat off the edge that could help drop everyone else down a spot in the rotation and make it look a lot stronger. The draft didn’t do much to change that. The Commanders were linked with a bunch of second round pass rushers but ended up waiting until the seventh round to draft Jean-Baptiste out of Notre Dame, who doesn’t move the needle at this point in time. So with that in mind, I still feel the need is medium as they lack a real rush threat off the edge.

However, they have a bunch of versatile guys that can be solid role players as part of a rotation. Quinn and Whitt are also very committed to moving guys around, finding good matchups and sending extra rushers to help generate pressure and force the ball out of the hands of the quarterback early.

If this was the Rivera era where they essentially lined up with the same front four and trusted them to create pressure, this rotation wouldn’t be good enough, but Quinn and Whitt won’t do that. They will mix and match personnel, move guys around, make use of guys like Frankie Luvu as a roaming rush linebacker or defensive backs like Jeremy Chinn blitzing from the secondary. I’m confident they will still be able to generate pressure as a unit, even if this position group lacks a star talent. It just means that pressure will come from the depth of the interior defensive line and the added rushers from the linebackers and secondary.

Other players in the DE unit:

• KJ Henry
• Andre Jones Jr.
• Javontae Jean-Baptiste
• Jalen Harris

The Commanders front office eschewed signing any free agent to a big-dollar contract this past year; that included its own guys. Probably the biggest surprise move by the team in the past 12 months was trading Montez Sweat to the Bears for the 40th pick in the draft (which was packaged as part of a trade with the Eagles, who used the pick to draft Cooper Dejean).

Contrast that with the approach of the Raiders, who re-worked the contract of Maxx Crosby this week to pay him more money, just because.

It’s hard to argue that the roster that Ron Rivera left behind was anything but…inadequate, which is to say that it had more holes than my grandmother’s colander. Adam Peters faced the short-term challenge of fielding a competitive team in 2024, and the longer-term challenge of putting down the foundation for a future playoff and championship team. Fixing a roster that had been decimated by Rivera’s inept early-round drafting was never going to be quick or easy. Resources had to be deployed strategically, and the roster needed to be customized to the coaching group that was hired to lead the franchise on the field.

Have the Commanders picked the right direction at the defensive end position?