Outlining A Plan To Address The Washington Commanders’ Secondary Issues

Things have not gone according to plan for the Washington Commanders and their secondary through the first two weeks of the season. The idea of frequent and disguised pressures shouldering the bulk of the burden for the defensive backs is not sustainable if teams can slow the pressure and exploit coverage lapses, and there have been plenty to exploit. As many fans will tell you, the ship has sailed on any significant personnel additions at this point in the season, but in this article I will outline how defensive coordinator Daronte Jones could try to fix the issues in the secondary with the players he currently has on the roster.

The most difficult part of the plan is it requires the coaching staff to make personnel changes instead of dispensing platitudes and focusing on communication and leveling up. It also needs to happen quickly, before the team is 0-4 to start the season. Listening to Daronte Jones’ last press conference, I don’t know if they feel the same urgency to make the necessary changes.

Still, here is what I think Jones should do if he decides to switch things up, using Hogs Haven writer MattInBrisVegas’s wonderful Stats and Snaps series as our guide.

Bench

Mike Sainristil

After the first two games, Mike Sainristil currently has a 153.7 allowed passer rating, is ranked 94th out of 94 CBs by PFF, and is coming off a atrocious performance last week where Pro Football Reference assigned him 3.07 Y/Cov Snp.

Hogs Haven’s Mark Tyler has some interesting ideas on what to do with Mikey, but with the goal of improving the secondary immediately, I am going with the bench option. It might be wise for Jones to assign Sainristil nothing but slot reps in practice and see if he can work his way back into the lineup, but for now he needs to sit.

Out

Nick Cross

Initially, I had a different version of this plan put together, one that included Cross as a key piece of the puzzle, but with the news he was hospitalized after the Cowboys game and ruled out completely on Wednesday, I think Commanders fans should not plan on him being part of the solution for a couple of weeks.

So what’s the plan?

If we look at Matt’s tables from this week’s article, we can identify what positions Jones will need to fill this week versus Seattle after removing two starters.

Mike Sainristil played the majority of his snaps at LCB, but there are also some slot and box snaps that need to be accounted for as well. Nick Cross moved around the secondary but was the team’s primary slot defender. So we need to look at three different roles: LCB, Slot/Box, and FS.

LCB

Jones has already been trending towards the first move by giving Rasul Douglas more snaps last week. The veteran cornerback hasn’t been perfect, but PFR has him with a more palatable 97.4 allowed passer rating. Matt’s data from the Cowboys game tells us that Douglas had a bad day in coverage, allowing 5 targets and 4 receptions for 52 yds in 18 coverage snaps (2.89 Y/Cov Snp), but I would think a good chunk of the allowed yards came from this play where he read the route wrong.

While this certainly is not what you want to see, the remainder of his reps were better and Douglas would be a step up for what we have seen from Sainristil on the boundary. The thought would be to have Rasul work almost completely on the outside, as he has done for most of his career and find another option at the slot position.

Slot/Box

Last season, when corner Jeff Odukah went out with a concussion, the Vikings elevated Fabian Moreau from the practice squad to the active roster. The 32-year-old veteran did surprisingly well playing limited snaps there, posting very respectable containment numbers (0.51 Y/Cov Snap) and a 54.6 allowed passer rating on 152 coverage snaps.

Moreau was brought in as a break glass in case of emergency option as the veteran who knows Jones’ system after two seasons with the Vikings. Unfortunately, I think we have reached that point. Limiting Fabian’s snaps would be important, but the 6’0”, 204-pound Moreau could provide some solid ones as a big nickel.

Jeremy Reaves was initially one of my players to bench, as his 158.7 allowed pass rating is one of the worst in the league, but with Nick Cross sidelined, there is a void in the total snap count for the secondary. The fix is to play Reaves in the box with little to no snaps at the free safety position. Jeremy is still a very physical player and can trigger downhill in run support and the short-to-intermediate parts of the field.

I don’t love this solution, but it could work until Cross returns from injury.

Free Safety

Here is where the plan gets a little thin. The team never accounted for the free safety role in their roster planning during the offseason with Martin or Harris potentially filling the role but ultimately ended up demoting Martin, releasing Harris, and going with Jeremy Reaves in their place. With Reaves relegated to the box, the team needs to find another player at free safety.

Tyler Owens has been a career special teamer so far, but still might be the best option to replace Reaves and Cross in the deep part of the field. He has the size, speed, and athleticism, but in his one chance last season he looked lost in his assignments.

The thing to note here is that Owens played heavily up by the line of scrimmage and in the slot, instead of in a free safety role. In fact, according to Matt’s write-up for last season’s matchup versus the Chiefs he played none at the position.

In a role that keeps the play in front of him, limits his reads, and allows him to utilize his range, Owens could potentially perform significantly better.

Quan Martin hasn’t been quite as bad as Sainristil through two games, with a 118.7 allowed passer rating per Pro Football Reference. The catch is he has played about half the total number of snaps as Mikey. PFF has him ranked 83rd out of 84 safeties. He was also initially on my bench list as well but also gets a pass with Cross out as the team will likely need him here for two high safety looks, if they decide not to play Reaves there.

Coaching & Communication

The Washington Commanders decided to retain defensive backs/safeties coach Tom Donatell during the offseason while promoting William Gay from assistant coach to defensive backs/cornerbacks coach. The two decisions were surprising given the secondary’s performance last year and Donatell’s previous track record with the San Diego Chargers. Daronte Jones’ previous ties to defensive coordinator Ed Donatell may have added a layer of familiarity after LSU safeties coach Jake Olsen changed his mind about accepting an offer to join Washington’s coaching staff. Whatever the reason, the two coaches do not seem to be successful installing coverage and communication techniques and Jones will have to take valuable time away from developing his defensive game plan to correct it.

Communication issues have been a persistent problem for Washington’s secondary, especially the last few under Dan Quinn’s direction. A good portion of the Commanders’ secondary has been here for that same length of time or longer, and the idea that issues that still exist over a full slate of offseason activities, training camp, and preseason can be corrected quickly is hard to swallow. Simplifying the defense should help, but sometimes if two people can’t communicate, they need to talk to someone else. Personnel changes could also help solve some of the issues, especially if some of the secondary can’t trust one another and Cross’s injury could give them the opportunity to shake up the group.

Dan Quinn mentioned Quan Martin and Percy Butler in his Friday presser, so their plan may rely on rolling out the same old options. We will find out Sunday, but if Daronte Jones is able to get his unit to perform, things should only get better as Cross and Amos will add more talent to the group if and when they return.

A big thank you to MattInBrisVegas for agreeing to let me piggyback off his hard work. Be sure to check in with Stats and Snaps next week to see if things went according to plan.