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John Keim, ESPN Staff Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Washington Commanders faced a similar situation a year ago: They were going to start a young quarterback, one who would need help from the rest of the roster. They tried to strengthen the defense; they thought the run game could help.
They were wrong. The defense sunk to the bottom of the league, the run game was never emphasized, and the quarterback, Sam Howell, already has been traded.
So here they are again. This time the Commanders have the second overall pick in the draft and will select a quarterback, and once more they’ve spent an offseason trying to bolster the team.
They know what can happen if they draft the right quarterback.
“We can have a big impact if we make the right selection,” Washington owner Josh Harris said.
But the quarterback can make a bigger impact if their offseason decisions have been the right ones.
Improve the run game
Washington placed its offense on Howell’s shoulders last season. Howell might still develop into a good starting quarterback, but he entered last season with 19 career passes and one start. One member of the organization said they knew the offensive line was not set up to protect a young quarterback who would throw a lot. So, he said, the assumption was Washington would run the ball more.
It did not.
Instead, Howell attempted an NFL-high 612 passes. That didn’t just stem from falling behind in games and needing to rally, either. In the first half of games Howell attempted more passes than any quarterback except for Dak Prescott and Josh Allen.
And the line, indeed, didn’t protect well. Howell was sacked a league-high 65 times, which cost Washington 449 yards in lost yardage — fourth most in the NFL.
The Commanders had only 359 rushing attempts for the season — the fewest in the NFL by 23 carries. Again, it wasn’t just from large deficits as they ranked last in the NFL in first-half carries as well.
Look for that to change quite a bit this season.
Quinn said they want a strong rushing attack, not just because they will have a rookie quarterback.
“That’s really who we want to be all the time,” he said.
Washington still has Brian Robinson Jr. as its main rusher; he ran for 733 yards and averaged 4.1 yards per carry in 2023. His 178 carries ranked 32nd last season.
In free agency Washington signed center Tyler Biadasz and guard Nick Allegretti. Quinn said he likes right guard Sam Cosmi.
“There are some really good d-linemen in this division,” Quinn said. “You’d better be able to block some good tackles; having an inside presence is super important.”
But for a rookie? It reduces their responsibilities.
“You can’t put it all on his plate. When you do that to a rookie? Oh, boy,” said ESPN NFL/college analyst Herm Edwards, who coached Jayden Daniels at Arizona State and spent 27 years in the NFL as a player or coach. “He can’t do it by himself; you’d better give him the pieces.”
However, sometimes a player can handle more. As a rookie in 2020, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow attempted more passes during his 10 starts before a torn ACL ended his season than any other quarterback except for Tom Brady. But Burrow averaged more pass attempts per game (40.4) than Brady.
“What are the key pieces you’ve got that you can lean into to take the pressure off him?” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “Sometimes it’s such a great quarterback you want to put the pressure on them and do that at a young age. There is no right or wrong when a guy is ready for that moment.”
Still, with a defensive-minded head coach it’s hard to imagine Washington asking whomever it drafts to do too much.
“You’re not asking anybody to have to go put the cape on and go win the game on your own,” Quinn said. “What we want to make sure that we … have good balance. You know, where you can have a good run game, the play-passing that comes off of that, the ability to move it down the field, so, that is a big piece of it for me.”
Support system
The Commanders focused on building a coaching staff that, it hopes, will be a strong one for a quarterback. They loaded it with coaches who have worked with quarterbacks in the past: offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury; pass game coordinator Brian Johnson and quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard, as well as former NFL quarterback David Blough, now an assistant quarterbacks coach. Running backs coach and run game coordinator Anthony Lynn won’t work directly with quarterbacks, but he was coaching the Chargers when they drafted Justin Herbert. If nothing else, Lynn understands the value of the run game for the quarterback.
But Kingsbury and Johnson in particular have worked with young quarterbacks in the NFL — Kyler Murray in Arizona and Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, respectively.
“That was intentional the way we did that,” Peters said. “You give yourself the best chance to develop whoever’s in that room as fast as you can.”
As expected, they also signed a veteran quarterback in Marcus Mariota, who has experienced everything from the highs of being a Heisman winner and No. 2 overall pick to the lows of being cut and now being a backup. But perhaps the biggest addition was Biadasz. He can help in multiple ways, but particularly with protection calls to reduce a rookie’s responsibility.
“He’s such a good leader in the inside and having the ability to take a lot off of a player, whether it’s better or not, in directing the traffic, identifying where to go, what’s the protection, that’s part of Tyler’s game,” Quinn said. “And so we’re really pumped that we have somebody with his expertise kind of directing the traffic and leading the way.”
They also added smart veterans in tight end Zach Ertz and running back Austin Ekeler, who will be their third-down back. Both might not be the same players they were a few years ago, but the Commanders hope their wisdom helps and, therefore, provides good underneath targets. They still have veteran receiver Terry McLaurin, coming off his fourth 1,000-yard season.
Rebuilding the defense
The Commanders had the NFL’s worst defense when it came to the two most important categories: points and yards allowed. That was a major drop from the previous year when they ranked third in yards and seventh in points. And that came after drafting corner Emmanuel Forbes in the first round and safety Jartavius Martin in the second. But Forbes struggled and was eventually benched; Martin became a starter late in the season but, by then, the defense was a sinking ship.
At the trade deadline, Washington dealt defensive ends Montez Sweat and Chase Young. One team source said in the offseason that they wanted to invest more up the middle. The Commanders already had the tackles in Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen. During free agency they added linebackers Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu as well as safety Jeremy Chinn. They also added three defensive ends in Dorance Armstrong, Clelin Ferrell and Dante Fowler Jr., and could end up drafting another corner.
Quinn said they want to play an aggressive, blitzing defense that features more man coverage. It is designed to cause chaos and turnovers.
In Quinn’s three years combined as Dallas’ defensive coordinator, the Cowboys forced an NFL-best 93 turnovers. During that same period Washington ranked 29th with 55 takeaways. Helped by all those takeaways, the Cowboys ran more offensive plays in that period than any other team and scored more touchdowns than all but one team (San Francisco).
Washington had no problem running a lot of plays last season; it ran the third most in the NFL. But with an NFL-worst turnover margin of minus-14, the Commanders’ average starting field position ranked 25th (while their opponents’ average starting field position ranked fourth).
“If you can get those takeaways and create a way to generate more possessions, that’s how you know we’ll go win,” he said.
Wagner and Luvu should help.
Of Wagner’s impact, Quinn said “it’s a huge one. There’s a reason he’s had so many high production tackling seasons. I think he’s the very best tackler that I’ve had the chance to coach. He just doesn’t miss a lot. He’s a processor. He sees it and then what I’m looking forward to him is also detailing out to some of his teammates a process that it goes through to get ready to go play.”
Meanwhile, Luvu will be used in a variety of ways that feature his ability to rush the passer. He recorded 12.5 sacks the past two years with Carolina.
“Frankie just jumps off the tape, the way he plays, his play style, his mindset, his mentality. He’s a playmaker,” new general manager Adam Peters said.
Washington does not have a finished roster by any means. The Commanders still need to find a key player by adding a left tackle; the draft is deep at that position. They need to add more talented young players — at most they’ll have eight starters from their last five drafts combined.
But they hope that, this offseason, they’ve provided a stronger base to help a quarterback.
“The hardest thing to do in sports, I think, is evaluate and develop a quarterback,” Peters said. “But what you want to do is make sure you do as much as you can to let them develop.”