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The Commanders signed some big free agents to help an underwhelming defensive line. Will the unit be better in 2026?
Transcript
00:00now b we've been doing our training camp breakdowns training camp not far away now
00:05and it's time to do the defensive line okay they invested a lot of money on the defensive line
00:11and some of how they're listed guys is a little bit interesting between dns and linebackers and
00:16all that but i wouldn't get too caught up in it nope um i think you know the difference between
00:20the guys that are going to be linebackers for this roster and pass rushers for this roster
00:24let's start on the interior though they add tim settle um tim has really matured into a valuable
00:32defensive piece around the nfl was was really good in buffalo um i'm glad tim's back he is
00:39just a really positive funny person i think his energy will be great i like having settled back
00:46here me too um deron pain in a contract here we saw last time deron pain was in a contract
00:52i don't know
00:53that you'll see that jump in specific sack production but i like having pain in a contract
00:59here deron's a good player has been for a long time kinlaw last year you did not see
01:06the numerical production you want and frankly it's hard to hard to sing too many praises from
01:12the d-line last year because they were awful against the run and the whole defense was bad
01:16but i think year two kinlaw different system excited slash curious to see how it goes yeah
01:24yeah i'm looking like i just think that's your kind of primary interior guy he showed me
01:30some spurts of what he what he could be i need to see that more and instead of just like
01:36a few
01:36plays here and there they need to be consecutive do you remember how dominant kinlaw and pain were
01:42in the opener against the giants yeah like yeah where was that all here yeah we don't want peaks
01:49and valleys yeah i want steady i want plateaus totally so elsewhere on the interior you've also got
01:55johnny newton um i know he had the three sack game was that christmas day and there was a ton
01:59of
02:00excitement there johnny newton perhaps in a more aggressive scheme interesting we'll see that's
02:07another dude that's a high adam will they like i think johnny newton was 34th overall pick yeah one
02:12thing i noticed about johnny will will he be like i know inside we saw he was like kind of
02:17undersized
02:18would he be put on the edge sometimes a rush yeah and if it's a three four and he's a
02:24d end like what
02:26gap are you in there is that a little more of an opportunity than maybe heads up on a guard
02:30or
02:30something it'll be interesting the the big piece the big addition i would say to this d line is odafa
02:38away and always explosive he is a killer athlete in his i believe five years in the nfl there has
02:49been
02:49some real production there have been some years without much production um his first three seasons
02:57in baltimore he had five sacks three sacks five sacks largely healthy but not a ton of production
03:04now if you look at the analytics you look at the more advanced stuff they'll tell you his pass rush
03:08win rate was pretty strong that he that he's applying pressures right in year four in baltimore
03:17it popped a little 10 sacks they picked up his rookie option he was a first rounder 31st pick
03:22overall out of penn state jersey native maybe being back on the east coast i don't know
03:26um john harbaugh last year trades him to jim harbaugh through five games in baltimore
03:33he had zero sacks in the final 12 games with the chargers seven and a half sacks
03:40i am smart enough brian to know that
03:45defensive line play is not only measured by sacks yeah there's a lot more to it
03:52but oh way for the money now committed to this young man the actual you got to get home the
03:57actual
03:58sack production has to be there you gotta get home they gotta be disrupted but i ask this question you
04:02think john harbaugh would trade a guy who they can't play to jim harbaugh no i think baltimore season was
04:08kind of yeah yeah i i every time i'm asking a question about anything on this team i point to
04:16this crew right here the defensive line i feel they're going to be better which in turn makes
04:22the defense better which in turn makes the offense be able to play without having to just pump the
04:27brake i mean pump push the uh accelerate all the time because when they get into that have to just
04:33score score score that's when they get in trouble always obviously got to be a huge piece for them
04:40you wonder what having chanel and styles their athleticism their blitzing ability still have
04:44frankie louvu his ability to get to the quarterback you wonder what that second level does to help the
04:49first level you also add caleb on chase on from new england you add charles and mena who you should
04:55be getting dorance armstrong back healthy you should be getting dietrich wise back healthy all of a sudden
05:01you have some depth yeah now that requires these guys to stay healthy or other guys not to get
05:06injured drake jackson was a guy they were excited about was a former first rounder they were able to
05:10get off waivers javante gene baptiste was a guy they drafted two years ago that dealt with a bad injury
05:16so
05:18i like the depth a lot more i think you need a way to get home and i'm not going
05:26to assign a total to
05:28it i'm not going to say 11 and a half but like dorance armstrong was one of these guys that
05:34the
05:34analytics supported but the production didn't mirror and then last year prior to the injury
05:41dorance all of a sudden was getting home yeah if you could have that type of pressure off the edges
05:48with dorance and away and then you're able to supplement that with louvu's pass rushing ability
05:53and maybe you get interior pressure like it's going to be a different scheme with guys coming
05:59from lots of different places i think you could be excited by these pieces i'm i am excited but
06:05the thing i i look at the sack total i don't necessarily if i when you watch the game
06:11if old way and dorance is coming off the edges and pushing that guy to somebody else they end up
06:17getting the sack sure that to me is showing that you are you can disrupt the game without being a
06:23one making the sacks all the time and if he can be causing that problem moving the quarterback off
06:29his uh his spot i get excited about those type of things you know i don't look at the fact
06:36i'm not
06:36thinking he got to have 15 sacks what if he have 9 10 and uh the sack total goes up
06:43because of his
06:44his pass rush his production i'll see that as a damn as a positive commanders as a team had 42
06:51sacks
06:51last year um the niners ironically were dead last in sacks with 20 the leaders were the broncos with
07:0068 but tonio i mean that that's a tough unit out there uh the falcons with those two young studs
07:05they drafted got a lot of sacks the browns were third miles garrett miles garrett had what 22
07:10they had 53 as a team lions vikings the vikings are an interesting one because there's not
07:18one dominant player there they let denil hunter go to the texans then they had granard who had an
07:24off year last year van ginkle gets to the quarterback but that's a team sack total i would say
07:29if you can get from 42 up closer to 50
07:36and you don't want to make it about any one specific player like we talk about you got to
07:42think about the tight ends and the running backs like it's about positional productivity and if
07:47that sack total jumps if i'm trying to get from 42 to 50 that is 20 right if you can
07:53have your sack
07:54total jump 15 20 regardless of who's getting the actual numbers i think that would be looked at as a
08:01win yeah
08:02you
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