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The NFC East is always one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL. The Junkies continue their NFC East position power ranking and today they break down Washington’s secondary.
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00:00Last week, we started going through some of the positions for the Washington Commanders
00:05and where they stack in the division.
00:09Yep.
00:10Today, we're going to tackle the secondary, where they did make a bunch of moves this
00:16offseason.
00:17Yeah, let's look back at the 2025 final season rankings before we preview 2026.
00:23Is this defensive rankings?
00:24Or secondary rankings?
00:26Defense against the pass last year.
00:28So Dallas was dead last in the league, 32nd in the NFL.
00:34They allowed 251 passing yards per game.
00:37Washington was not much better.
00:39They were 28th, allowing 242 passing yards per game.
00:43Giants right in the middle at 16, 214 passing yards per game allowed.
00:47And Philly was the class of the division.
00:50They were top 10.
00:52They ranked 8th with 189 passing yards per game.
00:56Allowed the only top 10 unit from the NFC East defending the pass in 2025.
01:01All right.
01:02So let's look forward to 2026.
01:04Commanders fans are not going to be happy with this ranking.
01:07I have the comms coming in at fourth out of four teams.
01:11The Marshawn Lattimore trade was a disaster, damaging the depth of this unit.
01:16Adam Peters tried to bolster this unit by drafting Trey Amos in the second round in 2025, but his season
01:22was cut short due to injury appearing in just 10 games as a rookie.
01:26So hopefully he's healthy for camp in, what, less than a week at this point.
01:31Rookies report on the 24th.
01:34I believe Friday or Saturday, yeah.
01:36Mikey Sanders still ranked 96th among 114 qualified corners in PFF grade in 2025.
01:44So Durante Jones and Dan Quinn are hoping for a bounce back from him to upgrade the secondary.
01:51Now, the addition of Nick Cross to the safety room should be an upgrade as he comes to D.C.
01:56on a two-year deal worth up to $14 million.
01:59He's very good against the runs.
02:01He's a well-rounded safety.
02:03Corner depth was addressed with the signings of Akello Witherspoon and Rasul Douglas.
02:07He was signed late.
02:08But I still have the comms heading into the season as the fourth out of four secondary in the division.
02:15For me, like you mentioned all the basics, Trey Amos, I think, also didn't really statistically measure up that great.
02:23But the eye test, he kind of passed the eye test for me.
02:27I thought he was decent.
02:28I think there's potential there.
02:29So I think Amos, I'm okay with Amos.
02:33Sanistro obviously had a down year.
02:35The coaches seem to be high on him.
02:36We'll see.
02:39Robertson, who knows?
02:40I have no idea what they got in him.
02:42People seem to praise his leadership.
02:43But his rankings weren't great by PFF, right?
02:46His rankings were terrible, too.
02:48But they say he was just asked to do too much.
02:49He was asked to cover a lot of number ones.
02:51He was asked to cover ones.
02:53He's just not up to it.
02:54And he's going to play the slot corner.
02:56So he won't be on ones against.
02:57He might be okay.
02:58Who knows?
02:59I think Cross, by most accounts, they've been really pleased with Cross so far.
03:03So that might be a good pickup.
03:05Juan Martin is eh for me.
03:07I thought Jeremy Reeves at times has made some plays at safety.
03:10The one thing they've got to be better at is tackling.
03:12Because they were so bad tackling in the open field.
03:16That needs to be a focus.
03:16I mean, guys were just catch balls and they'd run for 25, 30 yards.
03:21No one could tackle.
03:22I think also they're going to be better, though, because the pass rush is going to be better this year.
03:26Right.
03:27I don't know how good it's going to be, but it's going to be better.
03:29Yeah, I mean, the strength of the team is definitely not the secondary.
03:31That, by default, will make your secondary a little bit better, you'd think.
03:35But, yeah, I would say of all of the rooms, the secondary room would be the one you'd be the
03:41most concerned about.
03:42Maybe Mikey's head has been cleared by the fact that he and his wife just bought a farm.
03:47I think it's in Florida.
03:48I'm not 100% sure.
03:50Mikey's who?
03:51Mikey Sanderson?
03:52Yeah, he's like out tending to the animals.
03:55Yeah, I've seen the videos.
03:56Like building fences on his big-ass new farm.
03:59Yeah, he's into it.
04:00That's kind of his thing.
04:02All right, so I have the Commanders at fourth out of four teams.
04:05I was kind of surprised they didn't draft a defensive back kind of high.
04:09Yeah.
04:09I was kind of surprised by that.
04:10Well, I think they had their eye on the Virginia Tech kid.
04:12I know, but I know they drafted Amos two years ago, but I was surprised that they didn't.
04:17I have the Giants at third.
04:19Four starters returned from a unit that allowed 214 passing yards per game last season.
04:25Heading into 2026, the Giants' secondary is the lowest-ranked unit on the Giants' roster, according to PFF.
04:33Now, a lot of people think that they can cover up a poor secondary with all of the elite pass
04:39rushers that they're accumulating in New York.
04:42So that'll be tested this upcoming season.
04:45Greg Newsom was an ad in free agency.
04:48He signed a one-year, $8 million deal.
04:50He's expected to start at one corner spot for the Giants.
04:54He comes over from Jacksonville.
04:56Yeah, they've got Paulson out of boat on another corner.
04:58They've got Drew Phillips as a nickel.
05:01Javon Holland and Tyler Newbin are their safeties.
05:03Yeah.
05:04But they did add a bunch of guys in free agency.
05:06Yeah.
05:07I have the Giants at number three.
05:08I have Dallas making a jump up to number two in the NFC East.
05:13It was the worst unit in the league last year, but the Cowboys did address this major weakness heading into
05:182026.
05:19They drafted Caleb Downs at safety to be the new leader of their defensive backfield.
05:24In free agency, they spent big on safety Jalen Thompson.
05:27He signed a three-year deal that could be worth up to $33 million.
05:31He fills a major need in that secondary.
05:34He's been a full-time starter the last five years with Arizona.
05:37He's got nine career interceptions.
05:39So they've poured a lot of draft capital and free agency into upgrading that defensive backfield in Dallas.
05:47They drafted Downs in the first round, and they signed five free agents in the secondary.
05:51Kobe Durant, corner, joins the Cowboys on a one-year deal worth up to $5.5 million.
05:56He's got seven picks in his four years with the Rams, including two return for touchdowns during that span.
06:04So where do you have them?
06:06I have Dallas at number two in the division.
06:08And then you have the Eagles.
06:08So no big surprise, Philly, the NFC East top unit last year, heads into 2026.
06:13Atop the preview rankings, Rick Wollin signs as a free agent.
06:17He'll pair with Quinjon Mitchell at corner.
06:19Wollin comes over from Seattle on a free agent deal.
06:23Drab knows all about the Wollin rollercoaster from his days as a Seahawk.
06:28He's trying to resurrect things in Philly.
06:30What's Wollin all about?
06:32Very talented, very fast, very tall.
06:35Has trouble tackling at times.
06:37His stopping the run has been a question mark in the past.
06:41And he got a big penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in the playoffs.
06:46So sometimes he loses his cool.
06:48But you're always tantalized by the athleticism.
06:50Probably one of the most athletic guys in the NFL.
06:52I think he ran a 4-3 or 4-2 something combine or 4-3.
06:56He's very tall.
06:58And Cooper Dejean handles the nickel duties in Philly.
07:01He was ranked among the top seven overall corners in 2025 by PFF.
07:07So my rankings are Commanders at 4, Giants at 3, Dallas coming in at 2, and I still have Philadelphia
07:14with the top secondary room in the NFC East.
07:16Philadelphia also signed Jonathan Jones, who of course was here.
07:19I think the question that we should throw out to Commanders fans is, did they do enough in the offseason
07:25to improve the secondary?
07:27You brought up some of the guys they brought in via free agency.
07:31I think the biggest one, splash-wise, is Cross.
07:35So if you want to tackle better, hopefully Cross can do that.
07:40He can tackle.
07:40And I think a lot of the success is going to be whether they can stay healthy.
07:46But did they do enough?
07:471-800-636-1067.
07:50Some people would have liked them to have drafted somebody in the secondary versus Sonny Stiles drafting a linebacker.
07:581-800-636-1067.
08:00I mean, there was talk of drafting the corner from Virginia Tech, right?
08:05The former Virginia Tech Hokie.
08:06They didn't go that route.
08:10And then there was talk of drafting Caleb Downs.
08:12They didn't go that route.
08:13I think Adam Peters feels like the signings of Witherspoon and Douglas, who was signed last week,
08:19that they're going to be guys that in case Amos isn't all the way back.
08:23Or if Mikey continues to struggle, that he can plug those guys in.
08:26Like, those guys are, you know, they're not superstars, but they've been in the league for a long time.
08:31Well, remember, Mansoor was drafted just ahead of Sonny Stiles.
08:34So he didn't have the opportunity.
08:35Do you think they did enough, though?
08:38I mean, I have my fourth, but probably not enough.
08:41Eric brings up a good point because the pass rush will be better.
08:45They're younger.
08:45They're faster, especially in linebacker.
08:47So that takes a little bit of pressure off of him.
08:50If they can't rush the passer, they're going to have issues.
08:54That's just the way I feel.
08:55The thing of these position-by-position breakdowns is that they're kind of trailing everybody else in the division.
09:01I think we've done three of them so far, and they've been 4-4 and 3rd in, I think, defensive
09:07line.
09:07They're going to be 4-4 or 3 if you compare them to other teams in the division in pretty
09:13much every position group.
09:15So then personnel-wise, they really didn't do enough.
09:17I can understand why Peters did some of these things.
09:20Still might be somewhat better.
09:21And he didn't have five first-round picks.
09:23You can only pick one guy, right?
09:25You can only improve so much.
09:26I mean, I think most of the groups did improve, but relative to the division, they might still be behind.
09:33Yeah, I think it's just really up to Amos and Sanristill to really step up.
09:39These are high draft picks.
09:41Yeah.
09:41So if they can play to their potential, then all of a sudden you have a pretty good secondary.
09:46But if they don't play to their potential, then you're going to have problems.
09:491-800-636-1067.
09:51Do you think the commanders are okay in the secondary?
09:53Did they do enough in the offseason?
09:55Or are you worried that they finished, what, 28th last season, Cakes?
10:00Yes, that's correct.
10:00That they're going to be in a similar situation where receivers are beating them regularly?
10:06I think because of the improved pass rush, the secondary's play will improve.
10:11Well, we're hoping there's an improved pass rush.
10:14Well, I think it'd be impossible to not.
10:16They were so bad last year.
10:17They were so bad.
10:18So it doesn't mean they're going to be great, but they'll just be better.
10:20So I think the secondary will play better.
10:23But, you know, I don't know.
10:26But, JP, you might be right.
10:27They could still be ranked pretty low, depending on what happens up front.
10:32I mean, if they're allowing 240 passing yards per game, on average, they're going to win
10:37five or six games.
10:39Like that, you can't allow that number of passing yards and expect to win games.
10:44Unless you're scoring 35 points a week.
10:46I would love to see what their yards after catch per game was allowed.
10:50Because, man, they just missed so many tackles.
10:54They were sloppy.
10:55They're going to get better that way, I think, just based on what they added.
10:57But they've got to rely on a good pass rush, 100%.
11:01If they bust on Amos.
11:02They don't have the names.
11:03If Amos, like, kind of bombs, it's going to be a real black eye for Peters and his staff.
11:09He needs to hit.
11:12You know, you talk about Sennett.
11:14So does Elway.
11:15Oh, yeah.
11:16Well, that's kind of a given.
11:17Which is in terms of the draft.
11:18That's kind of a given.
11:19Right?
11:19I mean, that's obvious.
11:21But Amos is a second-round pick.
11:22He needs to hit.
11:23If Amos, they're back-to-back second-rounders.
11:25Both are flops.
11:26That's bad.
11:28Yeah.
11:28That's bad.
11:30But I don't know.
11:31But I like it.
11:32I actually like Amos.
11:33I think I like him more than I like Sanistro at this point.
11:36Just based on what we saw last.
11:38I don't know.
11:39Mikey's so up and down.
11:40He had such a great rookie season.
11:42Such a great rookie season.
11:43So you hope.
11:44But then you wonder, why did the play drop off so much?
11:47But their defensive coordinator was a secondary guy.
11:49So hopefully that just naturally gets them to be a better unit.
11:53They need more picks, too.
11:54I mean, they had eight last year.
11:56They were tied with the Vikings.
11:57The teams below them were the Packers, Cowboys, Niners, Titans.
12:01The Jets had zero.
12:03That's still shocking.
12:05I mean, the Titans were awful.
12:07They had six.
12:07And then it goes from six to zero.
12:09With the defensive back as their head coach.
12:11Well, Aaron Glenn.
12:12He's going to be lucky for him to survive through week 10 or 11.
12:18I told you he was a clown.
12:20He's proving not to be a very fruitful piece falling off the Dan Campbell coaching tree.
12:25Hasn't been great.
12:26We're getting ramped up for Commander's training camp that is starting here in the coming days.
12:32We'll continue to go through positions each day on the Junkies.
12:361-800-636-1067.
12:39Don't go anywhere.
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