The Commanders’ defense gets a much-needed break with help on the way, and it impacts the offseason as well
The Commanders finally get a win on defense with a returning key player.
The Washington Commanders are in Madrid, Spain, preparing for an early Sunday morning matchup against the Miami Dolphins, which will have major offseason implications around the NFL draft.
Both teams are well out of any hopes for the playoffs, and at this point, the Commanders are just looking for any kind of bright spot. The defense has been at an all-time low after four straight blowout losses, and changes finally happened with head coach Dan Quinn taking over as defensive coordinator.
The defense won’t improve with Quinn taking over, but it’s getting a vital player back from injury that will help the rest of the season, and even after that as well.
Safety Will Harris is back at practice
Injuries have been a big storyline for the Commanders’ nightmare season, but they haven’t been a real excuse for why the defense has struggled. The Commanders have only been without Deatrich Wise and Will Harris since Dorance Armstrong went down in Week 7, but Harris was a big loss for the secondary.
Harris has been back around the team for a few weeks now, but the Commanders officially opened his 21-day window Wednesday, meaning his return from his broken fibula is close.
Joe Whitt Jr. talked about the defensive struggles and lack of communication weeks ago and really focused on how much of a loss Harris has been to that unit.
“You know, nobody really talks about the loss of Will Harris,” Whitt Jr said. “He was a really good communicator, but that’s one reason that we will, you know, pare some things back to eliminate some communications that we might have in reduction play. So, it’s been like we played. It’s not been good enough, and how we’ve played hasn’t been good enough. So, we’ve been really diligent in looking at every aspect of it, and we have to get it turned.”
Harris is back on the practice field in Madrid, Spain, with the rest of the team and should be back for the last few weeks of the season. He’s needed in more ways than one.
Will Harris needs to show more before the season ends
Harris was off to a hot start, but we only got to see two full games of him on the defense to really know what to expect moving forward. The defense should be gutted this offseason after the Commanders find a new defensive coordinator, and the more film the better for whoever takes over.
Harris signed a two-year contract with the Commanders last offseason, so he’s not a free agent again, but the new defensive coordinator needs to see what Harris could bring to the new scheme. He has position flexibility in the secondary at safety and corner, so he could be a key piece next season with so many roster holes needing to be repaired.
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