2023 Roster Preview – Defensive End Position

Posted on by

June 2, 2023

By Noonefromtampa

This roster preview will cover the defensive end position. The Commanders declined the 5th year option on Chase Young so both Young and Montez Sweat will become free agents after this season if they do not sign a new contract before the start of free agency next year. This will be one of the bigger player-related offseason stories in 2024. Realistically, the team may only be able to afford to keep one of them, given the money the team invested in Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. People have also speculated that one of them could even get traded during training camp if another team loses a key player at the edge position. The worst-case scenario would be to lose both and receive a pair of third round picks in a future draft.

2022 Defensive Snaps & Stats

Player Snap Count Snap Pct
Montez Sweat 731 70.02%
James Smith-Williams 506 48.47%
Efe Obada 390 37.36%
Casey Toohill 348 33.33%
Chase Young 115 11.02%
Daniel Wise 101 9.67%
Shaka Toney 51 4.89%
William Bradley-King 24 2.30%

 

Player Sack QB Hits PD FF FR Comb Solo Asst
Montez Sweat 8.0 28 2 0 0 46 27 19
James Smith-Williams 3.0 16 1 0 0 23 12 11
Efe Obada 4.0 8 2 0 0 24 14 10
Casey Toohill 1.0 6 0 0 2 25 13 12
Chase Young 0.0 1 0 0 0 5 3 2
Daniel Wise 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Shaka Toney 0.0 0 0 0 0 8 4 4
William Bradley-King 0.0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1

Roster Changes

Key Loss – Shaka Toney (one year gambling suspension)

Key Additions – KJ Henry (Draft – 5th Round), Andre Jones Jr. (Draft – 7th Round), Joshua Pryor (UDFA – Bowie State)

Re-signed – Efe Obada (one-year – $2 million)

2023 Projections

Young started to show flashes of his pre-injury form last in the season. He will have to show he has fully recovered and can be a game-changing force to earn a new contract with the team. Sweat has been a more consistent force. His 28 quarterback hits tied him for 4th place in 2022. Smith-Williams and Obada combined to make a decent set of stats. They essentially replaced the production that was expected from Young.  Toohill also figured into that rotation.

The loss of Toney mainly impacts special teams where he played nearly 70% of all snaps. Wise and Bradley-King provided minimal contributions.

Henry had a decent career at Clemson, including 13 sacks, 28 tackles for loss, 11 passes defensed and 3 fumble recoveries in 48 games. This year if he makes the roster, he will be used as a situational pass rusher. The team is probably hoping he develops into a consistent rotational player who can bookend Young or Sweat. If Henry can fill the special teams role that Toney held, it would go a long way to helping him make the roster.

Jones played in an incredible 58 games in college over 6 years. He played two extra years due to a redshirt year and a COVID year (2020). In the Sun Belt conference, Jones racked up 15.5 sacks, 30 tackles for a loss, 9 passes defensed and 4 fumble recoveries.

Pryor was Bowie State’s all-time leader in tackles for loss with 77. During the 2023 HBCU Legacy Bowl Pryor finished with seven total tackles, including three tackles for loss and a pair of sacks.

The final roster will probably have eight to nine defensive linemen of which four or five will be defensive ends.

Roster predictions for this group are Sweat, Young, Smith-Williams, Obada and Henry.

Position flexibility will come into play is making the final roster decision. Players who can play both inside and outside will be given preference in those decisions. Expect one or two players who can play multiple spots on the defensive line to be included on the final roster. The practice squad will probably include two defensive linemen from the other five remaining players.