Position Group Breakdown: Cornerbacks

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June 29, 2023

By Noonefromtampa

This roster preview will cover the cornerback position. The Commanders spent a lot of draft capital addressing this position using both the first round and second round picks. One of the reasons for that was the disastrous free agent signing of William Jackson III who was traded midseason. He was not a scheme fit and the secondary played much better once he was gone. Let’s look at last year’s roster.

2022 Defensive Snaps & Stats

Player Snap Count Snap Pct
Kendall Fuller 1031 98.75%
Benjamin St-Juste 655 62.74%
Danny Johnson 293 28.07%
William Jackson III 204 19.54%
Rachad Wildgoose 195 18.68%
Christian Holmes 103 9.87%
Tariq Castro-Fields 6 0.57%

 

Player INT PD FF FR Comb Solo Asst
Kendall Fuller 3 13 0 0 52 36 16
Benjamin St-Juste 0 7 1 0 42 34 8
Danny Johnson 1 9 0 0 29 20 9
William Jackson III 0 2 0 0 16 15 1
Rachad Wildgoose 0 3 0 0 16 12 4
Christian Holmes 0 0 0 2 12 8 4
Tariq Castro-Fields 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Roster Changes

Key Loss – None

Key Additions – Emmanuel Forbes (Draft Round 1), Jartavius Martin (Draft Round 2), Cameron Dantzler Sr. (Waiver pickup), DJ Stirgus (UDFA – Missouri Western State), Nick Whiteside (UDFA – Saginaw Valley State)

Re-signed – Danny Johnson (two years – $5 million), Rachad Wildgoose (one year – $940K), Troy Apke (reserve/future contract), DeMarcus Fields (reserve/future contract)

2023 Projections

Fuller led the cornerback group with three interceptions with two being returned for touchdowns. He also led the team in passes defended with 13. While he’s played well, St-Juste has had troubles with staying on the field due to injuries, missing 13 games in two years. With Chase Roullier being released with a June 1 designation that means it is likely that Fuller will remain with the team.

Forbes, while being a slightly framed person, was a turnover machine in college, with 14 interceptions and 6 returned for touchdowns in 35 games over three years. That is the big reason why he was drafted. Last year the Commanders only had 9 interceptions with only four teams having fewer interceptions. This one area the coaching staff identified for improvement.

Martin was drafted to replace Bobby McCain, who was the slot corner but was released. He also played safety at Illinois so I would expected to see him fill that roles in some sub-packages. Martin is also one of those players who seems to be around the ball forcing fumbles, recovering fumbles, or catching tipped balls for interceptions. That also figured in the team’s decision to select him in the draft.

Johnson played well in replacing St-Juste later in the season. He was re-signed to a two year deal, so he figures to be a backup this coming season. Wildgoose was signed to a one year deal, but he led the team in penalties last year, including three defensive pass interference calls for 79 yards. Apke is the one person none of the fans think should be returning to the team. At some point you just have to move on from draft picks who did not work out. Fields was a practice squad player who was brought back on a futures contract.

Castro-Fields and Holmes were both rookies last year. Holmes was drafted by the Commanders in the 7th round while Castro-Fields was drafted by the 49ers in the 6th round and picked up on waivers by Washington during the last roster cuts before the season. Holmes played mostly on special teams and Castro-Fields was mainly inactive before being placed on injured reserve in October.

In an interesting move this offseason, the Commanders claimed Dantzler from the Vikings at he was waived. Dantzler was a third round pick in the 2020 draft. In his career, he had 149 tackles, 3 interceptions, 17 passes defensed, and 3 fumble recoveries.

DJ Stirgus (6’1”, 204 lbs) from Missouri Western State and Nick Whiteside (6’1”, 200 lbs) from Saginaw Valley State are two undrafted free agents from Division II schools that have reportedly signed with the Commanders. Whiteside had four interceptions in one game in 2021.

The final roster will probably have 10 defensive backs, of which six will be cornerbacks.

Roster predictions for the cornerback group are Fuller, Forbes, St-Juste, Martin, Johnson, and one more who is to be determined.

The rest of the players in the group are likely competing for the one remaining roster spot and two practice squad spots. With another year in the system, it figures that Holmes and Castro-Fields have the edge on making the roster in some form out of the seven remaining players at this position. The wildcard is if Dantzler can return to his earlier form of his rookie season.

Note: Since this was written several roster changes have occurred most notably Dantzler was waived on May 30 and cleared waivers. He was signed by Buffalo on June 7th.