When you think about the NFL world at large this season, there are very few reasons for the average fan to bring up the Washington Football Team, other than to remark about the weakness of the NFC East division and scoff at the fact that a 2-5 team has a solid shot of making the playoffs.
However, the defense in Washington is something to be proud of, as they stand near the top of the league in many metrics, and continue to get better week by week. One of the main reasons for that is a strengthened secondary, which has been buoyed by free agent Kendall Fuller, who was signed this past offseason.
Recently, our friends at Touchdown Wire broke down the most underrated defensive players in the NFL, and Fuller was given his due.
We don’t talk much about Washington’s defense because they’re 2-5, but one of the stars of any secondary this season has been Fuller, the former slot defender for Washington and the Chiefs who has become a very credible outside cornerback. Not only has he been lights-out as a pass defender, allowing just six catches on 17 targets for 71 yards, 15 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, four interceptions, and a league-best opponent passer rating of 9.3, but his field intelligence allows defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio to throw coverage switches at enemy quarterbacks. A perfect example of this came in Week 5, when Fuller got one of his picks against Jared Goff. Washington showed man coverage before the snap, and then worked to Cover-2 after. Fuller played it perfectly, and Goff had no idea what was happening.
A lot of Washington fans might have been a bit uneasy when Fuller was given a $40 million contract over four seasons, but after the start that he’s had now that he’s back with the team that drafted him, that is looking like one of the better things that Washington did this offseason.
