On Friday, the Washington Commanders introduced that they’d be releasing veteran defensive lineman Jonathan Allen after eight seasons. The workforce will save $16.3 million in wage cap house with the discharge. Allen had requested permission to hunt a commerce this offseason, however with no suitors for the $15.5 million in base wage remaining on the four-year, $72 million contract extension he signed in 2021, Allen is now a free agent.
Chosen with the seventeenth general decide within the first spherical of the 2017 draft out of Alabama, Allen made the Professional Bowl in 2021 and 2022, which was particularly fascinating as Jack Del Rio was his… um… “defensive coordinator.” Ha!
Regardless of that clear handicap, Allen totaled 18 sacks and 114 whole pressures, with 77 solo tackles and 75 stops in these two seasons alone. 2023 was equally disruptive, as Allen had six sacks, 49 whole pressures, 39 solo tackles, and 37 stops.
Sadly, when Dan Quinn grew to become the Commanders’ head coach earlier than the 2024 season, Allen was comparatively unable to learn from Quinn’s defensive creativity, particularly alongside the fronts. Allen was restricted to 440 snaps in 2024 as a result of he was coping with a torn left pectoral muscle he suffered in Week 6 in opposition to the Baltimore Ravens. Initially, the damage was regarded as season-ending, however Allen returned for the sphere in Week 17 in opposition to the Atlanta Falcons, and he was in a position to play by way of the Commanders’ NFC Championship Sport loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Seeing the surgeon, seeing that course of go… he regarded not like an individual that had this surgical procedure,” Quinn mentioned in mid-December. “Often, you see rather a lot much less on one aspect. He’s constructed completely different for certain.”
Total in 2024, Allen totaled three sacks, 26 whole pressures, 21 solo tackles, and 18 stops. In case you extrapolate that over a full season, Allen might be seen to play at his former heights, and in a number of gaps. Final season, per Professional Soccer Focus, Allen lined up as a nostril deal with on 6% of his snaps, as a defensive deal with on 79% of his snaps, and on the sting 14% of the time.
However relating to Allen’s worth to his subsequent NFL workforce, there’s one metric we hardly ever discuss. What number of instances is a defensive lineman double-teamed in a season? If mentioned lineman is the first focus of additional offensive linemen when he’s in there, that worth is clear. Particularly if that lineman can knife by way of these double-teams, after all, but in addition as a result of these doubles give different rushers and disruptors the power to win one-on-one matchups when the alpha of the group is taking up the primary obligations.
And right here is the place Allen actually was the Commanders’ lead dawg when wholesome. On these 440 snaps, per unbiased charting, Allen was double-teamed in some type or style 121 instances. That’s a 27.5% double-team charge, and when you’ve one man doubled a bit a couple of in each 4 performs, that’s a extremely large deal for everybody else.
And it wasn’t simply that Allen unselfishly soaked up all these doubles in order that others might eat; he was additionally slicing and dicing when given further consideration. 17 of his pressures got here in opposition to double-teams, and whether or not he was bulling by way of them or operating round them, Allen’s explosiveness in opposition to all that mass was clear and spectacular.
Jonathan Allen was doubled on 121 of his 440 snaps final season, and he did stuff like this when doubled. Most of the time, when he was on the sphere, the additional lineman would head his manner. This regardless of a pectoral damage that value him a number of weeks. Groups will need this. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/9nvYdPZ2QQ
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 7, 2025
It’s much more spectacular that six of these pressures got here after Allen returned from the damage that was alleged to have scuttled his complete season. The Eagles’ super offensive line doubled Allen on 12 of his 60 performs within the aforementioned NFC Championship recreation, and it was abundantly clear who Philly thought-about the primary downside to be – particularly with the Eagles’ personal inside line affected by damage points.
Whether or not groups had been really doubling Allen by way of the whole rep, or attempting to deal with him with one fixed lineman and one other chipping briefly earlier than heading to the second stage, or making an attempt to take care of Allen by the use of a lineman and a blocking again, it was very clear that each Commanders opponent noticed Allen as a Very Large Downside no matter alignment.
The Commanders must discover one other power multiplier in that regard. Daron Payne is the apparent man with 190 double-teams final season on 821 performs, and maybe second-year man Johnny Newton can take Allen’s place over time. In his rookie season, Newton confronted double groups on 108 of his 608 performs.
However there’s no changing a man who forces protections to his private gravity on the stage Jonathan Allen does. That’s why, regardless of his latest damage historical past and his age (he turned 30 on Jan. 16), Allen can be extremely prized not just for the methods wherein he’s in a position to wreck backfields on his personal, but in addition the extent to which he might help everybody round him improve their very own numbers and results.
Soccer, in spite of everything, is the last word workforce sport. And relating to forcing and subsequently obliterating double groups, there are few higher teammates than Jonathan Allen.
