The Commanders just bolstered their pass rush with a Super Bowl MVP!!!

Josh Taylor discusses the Washington Commanders signing of 8-time Pro Bowler Von Miller!

Transcript

00:00The Washington Commanders picked up the phone and made a call for help in filling in the biggest

00:04need still remaining on this team heading into training camp and enters an eight-time Pro

00:09Bowler and Super Bowl MVP. Let's talk about it. Washington fans have had a lot of questions and

00:18concerns regarding the pass rushing situation and we finally have an answer. Von Miller, one of the

00:24all-time greats, announced on Instagram that he is joining the Commanders and he is on the way

00:29to help get to the quarterback. After passing up on every big name free agent this offseason and

00:35electing not to draft one as well, Washington said look we're gonna go with someone who has a proven

00:40track record and even at 36 years old Von Miller can still do what we need him to do. So what does

00:46that role look like? What does a veteran Von Miller look like at this point in his career? Well if you

00:52look back at what his season looked like with the Buffalo Bills last season, he still produced when

00:58he touched the field. Miller was still able to stack up six sacks last season and only 209 pass rushing

01:04snaps with the Bills and even not just getting to the quarterback but just creating chaos in the

01:09backfield with 32 pressures and 23 quarterback hits. So how does this help Washington with what

01:15they're looking for on defense? Well you went out and signed Dietrich Weiss to help bolster the run

01:20defense which was much needed by the way. He's gonna be that early down guy for you and expect

01:25Dorrance Armstrong to be a starter on the other side as well. That's gonna set up Von Miller for

01:30those key situations where he really thrives. Those third and longs, those obvious passing situations,

01:36those close game moments that you need a big player to step up. All six of Von Miller's sacks last season

01:42came on third and fourth down and that's what Washington was missing on this defense. They could

01:47have went and got as a Darius Smith or a Matt Judon but those are guys that would have played more

01:51snaps than what Von Miller's going to and they could have taken some of those early downs as

01:55first and second down obvious running situations away from Dietrich Weiss. Washington needed that

02:02speed guy off the edge that was gonna pin his ears back, show that patented spin move, and fill in

02:07Fowler's role from last season. Von Miller's gonna produce on the field when you need him to but he's

02:12also gonna help elevate those guys around him on the defensive line. Some of those younger players

02:17like Dorrance Armstrong, Javante Jean-Baptiste, Cleland Farrell, and Jalen Holmes. You can expect

02:23an increase in production in those guys as well so this was a win-win for Washington and it made a

02:28ton of sense why they made this move. So does this mean Miller's filling in a role of what Trey

02:33Hendrickson or TJ Watt or someone of that caliber could have filled in for Washington? No. But at the

02:39end of the day you had to somehow make up for those 10.5 sacks that you lost from Fowler in free

02:44agency and this is how you do that. Can you get 10.5 sacks out of Von Miller? If you can that's

02:49one heck of a signing for Washington but ideally if you can get that 6, 7, somewhere around that

02:56number of production from Von Miller then this free agency signing is huge for Washington coming down

03:01the stretch of the season.