All the moves the Washington Commanders made this offseason basically brought their defense back to where it was in 2021, albeit without the injured Chase Young for a little bit.
For DMV native and former Washington cornerback Shawn Springs, that’s a problem – a problem because no one outside of maybe Young is an elite player at their position, something he says is a requirement for a winner.
“I tell people all the time that you need to have three of four guys who are arguably Top 5 at their position to win the Super Bowl. If you have that, you’re going to have some really good players who can support them and solid role players behind them,” Springs told B-Mitch and Finlay on 106.7 The Fan Thursday. “When I look at a team, that’s what I look at. They have one guy I can argue may be in the Top 5 at his position. The D-line, although they’re loaded with first-rounders, they’re all solid guys. I love Jonathan Allan, but they’re all just solid guys.”
Springs called the Commanders a team where “I temper my expectations and say they hopefully make the playoffs,” and that brought up Ron Rivera, who is known as a pretty good coach around the league. To B-Mitch though, “great coaches only became great because of elite players,” and “teams can’t bargain shop and expect to win.”
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So, yeah, not the Commanders, and Springs brought up how an up-and-coming team made a move that Washington just doesn’t seem interested in.
“Think about how when you add Tyreek Hill to a team, how it changes them. He tears the top off a defense, and corners are coming in hoping they aren’t one-on-one on him,” Springs said. “He can blow the coverage off the defense so it makes everyone better, and those little things change your offense completely – but you have to have that type of person, and to me, part of the problem is that in the past, Dan Snyder has brought in big name guys and it hasn’t worked. Maybe he was 10 years ahead of his time, but that’s what you need: you need to have to have a star and be willing to spend the money.”
Brian Mitchell went on to explain how similarly to Hill, Aaron Donald helps the rest of his defense based on how he hurries the quarterback – and a guy like that, plus all of Los Angeles’ other stars, mark the reason Springs sees a pair of perennials in the Super Bowl.
“In the AFC it’s hard to bet against Patrick Mahomes, and in the NFC, I mean, you have to turn to the team that has stars – and that’s the Rams. They’re built to win,” he said. “I don’t know where Tampa is at, and you can never bet against Tom Brady, but I’m liking the Rams and Chiefs.”