What will the Washington Redskins do about their defense?

Last season, new coordinator Joe Barry was brought in to help a unit that was leakier than a submarine with a screen door. As a unit in 2014, they were in the bottom half of the NFL in total yards(20th), passing yards(24th), sacks(21st), 3rd down defense(24th), opposing QB rating(32nd), Interceptions(28th),  forced fumbles(20th) and points/points per game(29th). In 2015, they improved on some of these numbers. They improved at points/points per game all the way up to 17th, sacks up to 14th, Interceptions to 21st, opposing Qb rating to 22nd, 3rd down defense to 12th and most importantly forced fumbles went all the way up to 5th in the NFL.

The yardage stats didn’t improve much so what it looks like is that the Redskins went from a 2014 defense that did almost nothing well to a 2015 defense that gave up a lot of yards but made up for that by forcing more turnovers and getting more sacks.

Barry kept the 3-4 defense but made it look more like a 4-3/5-2 front with Preston Smith and Ryan Kerrigan listed as outside linebacker but playing much more like defensive ends throughout the season. With Jason Hatcher, Chris Baker and Terrance Knighton effectively playing as 3, 1 and 0 defensive tackles, the defense was better attacking, especially if their offense staked them a large lead and they could just attack. The Redskins’ defense struggled when they were asked to make stops when the team was behind.

Headed into 2016, the Redskins defense should have a healthy Junior Galette back to throw into the mix with Kerrigan and Smith. However, they did release Jason Hatcher and Dashon Goldson from the team and saw Keenan Robinson and Terrance Knighton leave via free agency. Right now the defensive starting lineup looks like this:

Defensive backs: Will Blackmon-Duke Ihenacho-DeAngelo Hall-Bashaud Breeland
Linebackers: Ryan Kerrigan-Mason Foster-Will Compton-Junior Galette
Line: Preston Smith-Chris Baker-Stephen Paea

There are big questions if Galette can play in a 3 point stance in this defense and he might be limited to a stand up rusher role in subpackages unless Barry adjusts his defense back to a more traditional 3-4 look. There are also other question marks throughout the defense. The safeties are talent poor and hoping for better results from the current group. The inside linebackers came out of nowhere to play well in the 2nd half of 2015, but will that continue? And the defensive line is undersized and talent poor.

If Preston Smith, who’s probably not a good fit at the 5 tech slot, has to be pressed into service then this line is going to continue to give up a lot of rushing yards as they did in 2015. Paea and Baker have some ability to penetrate but both were very poor against the run in 2015. Since they’re somewhat strapped by the cap due to Kirk Cousins’ franchise tag, the best place to improve the line and the safeties would be in the draft.

Next: What is to be done?