'He was what we needed' – One Commanders coach confirms that people were dead wrong about a breakout player

The Washington Commanders are three games into the season, and we've gotten a pretty good idea about how each position group looks so far.

One of the biggest weaknesses last season was the defensive line's inability to stop the run and get pressure from the interior. The Commanders didn't make any splash signings this offseason, and people were concerned about Adam Peters' plans to build the roster with smaller impact signings.

Well, we were all wrong about the signing of Javon Kinlaw, and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr laughed at all the negative feedback.

Javon Kinlaw's impact was felt immediately

It didn't take long to see how big Kinlaw would be for the team, literally, and he was one of the standouts in practice by his size and intensity. It translated to the field in Week 1, and he worked his way to the backfield every game this season, and the results show it. The Commanders were a bottom run defense team last year, and now they're eighth in the league in yards per rush with Bijan Robinson coming up next, and Kinlaw was a missing piece, according to Whitt Jr.

“Yeah, I, you know, I begged for the young man last year when he went to the [New York] Jets," Whitt Jr said. "I sort of chuckled when people were saying negative things about him. He is what we needed at that position. He's a penetrating, disruptive man. Okay, and now what has that done for Payne? Alright, Payne doesn't have to; he's not going to get all the doubles. He's not going to get it, because they have to take care of 99, and then once they take care of 99, they have to take care of 94 at times."

The coaching staff wanted Kinlaw, the front office wanted Kinlaw, but nobody wanted him to be here more than himself, and he's loving every minute of it.