Mike Sainristil shines in natural position, a rookie impresses early: What we learned about the Commanders defense before pads come on

Rookie Trey Amos has stood out with his size and length already as well and shows fluid movement in coverage. Adding pads will also help show his physicality. 

HC Dan Quinn said that Amos has shown patience at the line of scrimmage and he lets the play develop to react instead of trying to guess and getting it wrong. He can be a day one impact starter.

Veteran Marshon Lattimore said back at OTAs that he finally feels healthy and it shows at practice. He’s made a handful of pass breakups and has that spring in his step. Lattimore being healthy for the entire season can be the ultimate "X factor" for the defense to elevate the team to the Super Bowl.

2. Washington will attack with different looks now that they can

One of the main things I saw on Sunday was how Quinn will deploy different looks on defense and match up better with the offense shown across the field. 

There were a couple times where Kliff Kingsbury would send out five WRs and Quinn would have Lattimore, Amos, Sainristil at corner, and also sent Will Harris and even Jeremy Reaves close to the line of scrimmage. 

The team loves Quan Martin at safety. He didn’t move from his spot even with all of his previous experience at corner. Percy Butler was the next safety when Harris moved up to corner, so the team definitely has some versatile pieces they can move around

They also showed a unique defensive line with Von Miller and Frankie Luvu out WIDE on the edge, with Daron Payne and Dorance Armstrong in the middle spaced out. With five wide receivers and in an obvious passing situation, it allows the defense to pin their ears back and get to the QB with the best pass rushers they have up front.

Miller looks like he still has a nasty spin move and some juice on the line and now we get to see some real reps with the pads on against Laremy Tunsil and rookie Josh Conerly Jr.

3. The run defense will be much improved

Adding Deatrich Wise and Javon Kinlaw will help the run defense in my opinion. Both guys looked massive up front and Johnny Newton should take a leap this year as well. He’s finally able to have a full offseason which he wasn’t able to have last year with his foot surgery.

Bobby Wagner looks like he’s untouchable to Father Time and Jordan Magee is poised to breakout this season. He dealt with injuries last season that hindered him from seeing the field more than he did. He’s looked great in practice and the coaching staff and Wagner himself has had high praise for Magee this offseason.

Pads are coming on today at practice and we will get a better idea of just how physical this defense can be and who stands out leading up to the joint practices. Quinn said that the line of scrimmage is where you see the biggest impact with pads on and we will keep an eye on the biggest storylines from practice. 

I’ll be back in Ashburn for practice this week with more updates.