Odafe Oweh, Sonny Styles among new players to impact Commanders defense

The Commanders simply had to improve their defense. Mostly because it couldn’t have performed worse in 2025. That unit ranked dead last in yards per game (384.4 ypg), No. 31 in takeaways (10), No. 31 in red-zone defense (67.7%) and No. 27 in scoring defense (26.5 ppg). That led to a complete overhaul, starting with coordinator Joe Whitt Jr.’s firing after the season. Daronte Jones replaced him, bringing excitement and hope that he can bring elements of Brian Flores’ defense in Minnesota cate