A season that began with much promise has gone off the rails for the Washington Commanders, leaving head coach Dan Quinn with some tough decisions to make over the next few months.
Sundayâs 16-13 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins in Spain was the Commandersâ sixth straight, dropping them to 3-8 on the season. Itâs a precipitous fall for a team thatâs not even 12 months removed from a trip to the NFC title game.
Curiously absent from part of the Week 11 defeat was safety Quan Martin, who played just 66% of the defensive snaps (37 of 66).
Quinn Calls for ‘Change in Personnel’ to Secondary
When Quinn met with reporters on Monday ahead of the Week 12 bye, he was asked about the reduction in Martinâs role.
âJust a change in personnel,â Quinn said. âIt was just some corrections that had to be made. (He) came back to play in it, but we just wanted to make some corrections and get it right.â
The Commanders defense has struggled this season, especially in the secondary. They rank 31st in yards allowed and 28th in points allowed. On top of that, they have the second-fewest takeaways in the NFL with six.
The unit performed better against the Dolphins, holding them to 311 total yards and without a touchdown for the first three quarters. But that came on the heels of a four-game stretch in which Washington was outscored 154-65.
Martin’s Performance Has Regressed
Martin has been a culprit in the teamâs disappointing performance. The third-year safety from Illinois is second on the team with 71 tackles to go along with one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and two passes defended. But heâs graded very poorly by Pro Football Focus (PFF), ranking 82nd out of 91 eligible safeties (49.4) despite playing the 11th most snaps (615) of any defensive player.
Martin, 25, was limited in practice leading up to Sundayâs game because of a shoulder injury, though Quinn curiously did not allude to that being an issue postgame.
The 2023 second-round pick has one year left on his rookie deal in Washington. Now-demoted defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. spoke highly of him in the summer, saying he could become one of the NFLâs âbetter safeties.â But clearly, heâs got a ways to go.
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