Washington Commanders Coach Joe Whitt Jr. Looking to 'Feed The Studs' on Defense

Following OTA practice on Wednesday Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. met with the media.

Jan 28, 2016; Kahuku, HI, USA; Green Bay Packers secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. during practice for the 2016 Pro Bowl at the Turtle Bay Resort. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Whitt Jr. has been coaching at the NFL level in various roles for 15+ years, and will now get his first shot as a defensive coordinator with the Washington Commanders - following head coach Dan Quinn over from the Dallas Cowboys. Quinn is a defensive-minded head coach, so he will likely be the head of that snake, but Whitt Jr. will also have his input and be able to learn from Quinn before eventually becoming a full-time DC.

Quinn and Whitt Jr. will have their work cut out for them as they will be coaching a whole new defense than the one that was in Washington at the end of last season.

READ MORE: Coach Quinn and QB Jayden Daniels Ranked

Free agent acquisitions Dorance Armstrong, Dante Fowler Jr., Clelin Ferrell, Frankie Luvu, Bobby Wagner, Anthony Pittman, Jeremy Chinn, and Michael Davis will all play pivotal roles on this fresh-faced defense, and joining them in these efforts the likes of Jer'Zhan Newton and Mike Sainristil who drafted in this past April's NFL draft.

When speaking with the media following Wednesday's OTA practice, Whitt Jr. spoke on his early impressions of the Commanders' defense.

"Man, they've, they've done a really nice job," the coach said about his unit. "Just the energy, the excitement of what we're doing, the way they're buying in, the way they're competing. It's fun, man. Both sides of the ball. It's just not looking at defense, both sides of the ball. Everybody out there. is just really going after each other and that's what it's supposed to be. That's the only way we're gonna get better."

There should be excitement as this group gets to learn from each other and play alongside one another. A newfound energy was much needed in the DMV and it seems like that is resonating on both sides of the ball early on in practice.

Whitt Jr. continued to examine his defense by talking about how exciting it is to see the defense take shape this early on.

"No, it is fun. This is the players' game, okay. And you going to hear me talking about feed the studs and we're going to design out defense, not we're going, we are designing our defense around the players that we have," he continued. "I think if you're just limited to saying, Hey, we run one scheme and that's all we have, and no, you have the players that you have and you make sure that you are putting them in the best position to play high level football. And we have really good players and I'm excited every day to come in here and figure out what's the bests way to use them. And one thing I wanted to say as well, we don't have 11 starters. Okay? You going to put this down, so don't ask me who's starting here. We have 17 to 18 guys. We're going to go out there, we're going to roll a deep crew and go out there and whip people, okay? So we don't have 11 guys, we have many personnel groups and now can they own those positions when we put 'em in there. So, when that comes, don't ask me about who's starting, please."

Letting the players dictate how you run your defense could pay off dividends. I have always been a component of letting players design what they do as it will put the team in the best position possible to be successful, and that is exactly what Whitt Jr. is doing and will do. He then went and made strong statements to the media saying don't ask him who's starting and who's not because he feels as if they have playmakers almost two-deep at each position depending on what personnel they are putting out there.

This is how you handle it. Let it be known up front that you got your guys and they are going to be put in the best position for them to create havoc for opposing offenses. It doesn't matter who's a starter and who's not because at the end of the day it takes a collective effort to put a good product on the field - something the Commanders didn't do last season.

Things are changing in the D.C. area and it seems that they are off on the right foot early on.

READ MORE: Head Coach Dan Quinn Talks About Emmanuel Forbes

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