Commanders Coach Jack Del Rio Looking to 'Build Depth & Understanding' in Secondary

By mixing coverages and moving players like cornerbacks Benjamin St-Juste and Emmanuel Forbes around in early practices Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio is looking to expand versatility in his secondary.

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Commanders are trying to sort through some things during Phase 3 of their offseason program regarding how they're going to employ their best weapons. 

Among those weapons is first round cornerback Emmanuel Forbes, and third-year pro Benjamin St-Juste. 

"We're looking at a lot of different combinations right now," Del Rio said of the cornerbacks. "It's that time of year. Build depth, build understanding, and Benjamin's been excellent. Inside, outside, he's having a great off season and I think getting ready to have a real good year for us."

When we first saw Forbes on the practice field during rookie minicamp he got a surprising amount of snaps inside as a slot defender. 

While he certainly looked the part of a cornerback who hadn't gotten much experience there in college, he didn't get lost in the wash and came away with an interceptions and several impressive plays. 

Still, once OTA's got underway two weeks ago we saw Forbes return mainly to his familiar outside role while St-Juste and rookie defensive back Quan Martin got more involved in slot defense. 

The good news is, while St-Juste has made impressive growth in his two seasons, Del Rio sees plenty of talent in Forbes as a rookie, and is looking to find out what the best combination of usage is going to be.

"He's pretty natural at picking his spots, going for interceptions," Del Rio said of Forbes. "So yeah, where we end up displaying or deploying our guys at the end of the day, we'll see, but we're building flexibility right now. Guys are learning different positions. We're trying to make guys uncomfortable right now, get familiar, learn more than one role and where we have some versatility, some flexibility will be to our advantage as we go forward."

With the combination of talented players at his disposal Del Rio is doing something in creating the versatility and multi-positional knowledge that will help Washington significantly if it has to adapt to injuries throughout the season. 

If his unit stays healthy, however, the coach knows he's also preparing a secondary that can give every quarterback it faces with multiple looks making it harder for opponents to find a weakness and exploit it. 

"We mix our coverages," said Del Rio. "We do a little bit of everything and I like the way it's worked. I think the guys are more comfortable in what we're asking them to do, and the new guys are showing the ability to learn and kind of catch up quickly."

Commanders fans - and even some media - are somewhat confused as to just how Del Rio is going to employ these multi-skilled defenders in the season to come. 

But there's still time for Del Rio to figure it out, and it's surely best for Washington he tests as many possible looks and combinations he can, while he can.

Find David Harrison on the Locked On Commanders podcast or text him directly at (202) 760-2188.

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