The Washington Redskins had high hopes for first-round pick Jonathan Allen last season. The unanimous All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year at Alabama was off to a strong start in his first five games in D.C. before a Lisfranc injury ended his season in mid-October.
In retrospect, linebacker Ryan Kerrigan called the loss of Allen a massive blow to the team’s defense last year.
“When we lost Jonathan, things really seemed to kind of change, and that’s unfortunate because we do feel like we have a lot of depth in the room already,” Kerrigan said, via John Keim of ESPN.com. “Jon was as advertised in how he played the run and how he played the pass and how he got after the passer, so his loss was huge.
“But any time you can get pressure from the interior, that just causes all sorts of havoc for the quarterback. It impairs his vision. It makes his life a lot more difficult and makes our job on the edge a lot easier. Getting pressure from the interior is really, really important.”
Allen had 10 tackles and a sack in five starts at defensive end for Washington last year before going down with the foot injury.
Washington finished the season as the worst rushing defense in the NFL, allowing 134.1 yards per game throughout the season. They allowed an average of 88 yards rushing in the five games Allen started and 155 yards per game in the 11 games without him in the lineup. Washington held an opponent to under 100 yards rushing just once in the final 11 games of the season.