Where are Commanders defensive triplets ranked among all 32 NFL teams?

General manager Adam Peters set out to make the Washington Commanders' defense younger and faster in 2026, and he's made a slew of changes to make that happen. The scheme looks different under Daronte Jones than it did under Joe Whitt, with a 3-4 defensive front instead of 4-3. Daron Payne still anchors the line, and Javon Kinlaw is in his second year with the Commanders, while Tim Settle is a new face.

>The linebacking corps has several new faces like Odafe Oweh, Leo Chenal, and Sonny Styles. The secondary has some new faces as well, and, on paper, the Commanders' defense looks better already. Still, they haven't been tested as a unit, and they remain unproven.

>Sports Illustrated recently ranked each team's defensive triplets, and the Commanders came in at No. 22.

Triplets: Odafe Oweh, Sonny Styles, Nick Cross

>These are just three of the many new players the Commanders added to their defense this offseason. Oweh is expected to give Washington a reliable No. 1 edge rusher for the first time in a long time. But the team is rolling the dice on a player who didn’t find his stride until the Ravens traded him to the Chargers for the final two months of last season.

>If Oweh can become a consistent player, the Commanders likely won’t have any issues after signing him to a four-year, $96 million deal. Styles could be a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate after landing in an ideal situation with coach Dan Quinn, who knows how to develop hybrid players.

As indicated above, this largely suggests that the Commanders' defense is untested and unproven. There are a lot of new faces on this defense, and while it looks like they'll be better in 2026, we really won't know until they hit the field this September. The author didn't mention Nick Cross at all, so how his presence factored into this ranking is unknown.

>The continued downplaying of the Commanders' defense should only fuel their desire to be successful in 2026.

>As far as the offense, Washington's triplets, led by Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin, ranked 15th.

>This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Where are defensive triplets ranked?