Johnny Newton set to prove first-round talent with bigger role in Commanders defense
Perhaps Jayden Daniels won’t be the only Washington Commanders rookie making an impact on the 2024 NFL season.
Following a Week 6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Commanders took a bigger blow in losing two-time Pro Bowler Jonathan Allen for the remainder of the season with a torn pectoral muscle. With the announcement on Monday by head coach Dan Quinn comes expectation of players like Johnny Newton to step up and help fill the void.
The No. 36 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Newton came out of the University of Illinois as a first-round talent. At 6-foot-2, 304 pounds, the defensive lineman was the 2023 Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year in leading the Illini with 7.5 sacks. That ability to clog the middle as an interior defender and get after the quarterback is all the reason Quinn believes in him and he believes in himself.
Commanders get to see what they have in Johnny Newton
As much of a blow as it is for the Commanders’ defense to lose a player like Allen, it could also open an opportunity for a young player like Newton to emerge, especially if he can translate what he did in college to the next level.
“I don’t want to put expectations or limits to it,” Newton said of his opportunity. “But hopefully [I can] get back to the level of play that I was in college.”
In college, he was an absolute force in the Big Ten with 18 career sacks and just a disruptive player along the defensive line, precisely at defensive end where his power and athleticism can be hard to handle on the edge for tackles. He also can dominate offensive guards when he lines up in the middle of the defense.
With a total of 11 tackles so far in his NFL career, Newton has gotten to show a little of what he can do on the field. Now, he has a bigger opportunity to shine and showcase why Commanders general manager Adam Peters was so excited about having the opportunity to select him in the draft.
"He's a team captain," Peters said after Day 2 of the draft. "He got the Commander tag, and he's exactly who we want to bring in this building. We think he's an advanced player who can come in and play right away. Really a three-down player who you can play on the run downs, play on pass downs, skilled, hands and feet are tied together. And he arrives violently when he gets to the ball, and he plays just like we want him to play."
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Now it’s time for Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton to step up and ball out.