NFL 2015: Ranking each defense from 32-1

23. Washington Redskins

This is going to be a long year in the nation’s capital barring divine intervention. The defense will be a large piece of the problem, although it will luckily fly under the radar because most of the attention will be on the soap opera between head coach Jay Gruden and quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Last year, the Redskins ranked 20th in defense and did manage to add corner Chris Culliver to the mix. Culliver will start opposite of DeAngelo Hall, who is aging and coming off an Achilles injury. Still, the corners figure to be the strength of this group alongside outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, who was given an extension in the offseason. The problem lies in the rest of this unit, which simply lacks any real talent to stop other offenses in the NFC East, namely the Dallas Cowboys.

Terrance Knighton is a solid nose tackle but is flanked by Stephen Paea and Jason Hatcher, a pair of veterans who are not likely to make big contributions. The linebacking unit outside of Kerrigan is lackluster at best with Perry Riley, Keenan Robinson and Trent Murphy. Teams should not have any issue rolling protection toward Kerrigan and forgetting about the other edge. Washington will have its moments, but overall this defense has massive holes.

Next: 22. Jacksonville Jaguars