Look for these 5 NFL defenses to be greatly improved in 2020

This one feels obvious. The Washington Redskins, or whatever they’re going to be called going forward, will have a better defense under first-year head coach Ron Rivera. No longer will this defense be in the bottom quarter of the league in scoring defense. Expect Washington to be several spots better than No. 27 in the league upon Rivera’s arrival to the nation’s capital alone.

Washington was a terrible football team a season ago. Former head coach Jay Gruden was fired in mid-October and rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins wasn’t mature enough to start when the team needed him to be a leader. Despite a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball, the offense was so pitiful that many great defensive players were left perpetually frustrated by it.

Not only did Washington add Rivera as its head coach, but the team used the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft on the best prospect coming out in Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Young. This defense end from The Ohio State University has the potential to be the next Lawrence Taylor in the NFL. Yes, he has this much hype coming out of Columbus. He’s going to be a great player.

With the pass rush and the defensive line already being solid, look for that to matriculate to the linebacking corps, which is Rivera’s coaching speciality. If the front-seven plays up to its potential, it will go a long way in helping solidifying the entire defense, as it could yield a potent bunch at all levels. We could see a huge uptick with this defense to potentially top-half of the league in 2020.