Gruden had been brought in because of his ability as an offensive coach, but it was clear the opposite side of the ball needed to be addressed.

“Yeah, no doubt, we had to,” Gruden said. “We needed some youth and we had to target some key players in the draft to help us out. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that. . . . The key to building a good defense, in my opinion, is getting some young guys in the draft and let them grow through your program, but also having some veteran guys that have been here that are the type of guys you want to lead your football team.”

That decision to commit to a youth movement on defense, and accelerated by moves in recent years, has paid off so far this season. The team ranks second in points allowed per game (14.7), third in total defense (278.0 yards), third in pass defense (187.3 yards) and seventh against the run (90.7 yards). The Redskins are hopeful that the early success is sustainable, and that the strategy will lead to bigger benefits — both tangible and intangible — in the years to come.

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The moves

The Redskins have had 35 picks in the last four drafts, and used 19 of them on defensive players. Fifteen of the 25 picks in the last three drafts were defenders, not counting cornerback Adonis Alexander from the 2018 supplemental draft.

The trend began with second-round linebacker Preston Smith as the No. 38 overall pick in 2015, and escalated when Washington went particularly defense-heavy in the 2017 draft, selecting defensive lineman Jonathan Allen (No. 17 overall), linebacker Ryan Anderson (second round) and cornerback Fabian Moreau (third round) with its first three picks before adding safety Montae Nicholson in the fourth round. Defensive tackle Daron Payne (No. 13 overall) headlined another defense-laden class in 2018.

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The result is a defensive rotation built around youth, with key veterans like Ryan Kerrigan, Josh Norman, Mason Foster, Zach Brown and D.J. Swearinger mixed in.

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“It’s something to be said about them guys if they can grow up together and be a pretty good unit,” said Doug Williams, the team’s vice president of player personnel. “If you’re going to build a football team, you’ve got to build it through the draft and add. I’m happy with them, but the key is they can all play. That’s the good part about it.”

The youth movement strategy was most apparent this offseason through the team’s handling of the secondary. After trading slot cornerback Kendall Fuller to the Chiefs as part of the deal that brought quarterback Alex Smith to Washington, the team had signed Orlando Scandrick as his likely replacement. But in August, after just five months with the team, Scandrick was released amid rumblings that he wasn’t fitting in with the culture of the locker room.

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Instead, the Redskins opted to go with Moreau, the second-year player, as the slot corner in a secondary that had two other first-time starters in cornerback Quinton Dunbar and Nicholson. Combined with the duo of Allen and Payne up front, and it made for a young defense.

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Gruden acknowledged that there was risk going with so many young players, but said the coaching staff had faith they were ready.

“We’re definitely young, super young,” Dunbar said. “That means we can grow together. . . . When you’ve got young guys who are out there who are getting better and competing each and every game, you have no choice but to get better.”

The benefits

The financial benefits of having a young roster are clear. If a team has contributors on cheap first contacts, then that extra cap space can be used in other areas — either retaining stars or spending in free agency on difference-makers.

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But is there an on-field benefit to a group growing together, as opposed to veterans being put on the same unit at different stages of their careers? While “chemistry” and “trust” are often dismissed as coach-speak, some say there’s a tangible factor to having young players develop alongside each other.

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Louis Riddick, a former member of the Redskins' front office who is now an ESPN analyst, said a bond develops between young players who learn about life in the NFL together, comparing it to a recruiting class of a college team.

“They have this unique bond that winds up making them feel as though they’re more accountable to one another than maybe you would be if you had a team that was built through a bunch of veteran player acquisitions, or players who came from other places, or players who are of a different age group,” Riddick said. “That can manifest in a much more cohesive unit once you actually get out on the football field.”

Swearinger cited the Seahawks’ Legion of Boom secondary of Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor as an example of a unit that blossomed together and knew how to communicate.

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“If you can trust somebody off the field, it’s easier to get on them on the field,” Swearinger said. “You can talk to them like your brother. They’re going to understand it or talk to you back the same way. … If you don’t have any chemistry, if you don’t know that person, you can’t really talk to that person in a forceful way. They’re going to look at you like, ‘Bro, who are you talking to?’ instead of knowing me and that’s just how I am.

“That’s where that chemistry comes in at. If I can talk to you off the field like that, you know on the field it’s no beef at all.”

That relationship-building doesn’t just happen on the field. It happens during weightlifting sessions, over meals outside the facility, or in getting to know each others' families. Players don’t have to be best friends to excel on the field, but it helps when people are invested in each other. In a league where the margin for error is small, that matters, says Riddick.

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“When you’re talking about trust, that’s what you’re talking about,” Riddick said. “Knowing that this guy is going to be where he’s going to be because we’ve talked about it in countless different moments, whether it be on the field, in our own personal private time. I have developed a level of accountability with this guy and to this guy that transcends just being a professional. I’m personally invested in this guy. You do things for your boy more than you’d do for a guy on the street, or a co-worker you don’t like, or a co-worker you’re just trying to be professional with. It’s a different level. It’s human nature.

“These are human beings we’re talking about,” Riddick continued, “who work better when they’re with people they know better and they trust and who they like being around and who they feel as though, ‘I need to play better not just for me, but for them, too, because they’re feeding their family doing this job, just like I am.’ . . . That’s the kind of thing that will propel you in the hard times. It will make you want to make sure you’re doing things exactly right, because you feel a higher level of accountability towards that person.”

A big test awaits

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Despite the early success, Washington’s defense still has a lot to prove. It shut down David Johnson and the Arizona Cardinals, but they’re the lone winless team in the league. It held the Packers to just 17 points, but star quarterback Aaron Rodgers was hampered by a knee injury.

A much bigger test arrives Monday, in a road trip to New Orleans to face Drew Brees on Monday Night Football. The Saints rank third in the league with 34.2 points per game.

The Redskins defenders aren’t where they ultimately want to be, but the organization hopes this group grows together into one of the most consistently feared units in the NFL.

“A lot of times in pro football, nowadays, it’s about situational football,” Gruden said. “It’s about communication, handling motion, jet sweeps and all that stuff. You have to be able to communicate. And having the same guys in the system together that have seen it, it’s a huge benefit.

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“Unfortunately, these guys haven’t been together for a long time, but at least we’ll grow through it and we feel their skill set is worthy of some growing pains.”