After more injuries wreaked havoc on Washington’s secondary, Dunbar was called up from the practice squad in late September. It wasn’t until Week 12 that Dunbar logged significant snaps on the field, but he impressed and earned himself a role as the third corner behind Bashaud Breeland and Will Blackmon. He played the majority of his snaps at right cornerback in nickel and dime sub-packages, allowing Blackmon to shift inside to cover the slot.

Dunbar is raw in terms of technique and development, which isn’t a surprise given how new he is to the position. But he has plenty of tools to work with. He has the ideal size for a modern corner, standing at 6 feet 2, 201 pounds. He was reportedly timed at 4.44 in the 40-yard dash at his pro day. He has long arms and isn’t afraid to be physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage. He also has fluid hips and quick feet, which enables him to mirror receivers well and recover when he gets out of position. Those physical attributes can’t be taught, and they give Dunbar an advantage over other corners who perhaps have better technique but don’t have the same measurables.

His ability to quickly flip his hips to help him adjust and stay on top of a receiver stood out whenever I focused on him.

Here against Cowboys star wide receiver Dez Bryant, Dunbar takes outside leverage on his initial jam. But Bryant continues to work to the outside. In one fluid motion, Dunbar takes a step to open his hips and get himself square to hit target.

Dunbar then flips his hips towards the sideline, while applying a jam and staying on top of Bryant.

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Here’s the clip of that play:

Flipping his hips from facing one side of the field to the other in such a fluid motion is impressive. It allows Dunbar to stay on top of Bryant and stop him from getting open deep. Dunbar makes the mistake of keeping his hands on Bryant for too long, resulting in a defensive pass interference penalty, which is something he should be able to improve on in time. But the play still is an excellent example of how fluidly Dunbar moves as a corner.

For Dunbar, the athleticism is clearly there. It’s a case of him being able to catch up on his technique and become consistent. In terms of actual ability on the field, Dunbar has flashed plenty of positive plays, but he’s also had his share of inconsistencies. That is to be expected from someone learning a new position. When his technique clicks, he shows plenty of potential.

Here, Dunbar lines up in press coverage against Giants wide receiver Rueben Randle. Randle runs a vertical route down the sideline.

Dunbar shows good patience with his feet. Plenty of corners will jump around and move too much while in press coverage, but Dunbar stays calm and only moves his feet subtly to mirror Randle’s movements. He waits for Randle to declare his intentions with his route.

Once Randle shows his intention to go outside and get down the sideline, Dunbar then applies the jam, forcing Randle further outside and towards the sideline. After driving him to the sideline, Dunbar stays on top of Randle, giving the quarterback little, if any, throwing window. Giants quarterback Eli Manning wisely opts to throw elsewhere.

If Dunbar can play with that type of technique every snap, he could develop into a strong corner. But he had his share of plays where he lost his technique.

This play is from the same game, but a few series later. This time, Dunbar lines up opposite Odell Beckham Jr., who runs a dig route.

Dunbar gets too jumpy at the line. He bites heavily on a fake inside, reacting slowly to Beckham working back outside. That gives Beckham a free release off the line and gets him hip level with Dunbar.

Thanks to his athleticism, Dunbar actually does a pretty good job recovering, sitting on Beckham’s inside hip. But then Beckham cuts back inside on his dig route. Dunbar allows him to cross his face too easily.

Even after the cut, Dunbar isn’t in a terrible position. But Dunbar makes a third mistake. He potentially could have undercut the route from Beckham to intercept the pass or at least break it up. But as Beckham adjusts his route back towards the ball, Dunbar takes an odd route. In the first frame of the picture, he’s in position to undercut the route. But in the second frame, he gets behind Beckham. He can’t do anything to stop the completion and can only make a tackle to keep the gain to a minimum.

Those types of mistakes weren’t the norm for Dunbar, but they crept in a couple of times a game. It’s not a huge issue that can’t be fixed with good coaching and hard work. He has done a good job of working on and correcting mistakes during the game. Corrections from that bad rep against Beckham helped Dunbar make two big plays later on in the game.

Here, Washington finds itself backed up on its own goal line. Dunbar is isolated outside in one-on-one coverage. The wide receiver, Randle, runs a slant route.

Randle fakes to the outside, getting Dunbar to bite before cutting inside on the slant. Dunbar can’t allow a receiver to get inside that easily on the goal line, but with another defender working to the flat to cover another receiver, he gets away with it.

Manning is forced to wait until the wide receiver works into a throwing window. Dunbar learns from his earlier mistake, undercutting the route and intercepting the pass. The throw was a little behind its target, which made it easier for Dunbar to undercut, but with his length there’s a good chance he would have at least been able to get a hand on a better-placed throw.

Perhaps Dunbar’s best play of that game came a few series later.

This time, Dunbar lines up against Hakeem Nicks.

Dunbar does a better job staying patient at the snap. He doesn’t bite heavily on the outside fake, instead staying on top of the route.

By staying on top of the route, Dunbar can get his eyes on the quarterback and locate the ball earlier. As Manning pulls the trigger, Dunbar reads it and is in a good position to drive down on the throw.

Dunbar undercuts the throw and deflects the ball away from Nicks.

As Dunbar progresses in his development, he’ll have to learn to play different types of coverage. He spent most of the year playing press or dropping into a deep third zone in cover-three. But he’ll need to prove he can be versatile and add variety to his game. He displayed some promise when asked to play off-man coverage.

Here, the Packers stacked two wide receivers together to the left of the formation. With stacked receivers, only one corner can play in press and it’s usually the slot corner. Dunbar is forced to play off the line of scrimmage.

Dunbar reads the slant-flat route combination and breaks immediately on the slant route. Aaron Rodgers began his throwing motion, looking for the slant route.

But Rodgers spotted Dunbar breaking on the route and was forced to look elsewhere.

What’s also evident is how much Dunbar has studied the opposition’s receivers and route combinations.

Dunbar plays off-man coverage again on this play. The Bills stack two receivers, having one run a deep out while the other runs a pivot route.

Dunbar clearly recognized the route combination from his pregame studying. As Sammy Watkins cut to the outside on his pivot route, Dunbar kept on top of it, but also made sure he was ready to break back inside.

As soon as Watkins puts his foot in the ground and turns his head back inside, Dunbar breaks on the route, completely eliminating the threat of Watkins on the play.

That type of route recognition is a good sign for Dunbar. It shows he’s clearly working hard not only on his technique, but also studying his opponents and their tendencies. He’ll need to continue working just as hard if he’s to improve and hold on to his role. He’ll also have to work on his situational awareness during games. There were a few times when Dunbar didn’t adjust his assignment based on the situation of the game. Things like protecting the first-down marker on third down troubled Dunbar once or twice. There were also times when he could have rolled down closer to the line of scrimmage instead of sitting off.

Here, the Bills have the ball inside their own 10. They isolate Watkins against Dunbar, lining up all other receivers on the other side of the field. Watkins also lines up outside the numbers, while the ball is on the far hash marker. On first down, the Bills are likely to run the ball or throw a quick pass to try and pick up some quick yards and give themselves some breathing room. But Dunbar aligns himself 10 yards off Watkins.

Washington is playing cover-three, which requires Dunbar to cover his deep third of the field. But with every other receiver on the other side of the field, the only real threat to his deep third is Watkins. I’d like to see Dunbar recognize the situation here and roll up to the line of scrimmage and press Watkins instead of sit off.

By sitting in off coverage, Dunbar allows Watkins to run a quick stop route. While normally, that route would be the responsibility of the flat defender, Kyshoen Jarrett in this case, he can’t get out there because of the offensive alignment presnap. Had Dunbar been playing press, he’d have been in position to stop the play. Washington gets lucky that the pass was poor and Watkins couldn’t make the catch.

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With Dunbar’s inexperience, and because we don’t know how he’s been coached, he deserves benefit of the doubt on plays like that. With good coaching and more experience, Dunbar should be able to improve in situational awareness, as well as his overall technique. His progress to this point has been impressive, but he still has a way to go if he wants to become a starting corner in the NFL. For now, Dunbar looks set to remain a backup who has the opportunity to progress into the third corner role. Should he continue to improve at the rate he has, he could well become much more than that. Defensive backs coach Perry Fewell has done an excellent job with him thus far, giving them a solid foundation to build upon this offseason.

Mark Bullock is The Insider’s Outsider, sharing his Redskins impressions without the benefit of access to the team. For more breakdowns, click here.

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