Last season, Adam Peters appeared to have a free agent steal on his hands with the signing of Frankie Luvu. The former Panther recorded 99 total tackles, 54 solo tackles, 8 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 interception. He was also effective rushing the passer, logging 29 total pressures, 4th among all off-ball linebackers, with a 27.6% pressure-to-sack conversion rate, which was good for 2nd in the NFL. Luvu represented the identity of the Washington Commanders defense in 2024:
Fast forward to the midpoint of this season, and once again Frankie represents the identity of the Commanders defense, but for very different reasons. Last year’s second-team All-Pro has mostly been ineffective during his sophomore season in Washington. While Frankie is still on pace to record a number of tackles in 2025, the quality of his play has significantly decreased. The splash plays are gone, replaced by frustrating lapses and miscues, while his impact in the rushing game has been minimized.
So what happened to Luvu between last season and now? In this article, we will explore some reasons for his regression and discuss options going forward.
Linebacker Role
Last season, Luvu was deployed as a hybrid linebacker-edge rusher as Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt used various stunts, disguised blitzes, and wide alignments to strain the offense and take advantage of interior protections occupied by Jon Allen and Daron Payne. The net result was the ability to attack gaps uncovered by defenders to disrupt both running and passing plays in the backfield before they could develop. The video below shows the All-22 from every one of Luvu’s sacks and quarterback pressures through Week 12 last season:
The video is lengthy and, fair warning, does contain advertisements, but it does not take much time to see Luvu was at his best when played closer to the line of scrimmage and was schemed to penetrate gaps. From there, his aggressive style and energy took over to provide huge dividends via impact plays. So how have things changed this season?
Joe Whitt had Luvu playing more snaps in a traditional stacked alignment role, which requires the player to operate in space, scraping laterally based on run-pass keys. This means Luvu has to play with more discipline, taking away some of the instinctive style he thrived on last year. Additionally, the defensive front is requiring Luvu to shed blockers and provide run-fills. The results so far have been underwhelming.
The clip below comes from Mark Bullock’s work detailing the issues the team had defending the perimeter run versus the Bears in Week 6.
After the initial snap, note how quickly Johnny Newton is sealed off by the center. This allows the right guard, Jonah Jackson, to quickly work to the second level. Realistically, the 235-pound Luvu does not have much chance to take on the 320-pound offensive linemen straight on, but he does manage to get the running back to commit to the inside. Unfortunately, he has no chance to make the play as he is driven to the outside.
Luvu has also taken poor angles and disregarded leverage when working against blockers. The play below received a lot of attention after the Lions game in Week 10. Luvu is located at the top of the screen just behind the 40-yard line:
Von Miller commits inside early, which gives Laporta and Sewell a free run to the outside. While Frankie is once again at a size disadvantage, he should aggressively take on the blocker and try to attack Sewell’s inside shoulder. Penei would most likely still win, but going to the inside would funnel Gibbs towards the defender coming up in support. Instead he backs off and gets on Sewell’s outside shoulder, where he is easily pushed out of the play as Gibbs executes the cutback untouched.
In addition to his issues in run support, Luvu has also looked lost in coverage and has been beaten by faster, more agile receivers in space. While Next Gen Stats lists his overall allowed passer rating as 116.8, when aligned at the linebacker position, Luvu’s allowed passer rating is 137.1 this season.
Edge Role
After Adam Peters eschewed the defensive end position in the 2025 draft, fans were excited to hear that Luvu might be part of the plan for generating more quarterback pressure during the season:
While the initial idea might have been for Frankie to supplement the edge position, following season-ending injuries to three players at the position, including two starters, it became a necessity. Per Next Gen Stats, after Dorance Armstrong went out in Week 6, Luvu lined up on the edge for 120 snaps (54.3 percent) from Week 7 through Week 10, which was nearly double his rate (29.8 percent) from Weeks 1-6.
Unfortunately, while Frankie has shown some success setting the edge in the run game, for the most part he has been neutralized in pass-rushing situations. In 52 pass rushes from the edge during the same time span, Luvu has generated only one pressure, giving him a total of nine on the season for a pressure rate of 6.3 percent. Last season, he generated pressure on 14.0 percent of his rushes. Not much changed in Week 11, as Frankie recorded 5 pass rushing snaps in the Dolphins game and generated no pressures.
Watching his reps over the last few weeks, I have seen very few hand-fighting techniques, ineffective counter-moves, and little to no bend when operating out of the edge position. For the most part, he gets stonewalled by offensive linemen that quickly neutralize him with superior size and length. According to Next Gen Stats, his “get-off” time from the edge position is a pedestrian 1.03 this season. Luvu has found some success working off of blocks in the pocket, but overall the lack of production signals his extra snaps at the edge position should end. Hopefully, the activation of Drake Jackson and the addition of Demarcus Walker will allow for it after the bye.
Missed Tackles
Fans of the team are well aware of Luvu’s issues tackling this season. However, they might not be aware just how prolific they have been. The Commanders linebacker recently made an appearance on a troubling list used to evaluate the Bengals defense, who currently own the highest amount of missed tackles in the league. The Commanders currently retain the third spot:
Luvu’s missed tackle rate of 19.4% is his worst since 2020 with the Jets, when, coincidentally, it was also 19.4%. Conversely, last season was one of his best; the linebacker boasted a 5.4% missed tackle rate in 2024. The number of clips available this season to demonstrate Frankie’s tackling errors would create quite a montage, but most look similar to this one Mark Tyler provided in his Studs and Duds article after the Lions game:
Luvu over pursues and targets the wrong hip, resulting in the running back making a slight adjustment and breaking through the resulting arm tackle. Frankie has also been leaving his feet and lunging, which accounts for a fair number of his other missed opportunities. Unfortunately, this is nothing new for the Commanders linebacker. Luvu just had more success working with the same techniques last year.
This season, players are exploiting those weaknesses; Frankie is working across more space in pursuit, and the increased focus on hip drop tackles cannot be helping. Some of these issues may be cleaned up, but betting on changing the fundamentals for a linebacker in his eighth season seems like a losing proposition.
Moving Forward
If Luvu is struggling in a new role; the easy solution might be to move him back to his old one. While I think this would improve his individual play, there was a reason Quinn and Whitt went away from it. Wide alignments and schemed blitzes leave spaces and holes for the offense to attack, especially in the run game. Ideally, Luvu would play closer to the line of scrimmage in a situational role, giving way to a linebacker with more range in others. However, entering the third year of his contract, Frankie carries an $11.3 million cap hit. That is a sizeable amount for a player that would not be used on the majority of snaps. While some fans might call for Luvu’s release, due to the structure of his contract, Peters would only realize $4.4 million in cap savings and would still need to find a replacement.
The best possible outcome may be to find a defensive coordinator that can utilize Luvu’s versatility and maintain the overall integrity of the defense. Frankie still plays with a lot of fire and showed he can make plays versus the Dolphins. The key would be to move Luvu closer to the line of scrimmage and continue to use designed blitzes, but surround him with the athletic talent to support it. That way, Luvu has an opportunity to return to the player we saw in 2024 instead of the one he has become in 2025.
