The Washington Commanders‘ secondary has struggled all season. Even in earlier losses this season, when Washington was 3-2 before the current six-game losing streak, the Commanders were allowing far too many big plays.

You can point to many reasons for Washington’s struggles. Even when healthy, the Commanders failed to limit big plays. Now, the injuries have piled up. Starting cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore and rookie Trey Amos are lost for the season. Starting safety Will Harris was injured back in Week 3, but is close to a return. The two constants for the Commanders are a pair of former second-round picks: cornerback Mike Sainristil (2024) and safety Quan Martin (2023).

You could almost count on which players would play 100% of Washington’s defensive snaps each week, with Bobby Wagner, Frankie Luvu, Martin and Sainristil often leading the way.

Something changed in Sunday’s 16-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Yes, Wagner, Luvu and Sainristil played 100% of Washington’s defensive snaps, but Martin did not.

Martin played on 37 of the Commanders’ 56 defensive snaps (66%). When Martin hasn’t played 100% of the snaps before, it’s usually because he’s dealt with an injury. That wasn’t the case on Sunday. When head coach/defensive coordinator Dan Quinn met with the media on Monday, he was asked about Martin’s decreased playing time.

“Just a change in personnel, yep,” Quinn responded. “It was just some corrections that had to be made, and so, came back to play in it, but yeah, we just wanted to make some corrections to get it right.”

Did Quinn admit that he benched Martin for a period of time? Martin indeed returned for the game, but Quinn could’ve responded, “We just wanted to get Darnell Savage a few more looks.” Instead, he acknowledged there was a change in personnel and corrections needed to be made. That’s curious wording.

Martin has struggled all year. He’s looked lost in coverage, and his missed tackles continue to mount. His tackle attempt on Bears running back D’Andre Swift in Week 6 contributed to Washington’s loss. Six games remain for Martin to get back on track.

After this season, Martin has one year remaining on his rookie deal. He was considered a building block for the Commanders’ last season, with now-demoted defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. saying he could be one of the NFL’s best safeties.

Washington is on a bye this week.