A'Mauri Washington is back, and that changes the whole conversation around Oregon’s defense.
Two days after the Ducks were hammered 56-22 by Indiana in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Jan. 9 in Atlanta, Washington announced on social media that he would return to Eugene for 2026. That decision mattered because the 6-foot-3, 330-pound defensive tackle had been sitting on a potential second-round grade from the NFL College Advisory Committee and had also drawn first-round buzz during the season. He chose Oregon over the draft anyway.
And he wasn’t the only one. Teitum Tuioti, who checks in at No. 22 on this most important players list, and Matayo Uiagalelei made the same call later that week, while Bear Alexander had already committed to another season in December. That means every starter on Oregon’s defensive front is back, with Washington standing at the center of it all.
The Ducks need that front to look a lot more like the group that shut out Big 12 champion Texas Tech 23-0 in the Orange Bowl quarterfinal on Jan. 1 than the one that got shredded by Indiana eight days later. Oregon’s defense can’t afford those extremes again, and Washington is the piece that helps determine which version shows up.
His 2025 season was his first as a full-time starter, and he made it count. Washington started all 15 games and finished with 33 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He also batted down eight passes, which tied for the most among FBS defensive linemen.
That kind of production from the interior changes how offenses have to operate. Even when Washington doesn’t get home, he can erase throwing lanes just by being there.
Pro Football Focus credited him with 22 pressures, third on the team, and Big Ten coaches and media voted him third-team all-conference. Before he withdrew from draft consideration, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. had him at No. 25 on his 2026 board.
Washington’s path to Eugene started far from it. He’s from Detroit and finished at Chandler High School in Arizona, where he was a four-star recruit and ranked as On3’s No. 31 defensive lineman nationally. Oregon beat out LSU, Oklahoma and Michigan State for his commitment.
He also knows there’s still a flaw in his game. Evaluators charted eight missed tackles in 2025, and Washington put the fix in plain terms this spring.
"More of finishing plays," Washington said. "I feel like it'd be times when you get there, excellent block release, all of that, but then it's just the finish. It's one thing to get there, but you've got to finish on it."
The preseason recognition came quickly, too. In June, the Walter Camp Football Foundation named Washington a preseason second-team All-American, one of four Oregon players to make the list. Only Texas had more selections, and Oregon’s four tied defending champion Indiana for second-most in the country.
That’s why Washington sits at the heart of the Ducks’ defensive line outlook. Tuioti and Uiagalelei can wreck games off the edge, but that only works if Washington forces the kind of attention inside that opens things up. Oregon’s front looks loaded on paper, and Washington is the player who decides whether it plays that way.
The Ducks open against Boise State at Autzen Stadium on Sept. 5 and later travel to USC in Los Angeles, where opposing coaches have already identified Washington as the player they have to account for.
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