Commanders LB Frankie Luvu praised by new teammates for energy: 'Frankie's a dog'

After having one of his best NFL seasons in 2023 with the Panthers, linebacker Frankie Luvu was rewarded in free agency with a three-year, $36 million deal to join the Washington Commanders last month.

Since the signing, the linebacker has been the subject of praise from both old friends and new teammates for his energy and recent surge in production.

One Commanders teammate, safety Jeremy Chinn, is especially familiar with the linebacker's game, as he shared the field in Carolina with Luvu the last three years before also departing for Washington this spring.

"Frankie's a dog," Chinn said, via the team website. "They're definitely gonna get somebody who's high energy, somebody who's gonna put his all on the line every single Sunday, every single week."

Luvu's career started in 2018 with the Jets, where he acted in a limited role for three years, accumulating four starts and 59 tackles in that span. But after joining the Panthers in 2021, the now-27-year-old Luvu worked his way up the depth chart, starting 14 games in 2022 and all 17 this most recent season. He has recorded a combined 236 tackles the past two years, along with 12.5 sacks, nine passes defensed, a trio of forced fumbles and an interception.

With such a quick ascent up the defensive rankings for Luvu heading into the next phase of his career, one of his new teammates expressed he's just glad to be on the same side now. Quarterback Marcus Mariota spent a season with the Falcons in 2022, and joked that he has had his fill of Luvu lining up against him while both were in the NFC South, after being sacked three times in two games against the Panthers that year.

"Aside from him hitting me all the time, I've gotten to know him a little bit over the course of the last