Daron Payne makes getting to the QB look easy. Really, it takes work.

After he was named the game’s defensive MVP, Payne declared he had “gold hands” and suggested his team should make him a wide receiver.

Nearly five years later, Payne, now one of the Washington Commanders’ star defensive tackles, still is itching to put points on the board.

Washington (1-2) is reeling from two dismal losses behind a sputtering offense and leaky defense, but amid the team’s shortfalls, Payne has emerged as one of its consistent bright spots — in a contract year. Now in his fifth NFL season and his third in defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s system, Payne has made a number of plays appear easy and has shown an aggression up front that belies his shyness and quiet temperament. His impact, even in losses, has been significant.

Through three games, he has two sacks, six quarterback hits and a pair of passes defended. Against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, Payne was a force, hitting quarterback Trevor Lawrence three times, batting two of his passes and sacking him once. Payne used an inside swipe move to get past Jaguars guard Brandon Scherff, a former teammate, then bounced off center Luke Fortner and barreled toward Lawrence, whom he bear-hugged to the ground.

Del Rio, who rarely extols singular performances, said Payne was sensational.

In Week 2, Payne added another sack and a pair of quarterback hits to his résumé. In the third quarter, he pushed Logan Stenberg with such force that the Detroit Lions guard fell on his back. Payne stumbled over him to grab quarterback Jared Goff’s ankles just as defensive end Montez Sweat whipped around the edge to hit Goff up top, forcing him to dump the ball off short of a first down. Then on the next drive, he swiped outside to get around Stenberg and make a beeline to Goff for the sack.

“You see those little detail things of his game starting to come out; that’s what you’re looking for,” Coach Ron Rivera said. “That’s that growth we’re expecting. And with his skill set, and if he continues, then that’s pretty exciting.”

In Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Payne bulldozed tight end Dallas Goedert at the goal line to tackle running back Boston Scott in the end zone for a safety. It was the first safety of Payne’s career.

“They bumped me over so I was on the tight end,” Payne recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is easy.’ ”

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Through Week 3, he’s one of 12 defensive linemen in the league with at least 100 pass-rushing snaps. Of those 12, he has the third-highest pressure rate (12.7 percent), which measures how often a defender gets into the backfield and has path to the quarterback, according to the website TruMedia.

Payne is averaging 4.33 pressures per game, a leap from 2.76 last year. And according to ESPN’s analytics, Payne’s pass-rush win rate (a stat that measures how often a pass rusher is able to beat his block within 2.5 seconds) is 17 percent, which is seventh best at his position. Last season, Payne’s pass-rush win rate was about 11 percent, and he was double-teamed at a lower rate than average for defensive tackles — and at a lower rate than he has been this season.

“I just feel like everything is clicking right now for me,” Payne said. “The game is slowing down for me, and I’m able to see the bigger vision, and I’m able to see when I’m able to take my shots and take my chances and just do what I can with the opportunity.”

Washington’s interior duo of Payne and Jonathan Allen, another first-round pick out of Alabama, have become the focal point for opposing offenses. The pair are often doubled and chip blocked, creating one-on-one matchups for others up front. The two also work in tandem on stunts and other pass-rush games to pile on the pressure.

Remember Jamin Davis’s first-quarter sack against the Lions? A Payne-Allen stunt that cleared an inside lane for the blitz made it possible.

And remember the Jaguars’ first trip inside the Commanders’ red zone, when Lawrence overthrew his target after Payne pummeled him? That was courtesy of a stunt, too.

“Daron goes over and picks Jonathan’s man,” Rivera recalled. “But at the same time, [Payne] doesn’t bury himself. He keeps himself active and alive. He punches the guy’s hip, ricochets, gets vertical, and he’s right into the play. You see that growth and development.”

But perhaps the biggest growth in Payne’s play is something his coaches can’t see.

In June, Payne attended the Von Miller Pass Rush Summit, an invite-only gathering of the game’s top pass rushers. For one weekend in Las Vegas, he was surrounded by some 20 defensive players for on-field coaching and a classroom session to review film.

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Payne picked up pointers from his peers but also stood before the group to show some of his own rushes, including a game he ran with Sweat against the Seahawks. Payne lined up at end, only to swing inside and essentially create a pick play with Seattle’s guard and tackle, freeing up Sweat on the outside. But as Russell Wilson scrambled outside, Payne chased and knocked him down for the sack.

“I kind of sold it,” Payne said while explaining the move to the group. “You really got to come around tighter and be more aware of the quarterback.”

Payne’s analysis of his play this season is similar: Despite the results, he feels he could do more. So he took what he learned at Miller’s summit and went even further. Payne reached out to several players across the league, including Miller and Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, to learn everything from techniques to how they attack offenses to their offseason regimens to how they recover in-season.

His approach has been successful, but it could bear even more fruit.

Payne is playing on his fifth-year contract option, worth $8.529 million, and for now appears to be headed to free agency in March. In Washington or elsewhere, the big man with gold hands could earn a hefty deal before he turns 26.

Until then, Payne is searching for new ways to affect the game.

“I need to talk to [offensive coordinator] Scott [Turner],” he said with a smile. “I’ve been trying to get my way into the running backs room. I’m definitely asking. It’s good to put points on the board.”