My defenders do this as well, but aside from individual attributes the key thing is options. The next match you are watching analyse it in detail, take a screenshot of it and look at where your defender's team mates are positioned and how close the opposition players are to them at the moment your defender decides to hoof it up the pitch. You can then see if he had realistic passing options relative to his individual instructions.
For example if he is set to 'short' passing you need to give him an option in the centre of the park as well as the fullbacks. So lowering the mentality of a central midfielder in a standard 442 and setting 'forward runs' to mixed or using a specific DM should help in providing that option. If you have a midfielder capable of it then assigning a playmaker can be useful, but you need to set his instructions so that he is in space (change his mentality so he takes up positions that create a distance between him and the opposing player in the opponent's formation).
The availability of options also depends on the defender's team mates 'off the ball' attribute. Also some people are of the opinion that creative freedom has an effect on the extent to which players will move from their predefined position in a formation. But to be honest I'm not entirely convinced.
Also the team instructions 'tempo' and 'time wasting' can have an impact on this. For example if you are playing high tempo with time wasting rarely then the players tend to rush what they are doing. For example if you are favourites in a match and the opposition is backing off your defenders and sitting deep, if you change 'run with ball' to mixed, lower your tempo and time wasting then you should see the player move into the space and draw the opposition out from their defensive stance. This in turn creates space for the defender's team mates to move into and gives him a viable option to pass to.
If all of this fails or you are already doing this then it means your players are just crap.
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