Perfect Fits for the Redskins’ 5 Biggest Free Agency Needs

Free Safety: Reggie Nelson

The Bengals are a team with a lot of financial decisions to make this offseason. They have a number of talented players slated for free agency, with essentially their entire wide receiving corps and secondary headed for the open market. Will they be willing to dish out big bucks in order to keep Nelson in Cincinnati? There’s no telling, but it’s possible the answer to that question is “no.”

If that’s the case, I’d anticipate the Redskins being very interested in the talented free safety. He proved this past season to be an outstanding ballhawk in the Bengals secondary, coming in tied for the league lead with eight interceptions. Combined with his outstanding abilities as a run defender, that instinctive play in coverage earned him one of the highest marks among safeties from ProFootballFocus for the 2015 campaign.

While he is a bit off-putting at 32 years of age, Nelson showed last year that he’s still more than capable of being an asset in coverage. Assuming the Redskins move on from Dashon Goldson (saving $8 million against the cap), they’d have more than enough room to sign Nelson at about $5 million annually, drastically upgrading their subpar secondary in the process.

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