Washington Redskins: What does the Smith signing mean for the offense?

Running Game

With Alex Smith now slated as the Washington Redskins’ starting quarterback, finding a No. 1 running back is tantamount to the team’s success in 2018.

The Washington Redskins have a valuable third down back at Alex Smith’s disposal in Chris Thompson, but if the team can’t establish a running game, then Smith could suffer mightily.

This was ultimately one of the team’s goals before the trade for Smith materialized, but now, it becomes far more important. The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense was designed around two playmakers in 2017: Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill.

Without that every-down back to serve a multitude of purposes, the Redskins will be stuck running a vanilla offense with immense limitations. It doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. You need a running game to have a game at all.

This isn’t to say that Alex Smith can’t succeed without a solid run game. But when you have a mobile quarterback who’s accurate and has big play potential, you risk restricting his options by setting him up with a subpar running game. We saw a modulation of this with Kirk Cousins for the past three years. The Washington Redskins need to be in the business of finding a true starting running back this offseason, whether it be in free agency, or in the NFL Draft.