Riggo's Rag
FanSided

Report: Redskins sign punter Sam Irwin-Hill to a contract

By Jacob Camenker

FOXBORO, MA - NOVEMBER 08: A Washington Redskins helmet before the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on November 8, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
FOXBORO, MA - NOVEMBER 08: A Washington Redskins helmet before the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on November 8, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Well, the Washington Redskins did… something. They signed punter Sam Irwin-Hill to a deal on Thursday afternoon.

Needless to say, the moves of the Washington Redskins in the first few days of legal tampering and free agency have been… curious. After letting a good amount of players walk, it was assumed that the team would use some of their cap space to bring in some adequate replacements.

Before Thursday, the only signing they had made was receiver Paul Richardson from Seattle and a couple of moves to re-sign Dustin Hopkins and Brian Quick. Yes, it’s worth noting that the team did retain Quinton Dunbar and Mason Foster earlier in the offseason, and they also traded for Alex Smith. Still, having all quiet on the Redskins front during the big free agent frenzy was a bit strange, as they had some extra cap space because they elected to let Kirk Cousins walk.

On Thursday, the team reportedly made a move to sign a new player to their team. They inked Sam Irwin-Hill to a contract, according to his agent at DEC Management. Yes, you heard that right. The team has decided to bring in a punter to compete with Tress Way.

Live Feed

Brian Orakpo says Texas Longhorns fans should lower expectations
Brian Orakpo says Texas Longhorns fans should lower expectations /

FanSided

  • Top 10 NFL greats in the wrong uniformFanSided
  • Madden 23: Washington Football Team reveals new name 'Washington Commanders'App Trigger
  • WFT tries to explain its decision to use Sean Taylor as a distraction amid scandal FanSided
  • Madden 22: Our 2021 NFL season sim results in some wild predictionsApp Trigger
  • Madden 22: Best teams to rebuild in Franchise modeApp Trigger

    • On the surface, this seems like an odd move. Way has been with the Redskins for four years and in every season, he has averaged at least 45 yard per punt. Last year, he ranked 13th in the NFL with an average of 45.7 yards per punt. So, why would they want to bring in competition for Way?

    Well, that could be related to the bigger key stat for punting. Net yards per punt. Last year, the Redskins only averaged 40.5 net yards of field position per punt, which ranked 28th in the NFL. Now, that could be partially due to the special teams unit not playing particularly well. But, it could be that the team wasn’t pleased with the hangtime on Way’s punts or something else. Either way, this decision would appear to create a little competition this offseason.

    That said, Irwin-Hill is far from any sort of proven commodity. At age 27, Irwin-Hill spent the first two years of his NFL career going virtually unnoticed in the Indianapolis Colts’ mini-camp. He was only there on a tryout basis, and never stuck around. In 2017, he got a chance to kick for the Dallas Cowboys in the preseason, but he only averaged 38.3 yards per punt on 15 kicks. He did down five inside the 20 and had a long of 54 yards, but the lack of consistency and experience is certainly a bit concerning.

    Next: 5 available free agents for the Redskins to sign

    There’s likely little risk involved in bringing in Irwin-Hill to create some competition. At the same time, it seems like a waste of time and resources to bring him in at such a critical time. Irwin-Hill is likely just a camp body, so adding him in the first week of free agency seems like poor timing. Had the team been more active in free agency initially, it might have made sense. But for now, adding a second punter wasn’t a necessary move, so it deserves to be questioned.

    Home/Commanders Free Agency