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Redskins lose potential-packed WR Simmie Cobbs as Saints sign him off practice squad

By Jacob Camenker

LANDOVER, MD - AUGUST 24: Wide receiver Simmie Cobbs #15 of the Washington Redskins catches a touchdown pass against the Denver Broncos in the second half during a preseason game at FedExField on August 24, 2018 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD - AUGUST 24: Wide receiver Simmie Cobbs #15 of the Washington Redskins catches a touchdown pass against the Denver Broncos in the second half during a preseason game at FedExField on August 24, 2018 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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Simmie Cobbs had been stashed on the Redskins practice squad all season long. Now, he will go to one of the NFC’s best teams, as the Saints have signed him to their active roster.

There were some who believed Simmie Cobbs would be a Day 2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. The big-bodied Indiana receiver was coming off a solid season, and he profiled as a potential possession-based No. 2 receiver at the NFL level. However, he somehow fell to the ranks of the undrafted, as some concerns about his overall athletic ability made him slip during the draft.

The Redskins were the lucky team that was able to land Cobbs after the draft. He joined their roster and entered into a battle for one of the final receiver spots on the roster. He was always on the outside looking in, but he put on a good show as he tried to win that No. 6 spot. And he certainly showed enough in the preseason to remain on the team’s practice squad.

For the whole season, Cobbs has been a staple of the practice squad. But that will now change. According to Nick Underhill of The New Orleans Advocate, the Saints have signed Cobbs off the Redskins practice squad. He will now join one of the league’s best teams and will have a legitimate chance to make a Super Bowl run.

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Letting Cobbs go seems like a mistake for the Redskins. Sure, there’s no guarantee that he will pan out, but there are a couple of things to consider when thinking about this move.

The first is that the Saints have a solid track record of identifying quality undrafted receivers in recent years. While playing with Drew Brees certainly helps these players, guys like Keith Kirkwood, Tommylee Lewis, and Austin Carr have all played roles in the team’s receiving corps this year. And, of course, let’s not forget what they were able to do with former seventh-round pick Marques Colston, who turned into one of the franchise’s best receivers of all time.

The fact that the Saints went after Cobbs obviously means that they like something about his skill set. If he can become a jump-ball red-zone threat with New Orleans, it will become clearer that letting Cobbs go wasn’t the best move for the ‘Skins.

The other major thing to think about with this move is the fact that the Redskins don’t have a strong receiving corps, yet Cobbs never made it to the active roster this season. This can be viewed in two ways. The first is that Cobbs may not yet have been talented enough to crack the Redskins rotation. Or, perhaps he didn’t do enough in terms of special teams to make the roster. The latter seems more likely than the former. Still, that alone isn’t enough to justify letting him walk.

The second view is that the Redskins just made a mistake by thinking they could hold onto him until the end of the season. Considering the current state of the Redskins receiving corps, the team easily could have added Cobbs to the roster to prevent the Saints from grabbing him. Even if they didn’t want to get rid of any of the five guys on the roster currently, they could have elected to add Cobbs as a sixth man and ditch one of their five RBs or another depth player. Or, they could have decided to bring Cobbs up and release a guy like Michael Floyd, a veteran whose upside is pretty much tapped at this point.

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At the end of the day, letting Cobbs go isn’t a move that is going to hurt the franchise in a major way. But at the same time, it just doesn’t seem that the team should have let a potential-packed, young talent leave. They could have found a way to make room for him on the squad, but they didn’t. If Cobbs becomes a solid weapon in New Orleans, the Redskins may end up regretting this move. But for now, we’re just in wait and see mode regarding this loss.

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