As the old adage goes, the night is darkest just before the dawn.
It is night time in Redskins Park. And the Washington Redskins are immersed in darkness.
In the front office, Washington is controlled almost entirely by Dan Snyder and his henchman, Bruce Allen. Recent events have only proven their blindness to necessary change, and three combined decades of misconduct have cemented the truth that both men are incapable of sustaining success, too often obstructing their own path.
On the roster, the Redskins have a dangerous dependency on aging, injury-prone, and expensive players. Some, such as Trent Williams and Jordan Reed, check all three of those boxes. Others, such as Josh Norman, Ryan Kerrigan, and Alex Smith, have cap numbers large enough to cause concern. And then there are recent injuries, to key players such as Quinton Dunbar and Brandon Scherff, that leave fans wondering if said players will ever exhibit their brightest promise again.
The Redskins, as they often do, find themselves shrouded in uncertainty. But with the negatives mounting, it’s especially important to remember what the Redskins might have going for them in the coming years. The answer might be more lengthy than you’d expect.
No. 5 – The 2019 NFL Draft is deep at Redskins positions of need
The Redskins had a fair amount of needs before releasing D.J. Swearinger following their Week 16 loss to the Titans. Now that Swearinger’s gone for good, Washington’s draft wish list only grows longer.
Ask ten different people what position the Redskins should draft in the first round, and you’ll likely get ten different answers. The roster is one with a decent baseline of talent, but one with so many top-end holes, that a playmaker can be added almost anywhere.
The quarterback situation is up in the air. The team lacks a difference maker at wide receiver, and tight end is losing security exponentially. The offensive line may soon need a makeover. The defensive line may soon need more edge depth. The linebacking core needs more speed. Depth at cornerback is lacking. And with Swearinger gone, the Redskins are back to square one at safety.
So where is the reason for optimism, you ask? Well, luckily for the Redskins, the 2019 NFL Draft is very deep at many of these positions.
Wide receiver, tight end, edge rusher, linebacker, and safety stand out as positions where outstanding value can be had on Day 2, or even Day 3. There could very well be a dozen starting-caliber receivers in this class, and edge rusher is also incredibly well-stocked, as Nick Bosa, Brian Burns, Josh Allen, Clelin Ferrell, Jachai Polite, Montez Sweat, Zach Allen, Wyatt Ray, Anthony Nelson, and Chase Winovich all have Day 1 to Day 2 characteristics.
Linebacker and safety are deep positions as well, as players like Drue Tranquill, Jaquan Johnson, and Nasir Adderly stand out as possible mid-round gems. And with good scouting, solid interior offensive linemen can be found later on as well; Chase Roullier is a textbook example of this.
Let’s not fool ourselves; the Redskins have a lot of needs. But they also have a lot of draft picks, and this is the perfect draft to be in the market for playmakers at good value. With the way Kyle Smith has drafted over the past two years, fans have reason to be hopeful that the roster itself continues to be rebuilt the right way.
No. 4 – The Redskins have some pieces in place for a locker room culture reboot
In Week 8, the Washington Redskins culture was what fueled its strong start in the NFC East. In Week 16, the Washington Redskins culture was the problem.
Too often, we’ve seen this mental inconsistency from the team’s players. Some of that can be attributed to low morale in general in D.C. (which can be directly related to Dan Snyder’s failings as an owner), but it’s clear that at least a partial reboot is needed in Washington’s locker room. Players like Mason Foster, Zach Brown, and Josh Norman might need to go, for the betterment of the deteriorating locker room dynamic.
But the Redskins won’t be starting over. They have some pieces that can carry over through change.
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First and foremost, Alex Smith is still here, and while his cap number is obviously disproportionate to the impact he’s expected to provide on the field in the future, his mentality is something the team can draw inspiration from. Smith’s loss against the Texans was devastating for Washington’s morale. If he can come back, and step back onto the field again, imagine how incredible that would be, and imagine how motivating that would be for his team mates. Smith is working toward it. He’s not going to give up.
There are other players who’ve taken up roles as leaders as well, either as stable veterans, or new, sobering voices. Ryan Kerrigan has always been the team’s most consistent player: Heading into his ninth season in 2019, he’ll have amassed at least 83.5 sacks. And with virtually no injury history, there’s no reason to think Kerrigan, a stable force, can’t keep churning along. He, along with Trent Williams, provides an elite veteran presence that lifts the team’s floor, as a whole.
One more reason to buy into a coming culture change? The Alabama alumni. It’s clear that the team’s Crimson Tide players are wired differently; bred from an inherently successful program, they know what it takes to win. They hunger for it, and no one more than Jonathan Allen, who’s naturally emerged as a steadying voice in the defensive huddle. Perhaps, with a modest personnel makeover, the hunger of the Crimson Tide will permeate into the locker room, and a new culture will be cultivated.
No. 3 – There are bright spots in the Redskins front office
Just as there are bright spots on a somewhat speckled football roster, the Redskins also have some hidden gems in their front office.
These hidden gems find it hard to shine at times, as the hazy veil concocted by Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen can be hard to pierce. But make no mistake: There are people in that building who know what they’re doing.
Perhaps the most popular name in this hidden group is Kyle Smith, the Director of College Scouting. Smith, over the past two years, has seen an increase in responsibility, and with that, we’ve seen an increase in immediate returns over the past two NFL drafts. He won’t be promoted to general manager as long as Bruce Allen is here, but Snyder will continue to let Smith oversee the draft. He can’t afford not to.
All 18 players drafted by the Redskins over the past two years are still with the organization. In 2017, Smith managed to luck into grabbing Jonathan Allen at pick No. 17, and in the middle rounds, he consistent contributors such as Montae Nicholson (status rightfully pending amid assault charges), Jeremy Sprinkle, Chase Roullier, and Josh Harvey-Clemons.
In 2018, Smith upheld his reputation, finding promising projects such as Tim Settle, Shaun Dion Hamilton, Greg Stroman, and Trey Quinn in the later rounds. All four of those players could have bigger roles in 2019. Hamilton could wind up being a starter, and a good one.
The Smith hype is real; even with the taint of Snyder and Allen in the building, Smith’s promise has managed to shine through, and the Redskins roster is better because of it. Pair Smith with Eric Schaffer, a relatively young executive who’s widely tabbed as a cap guru.
Per Chris Lingenbach, Schaffer was, as of December 17, being considered by at least one team as a president candidate. Bruce Allen’s missteps cloud Schaffer’s success, but the executive is recognized outside Ashburn as a gem. If he stays in Washington after the latest debacle with Brian Lafemina, he could stay long enough to sap Allen’s role from his own destabilizing self. It’s certainly wishful thinking. But there’s a chance common sense wins out, even in the darkest corner of the NFL.
No. 2 – The Redskins have a solid, growing young talent core
While the Redskins’ veteran core is growing dangerously outdated, two solid drafts in a row have helped balance the age demographics. Kyle Smith has begun to form a solid young core.
On offense, Derrius Guice is an obvious example of the core in place. Guice was lost to an ACL injury in the preseason of 2018, but he has clear first-round talent, and he’ll come back in 2018 as a vital, versatile playmaker for the Redskins’ offense. Jeremy Sprinkle and Trey Quinn will join him as promising niche players, and Chase Roullier returns as an adequate starter on the offensive line.
On defense, the interior line is perhaps the best example for the young core’s growth on the entire team. Stacked with dominant trench warriors such as Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, and Matt Ioannidis, the interior line is one that can both generate pressure, and cap the run. Consistency is still being sought, as is often the case with young players, but as long as Jim Tomsula sticks around, Washington’s defensive line can be elite.
The growth on defense starts with Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. They are at the center of the team’s young core, and with players like Ryan Anderson, Shaun Dion Hamilton, Fabian Moreau, and Greg Stroman slowly coming along as increased contributors, Washington at least has something to look forward to, as their old core slowly fades with age.
No. 1 – Dan Snyder’s fan-driven machine is losing its wheels
You could say that the last four slides are moot, as long as Dan Snyder owns the team. And you wouldn’t be wrong.
Snyder, with Bruce Allen as his reckless, loyal henchman, has all-too-often gotten in his own way, when dealing with the Redskins. To put it simply, he thinks he’s smarter than he is, and he doesn’t accept the truth: That years of failure have slowly turned his fan base against him, and that he is directing a dying franchise into darkened waters.
Perhaps there’s a silver lining in Snyder’s incompetence: It is not sustainable. Every organization in the NFL is driven monetarily by its fans. By its customers. And with every accumulated public relations disaster, and every collapse predicated on Snyder’s inflated ego, the fans will only recede in greater numbers.
This season, we saw the damages. Home games were almost away games. This past week, we saw the anger. #FireBruceAllen was trending on Twitter for two days after Brian Lafemina’s firing. People are upset. Fans are tired. And soon, they simply won’t take any more. And they won’t fall for the false glimpses of hope.
Snyder has refused to properly take care of his fan-driven machine, and now, the wheels could be set to fall off. His demise could come, in the form of empty pocketbooks. He will try to make himself the hero again. And he will fail, again and again.
In this theoretical, but possible scenario, could be forced to sell the team, after seeing his profits dry up. Any ending that involves Snyder selling the team is a positive one, even if it involves a short spell of incompetence on the field. Because, for the first time in a long time, there will be no one to obstruct true growth.
It might seem like a fantasy. But Snyder himself could make it real.