Redskins reset navigation system with strong 2019 draft class

Months ago, the Redskins were adrift in hazy waters.

Their $71 million quarterback suffered a career threatening injury. Their team collapsed to a closing record of 7-9, after starting 6-3. To call their future cloudy at the start of 2019 would have been an understatement. But while the Washington Redskins have not yet emerged from obscurity, they’ve found a lantern to light the path.

When Washington signed Alex Smith to an extension worth $94 million after trading for the former Pro Bowler, a new window was formed, for a team with an ascending young core, and an established, if uninspiring head coach. For a time, it looked as if winning ugly would work, in some undefined capacity. But then it all fell apart.

Coming into the 2019 offseason, there was little more than uncertainty to occupy the mind for Washington. Smith was gone, for the foreseeable future. Bruce Allen was given the keys to the franchise again. And it seemed as though Dan Snyder, for all his brief, finite, artificial hiccups of hope, would never stop getting in his own way.

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The Redskins gave Alex Smith over $70 million in guarantees with his extension, and that cap number still manifests itself on the books, in hefty sums. The only way for the Redskins to begin to alleviate that weight on themselves was to put together a solid draft class in 2019. Adding cheap talent was a priority. Adding a cheap franchise quarterback, without having to trade up? That was on the list. But deemed unrealistic.

And then it happened.

The Redskins let Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins fall to them at No. 15, and in effect, achieved one of the best value acquisitions of the 2019 NFL Draft. Haskins isn’t a perfect quarterback, but for the cost of just one pick and a cheap, four-year rookie contract, he brings the potential to compete, a commodity the Redskins lost with Alex Smith.

The potential to compete is something the Redskins need from their quarterback. They have a strong young core worth capitalizing on in the short-term, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, where players such as Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis, Ryan Kerrigan, Montez Sweat, Reuben Foster, Shaun Dion Hamilton, Quinton Dunbar, Fabian Moreau, and Landon Collins assemble to form a formidable unit. On offense, the future is less certain, but the pieces are in place to, at the very least, ascend the ineptitude experienced in 2018.

It’s not only opportunity that demands this navigation shift. Head coach Jay Gruden can’t afford to make 2019 a sit-out year, for his job’s sake. After so many years of middling, Gruden needs to prove he can make the coveted playoff run. He’s been given this last chance. He knows it was unlikely. The Redskins came into the 2019 offseason knowing that, somehow, someway, they needed to field a team ready to compete in 2019 and 2020. And while it was a tall task, they did all they could to make it happen. Now, it’s Gruden’s job to lead the way.

Now, with a high-floor rookie quarterback, and an imposing defense in its final stages of formation, the Redskins have reset their navigation system. They never had the luxury of time, and so they had to quicken the growth process. Not long ago, they were dead in the water. Now, their sail has unfurled again. Time will tell if the winds are kind. But the Redskins have given themselves another chance.

Next. Five returning players who should be happy after draft. dark

That’s all they could hope for.

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