The Washington Redskins have a new-looking quarterback depth chart for the 2019 season. Here’s an in-depth look at the roles their players will play.
For the second straight year, the Washington Redskins will likely have a new starter at quarterback. But this time, it’s not by design.
During the 2018 offseason, Kirk Cousins finally left the Redskins after years of tension and being slapped with the franchise tag. Before he got a chance to leave though, the ‘Skins made a move at the position, acquiring Alex Smith from the Chiefs and signing him to a four-year extension. It looked like he would be their short-term starter while they located a long-term successor.
While things were decent at first, Washington’s plan was dealt a massive blow when Smith suffered a brutal leg injury against the Texans. It’s expected that he will miss the 2019 season, and that forced the team to change course at the position, just a year after they had four different starting quarterbacks.
With two new players now on the roster (three if you include a low-end signing), the quarterback room has been transformed. The Redskins will have the next few months to sort things out, but no matter what, the position looks a lot different than it did just six months ago. Here’s an in-depth look at the quarterback depth chart, starting with the clubhouse favorite to be the starter.
Starter: QB Dwayne Haskins
The Redskins spent a first-round pick on Haskins. While they may opt to sit him a bit at the start of the season, the fact of the matter is that he may win the starting job in training camp and the preseason. And if he doesn’t, he will almost certainly grab ahold of it by the end of the year.
Haskins is coming off a prolific career at Ohio State. Last season, he threw for a whopping 50 touchdowns and helped lead the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl. It was the first time in a long while that the Buckeyes had a very pass-heavy offense, and Haskins did well as their offensive leader.
Haskins has a very nice arm and can make throws downfield. He is accurate as well, especially in the short and intermediate game. He may numerous brilliant throws at Ohio State and should have the ability to become a playmaker in the NFL. It’s just a matter of whether or not his passing skills will translate immediately or if he will need more time to develop.
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For the NFL, Haskins will need to improve his ball placement all-around. He occasionally misses by just a hair, and if that continues, he could have problems with interceptions or pass breakups against better, quicker NFL defensive backs.
Additionally, Haskins’ lack of mobility will require him to mostly be a pocket passer. Because of this, he will have to improve his ability to read the field, which should be doable considering the upside he showed there as a one-year starter.
Haskins’ overall passing ability reminds me of Jameis Winston, a player with great arm talent but poor ball placement. But Haskins lacks Winston’s mobility and isn’t as much of a risk taker as Winston, so while he shares some traits, their playing style is different.
No quarterback on the ‘Skins has the upside of Haskins. And they clearly believe in him. After seeing the impact of last year’s rookie quarterback class on their respective teams, Jay Gruden and company may be content to throw Haskins into the fire right away and see what he can do. It may take him some time to learn, and there may be growing pains, but he has the skill set needed to be successful.
Top Backups/Spot Starters: QBs Case Keenum and Colt McCoy
It’s important to note that I am including “spot starters” in this category. There is an important reason for this. In the event that Haskins isn’t quite ready for NFL action in the first month of the season, either Keenum or McCoy could hold the fort for a month or so until the ‘Skins are comfortable starting Haskins.
Is that likely? Probably not. But still, it is certainly a possibility.
After last season’s quarterback debacle, the ‘Skins seemingly wanted to add more depth to the position. They did that by drafting Haskins, but acquiring Keenum was a smart, cheap move as well. With Keenum in the fold, the team now has a veteran who has made 39 starts over the course of the past three seasons. He found immense success in Minnesota, but he struggled a bit last year in his lone year in Denver. He was still a fairly accurate playmaker. He just happened to struggle with turnovers (15 interceptions).
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Still, in the right system, Keenum could be a solid starter and could lead a team to the postseason. After all, he got the Vikings to an NFC Championship Game. Of course, that was with a loaded roster and Washington may lack the offensive weapons needed to be a true playoff contender, but Keenum could give them a steady, starting presence if Haskins isn’t ready or gets hurt. That is extremely valuable to have.
On the other side of the coin, McCoy is a nice player to have as well. He has four years of experience in Jay Gruden’s system and when he has been on the field, he has been a solid quarterback. He doesn’t have the same proven success as Keenum, but he did prove that he could help the team win a game, as he did last year when taking over for an injured Alex Smith against the Houston Texans.
McCoy’s biggest issue is injury troubles of his own. He has had multiple surgeries this offseason to deal with a broken leg he suffered against the Philadelphia Eagles last year. With two new passers in the fold, Washington can take their time in letting McCoy come back. And if he makes the roster, which he likely will, his accuracy (68.1 percent completion rate with the Redskins) will make him a composed, accurate quarterback who will take some risks but can win games.
Both Keenum and McCoy have the skill sets needed to be top backups and spot starters in the NFL. They have proven that, and that type of veteran depth will be crucial to this young, work-in-progress ‘Skins offense.
Practice Squad Candidate: QB Josh Woodrum
One of the great things about the now-defunct AAF is that it afforded players that hadn’t stuck around at the NFL level a chance to prove themselves. One of those players was Josh Woodrum.
Woodrum, a former quarterback at Liberty, entered the NFL in 2016. He had a lot of trouble sticking on a roster, and has been on seven different teams and had eight separate stints with those teams (two with the Ravens). To date, he has yet to play a regular season NFL snap.
In the AAF, Woodrum was entrusted as the starter for the Salt Lake Stallions. His results were mixed, as he completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 1,449 yards, six touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He didn’t show elite upside, but as a starter, his solid accuracy and good frame stood out.
Most importantly, Woodrum got a chance to really get on the field and put some highlights on tape, something he hadn’t been able to do in years. That gave the Redskins enough cause to sign him and see what he can do this offseason.
Had Woodrum produced better in the AAF, and particularly, if he had avoided turnovers, he would have had a chance to win a backup job. However, that appears to, once again, be an uphill battle for him. Still, for a team that used four quarterbacks last season, Woodrum represents nice competition with some upside. He’s still just 26, and if he can make strides after getting more in-game action in the AAF, he could do enough to prove he belongs.
More likely than not, Woodrum is just going to be a camp body who will see action in the preseason. He could be a practice squad option, but that’s about it. Unless he can outplay either McCoy or Keenum in the preseason to earn the No. 3 quarterback role, expect Woodrum to be a practice squader at the most.
Injury Stash: QB Alex Smith
This is the only completely settled part of the quarterback depth chart. Barring a miracle, it seems highly unlikely that Alex Smith will suit up during the 2019 season. So, the Redskins will be forced to stash Smith on one of the injured lists.
However, the question will become this. Will they send him straight to Injured Reserve, or will they keep him on the PUP list until they have to make a decision? Both situations have their merits, but given that the team went through four quarterbacks last season, they would probably at least want a chance to activate Smith if he could somehow get healthy.
If I had to wager, I’d say the PUP list is more likely, as it would at least give the team more flexibility on the off chance that Smith can get healthy for the second half of the season. But even then, it’s hard to guarantee that he would be 1) ready to play and 2) have a role more than a backup passer.
And even beyond that, there is still a question of whether or not Smith can play at all, so the team could just cut their losses, place Smith on IR early, and attempt to rely on Haskins and the two veterans to hold down the fort.
Smith’s health will become important for the ‘Skins, as his contract runs for another four years. Until they know he is coming back or not, he will have to remain on the roster (at least until they have a way to get out of his contract).