Redskins place EDGE Ryan Kerrigan on IR, sign TE Caleb Wilson

Ryan Kerrigan’s season is now over. To replace him on the active roster, the Washington Redskins signed tight end Caleb Wilson.

For the first time in his nine-year Redskins career, Ryan Kerrigan‘s season will end early. The team’s top edge rusher will be sidelined for the final three games of the 2019 season with a calf injury after the ‘Skins elected to place him on IR.

The move isn’t much of a surprise. In recent weeks, Kerrigan has dealt with unplayable injury issues for the first time in his career. After an impressive iron-man streak of 139 starts in a row, Kerrigan suffered a concussion that held him out for a week against the Carolina Panthers. He then suffered a calf injury against the Green Bay Packers and that ended up ending his season.

Kerrigan totaled a career-low 5.5 sacks on the year, but it was notable that he had 3.5 of those sacks in his final three games. He was starting to hit his stride before injuries struck, so it’s a shame that his season came to an end when it did. But with the Redskins sitting a 3-10, it makes sense to let him get healthy and build toward next season.

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That said, it’s also fair to wonder if Kerrigan’s time with the Redskins will come to an end this offseason. He will turn 32 just before the start of the next NFL season and with Washington not really set to contend in the next couple of years, it may make sense for him to play elsewhere and chase a title as a depth starter.

Kerrigan does have one year remaining on his contract that is worth just about $11.75 million. The Redskins could cut him without any dead cap hit, but they’d be more likely to trade him for an asset or keep the longtime Redskin on board as opposed to releasing up. Either way, they will be faced with an important decision to make on Kerrigan this offseason.

Meanwhile, to replace Kerrigan on the roster, the Redskins are reportedly signing tight end Caleb Wilson from the Cardinals practice squad. Wilson was Mr. Irrelevant in the 2019 NFL Draft, so now the Redskins have each of the last two draft’s Mr. Irrelevants on their squad (Trey Quinn, 2018).

Wilson was a dynamic receiving weapon in his final year at UCLA in 2018 and notched 60 catches for 965 yards and four scores. And he put on a good show at the NFL Combine while demonstrating his speed and athletic ability.

While Wilson has receiving talent, he doesn’t offer nearly as much as a blocker because of his relatively lean frame (he’s only 240 pounds). Still, taking a flyer on him is a smart move by the Redskins given that they have little to no talent at the tight end position, especially since the oft-injured Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis seem likely to go elsewhere this offseason.

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We’ll see what Wilson can do for the rest of the season. He may not see the field much as the third tight end behind Jeremy Sprinkle and Hale Hentges, but there’s still a chance he could beat either for playing time or overtake them on the depth chart in the offseason. He just needs some extra time to develop. He’s a good upside signing that could pan out, so that’s a worthwhile investment.

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