Redskins Reality Checks: Pre-draft roadmap for team to follow

Final moves

14. Sign Hunter Henry

You all thought I had forgotten about tight. Nope. But Austin Hooper is going to get overpaid. He’s a good tight end. He’s not elite, but he’s going to get elite money.

Henry has bigger upside and is being labeled as “injury-prone”. I don’t think a fractured kneecap makes somebody injury-prone. That’s a fluke injury, and an ACL is so common nowadays, it shouldn’t be considered a hindrance. Henry should be gettable for a four year deal in the $40 million range, which is a great value for Jordan Reed’s replacement.

Rob Rogers can earn his pay in structuring this deal to have a 2020 cap hit around $6 million, leaving the team with $13 million in cap space.

15. Sign a Cheap Backup QB

Brett Hundley, A.J. McCarron – that’s the level of QB the Redskins should sign. Serviceable backup who is cheap. The Redskins should pour their entire focus at the QB position to developing Haskins in 2020. If he succeeds, fantastic. If he doesn’t the backup plan should not be some middle-ground option like Teddy Bridgewater or Taysom Hill or Ryan Fitzpatrick, but to draft a QB in 2021.

So, there’s no reason to overpay for a backup you expect not to play in 2020. Hundley or McCarron should be available for around $3 million a year on a two-year deal, leaving the team with $10 million available for signing their draft picks and any low-level free agents needed to fill out the roster after the draft.

This roadmap doesn’t solve every problem for the Redskins. It doesn’t answer every question, but it puts the team on solid footing moving forward, getting younger, faster, and more reliable, while prioritizing improved culture and placing value at the positions where it is needed most. It sets them up to have flexibility in the draft to not be desperate to over-draft based on a desperate need.

If the Redskins make all of these (or similar) moves, there will be a LOT of reason for optimism for this team moving forward.