Redskins reportedly decline Reuben Foster’s fifth-year option

The Redskins decided not to pick up the fifth-year option on linebacker Reuben Foster. Here’s why it was a sensible move.

Reuben Foster has been with the Washington Redskins for about a year and a half. He has yet to play. At the time the team elected to claim him off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers, Foster was dealing with accusations of domestic violence. That wasn’t enough to scare off Bruce Allen and though the whole situation was a PR nightmare for the team, Foster was eventually cleared after being suspended at the end of the 2018 season.

It was expected that Foster would start at linebacker for the team in 2019. However, just a few plays into OTAs, Foster suffered a catastrophic knee injury. He tore his ACL, LCL, and MCL and ended up suffering nerve damage as well. It wasn’t until January that the last part was revealed, but only recently did the nerve start firing again.

With that said, it’s hard to know exactly how effective Foster will be when he returns to the field. Or if he will even be able to return to the field in 2020. The Redskins aren’t necessarily banking on him playing — they have added quite a few linebackers to the roster — but they’d certainly benefit from having him back on the field.

That said, it’s not a surprise that the Redskins elected to decline Foster’s fifth-year option as was reported by Les Carpenter of The Washington Post.

The reason for this is simple. They don’t know if Foster will be able to get healthy this year and as a result, they can’t be sure whether or not he will find success in the team”s defense. And also, the fifth-year option is guaranteed for injury.

So, if Foster couldn’t get healthy or didn’t play well, the ‘Skins would be on the hook for that money which would be equal to the average of the third-highest to 25th-highest-paid player at the linebacker position, per NFL.com. And that wouldn’t be a palatable figure especially given that the team doesn’t know how Foster will fit in on defense.

Essentially, what this boils down to is Foster getting a trial year in 2020 to prove himself. If he can’t stay healthy, the Redskins can always give him a chance to return on a cheap, “prove it” deal in 2021. Or, they can let him walk and take the loss on the decision to claim Foster. And if he exceeds expectations and plays really well, they’ll have to consider giving him a contract extension or letting him go in free agency to recoup a compensatory pick.

But by declining the fifth-year option, the team protects themselves from Foster either not seeing the field, aggravating the injury, or not being the same after that it. That was the smart move for the team and realistically, they were never going to exercise Foster’s option. So, this makes sense.

Foster will still likely have a chance to prove himself and he will be a player to watch in 2020. If he can get on the field, he’ll be a big-time wild card on defense, as he could play at a solid level or he may be rusty after a year and a half off the field due to the injury and the suspension the NFL gave him to close out the 2018 campaign. Only time will tell what the Redskins have in Foster.

Though the Redskins declined Foster’s fifth-year option, they picked up Jonathan Allen’s. The 17th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft will now be under contract with the ‘Skins until 2021 at the least. And the team should probably work to get him an extension when the time comes.