Reading the tea leaves on Washington Football Team’s latest roster moves

New Guys: Pass catchers

Here’s who WFT has brought in to partially offset these departures: wide receiver Dontrelle Inman, offensive lineman Kevin Pamphile, linebacker Donald Payne, and defensive back Ryan Lewis.

What conclusions can we draw from these moves?

The first thing that jumps out is something they did not do. They did not sign another tight end to replace Wilson – at least not yet. It is not as if there are plenty of quality tight ends still on the free-agent market, but Washington knew that and chose to walk away from Wilson anyway. This is especially interesting given that Wilson was seen primarily as a pass-catching tight end, and the No. 1 pass-catching tight end on the roster, Logan Thomas, is currently in the COVID protocol.

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It would be nice to think that the release of Wilson indicates the team is confident in Thomas’ speedy return to the active duty. It also may suggest that another player, be it Hale Hentges, Thaddeus Moss, or the much-maligned (by me, anyway) Richard Rodgers has shown some early promise as a receiver that allowed Washington to part ways with Wilson without bringing in a replacement.

To be sure, the tight end position is still an area of great concern, but I think this particular move may indicate the coaching staff is happier with what they have than we fans are.

Perhaps the most obvious move was the signing of Inman. Losing three receivers – two of them projected contributors – would necessitate an addition even in the best of situations. And when Trey Quinn is left as the senior member of your receiving corps, you are clearly not in the best of situations. The question was whether to bring in a veteran to lend some experience to a very young position group or just go with the most talented option you could find.

At this point in his career, Inman is a high-floor, low-ceiling player. I always liked him in San Diego and thought until two years ago that he was a quality Z receiver. But he has fallen off very quickly, which is not unusual for his age.

There are exceptions to be sure (Larry Fitzgerald is clearly not of this world), but bigger receivers often see 30 as the proverbial stroke of midnight. Dez Bryant was essentially done by 30. So was Megatron. We will see this year whether that is to be the fate of A.J. Green. Inman is not going to put up serious numbers for Washington, but perhaps he can model the way a professional goes about his business for a group of very young players.

I suspect Washington is not done looking for help at receiver, especially if they suspect the eventual outcome of Cody Latimer’s situation will not be to their liking.