Washington Football Team Roster Projection: Update with Alex Smith healthy

Here’s a look at some of the key roster decisions that the Washington Football Team will have to make before the start of the 2020 NFL season.

Why is this year’s roster projection different from all other years?

In all other years, you can go to training camp and see for yourself how big and fast and fluid all the new rookies and free agents are.

This year, you have YouTube highlight reels.

In all other years, you have actual preseason games to see how the players perform in live action, and you have the added bonus of seeing how the coaches are employing them in real-time situations.

This year, you have reruns on NFL Network.

In all other years, you have statements from coaches that are based on watching players battling it out against their competition day after day after day. Such statements often carry genuine weight.

This year, you have the standard coachspeak ‘We’re very excited to see (fill in name of literally any player).”

In all other years, you have multiple sources for insight and info. With so many reporters milling about, some of the best intelligence I ever got came from obscure sources who happened upon a juicy tidbit.

This year, you have … well, me.

Yes, it’s hard out there for a roster projector. My colleague – actually, kind of my boss – Jacob Camenker just released his updated projection. I was going to do another one myself, but most of it would have simply repeated Jacob’s observations.

I figure there are 41 players who are either locks, or else highly likely, to make the final 53-man roster. You don’t need to hear about them. Here’s a look at the remaining 12 spots, where competition and genuine surprises are possible. (SPOILER ALERT: I agree with Jacob on seven of them, and go in a different direction on five.)