Washington Football Team Offense: 2018 vs. 2020

The Washington Football Team’s offense looks a lot different in 2020 than it did in 2018.

I recognize that the esteemed readers of this blog do not need to be reminded of the approximately 500 unwritten football rules that govern the NFL. But since today’s little dive into the Washington Football Team involves one of them, I will state it up front.

It is Rule 391, coming right after 390 (Never draft a QB from UCLA – you will live to regret it) and right before 392 (Please stop calling time-outs to ice the kicker – it’s freaking annoying). Rule 391, as I know you know, is that bad teams turn over their rosters.

So it is not a surprise that Washington, which has not had a winning record since that dominant 8-7-1 in 2016, has seen a lot of new players showing up in Ashburn of late.

We’re going to take a brief look back at 2018 – less than 800 days ago – to see who has come and who has gone, and try to imagine whether the team is getting better or getting … I will not finish that thought. Life is hard enough.

I know you remember 2018. The team was 6-3 and playoff bound until Alex Smith nearly lost his leg against Houston. Colt McCoy would also vanish and the team was forced to finish the season with Mark Sanchez and Josh Johnson behind center. After that, 6-3 became 7-9.

No team survives its two top QBs going down about three minutes apart, but WFT fell apart faster than Jameis Winston can throw three interceptions. In their final five losses, WFT lost by an average of 18 points per game. It became clear that Jay Gruden was not the coach to guide a team through adversity.

Less than two years later and Gruden is gone. So are 50 of the 77 men who lined up for at least one snap in a burgundy and gold helmet that year. A lot of them were here for a quick shot of espresso so it’s not surprising they are gone. (Anyone remember Adonis Alexander?)

I’m looking at the players who really contributed. In 2018, 20 players were on the field for at least 20 percent of the offensive snaps and another 14 were on the field for at least 20 percent of the defensive snaps. Of those, seven of the offensive players and six of the defensive players remain on the roster.

There are a couple of other guys (Geron Christian and Troy Apke) who played very little in 2018 but may contribute far more in 2020. That, of course, is what good teams do. They develop young players over time.

Let’s try to guess who will be logging major minutes in the key position groups in 2020 and compare them to their 2018 counterparts. Today we’re looking at the offense. Some time after today, we’ll take a peek at the defense.