Washington Football Team: 15 key roster decisions team will soon make

Others

Washington has two other players who require decisions.

The most obvious one is Dwayne Haskins. I am going to assume that Alex Smith will finish out the 2020 season. Were he to get hurt, Haskins would return to the lineup and then his situation would change. But if the season ends with him still on the bench, I see no way he is with Washington in 2021.

I’m not saying it’s impossible, and I understand those fans who think sitting behind Alex Smith might be the best thing in the world for an inexperienced player like Haskins. But really, how many times do you recall a first-round QB being benched this early in his career, and eventually coming back to be a good starter? Recent examples like Mitch Trubisky, Marcus Mariota, and Josh Rosen do not inspire a lot of confidence.

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Washington will almost certainly draft a quarterback in 2021. It may not be in the first round, but there is a good chance it will come in Rounds 2 or 3. That QB will take the position of “quarterback of the future” and will sit behind Alex Smith and/or Kyle Allen for a year or two. Under that scenario, there is no room for Dwayne Haskins.

Haskins will have trade value this offseason, though I don’t think anyone has a realistic idea of what that value will be. But I expect Washington will deal him around the time of 2021 draft and begin a new chapter with a new QB.

The other decision concerns Landon Collins, though, in truth, there may not be a decision to be made. Collins is under contract for several more years and his number remains high. It is unlikely they would cut him this off-season, so unless they can find a team willing to take on that contract, he will most likely remain.

The emergence of Kam Curl has made him expendable and I suspect Washington will be looking for ways to move on. But hanging onto him for another year makes the eventual cap hit much more manageable.

If you are a glass-is-half-full type, you might recognize that the Collins deal is the only really bad one on the books right now. That is quite a change from the past when impulsive decisions often left the front office with little room to maneuver.

There will be room in 2021. They just have to make some smart decisions.