Washington Football Team: A wish list of free agent safeties

The Top Options

The Washington Football Team needs a deep safety. Projecting ahead, the two most reliable safeties in 2021 will be Landon Collins and Kam Curl. I know that some fans will scoff at the use of “reliable” and “Landon Collins” in the same sentence. I will state for the record that despite too many missed plays in 2020, Collins is not a bad player. He simply has a bad contract and the return on what he is being paid is not good.

Both Collins and Curl are in-the-box safeties. You could play them together, and I expect Washington will figure out ways to do that. But Washington could benefit from having a reliable deep safety. Last season, free agent signee Sean Davis was supposed to fill that role. That didn’t work out.

When the season began, the physically gifted Troy Apke was given the first crack at the job. Apke seems to be a clear example of the fact that good combine numbers do not always equate to good play on the field. Though he made the occasional play, he was either caught flat-footed or else ran himself out of plays so often that he eventually ran himself out of the starting job. Special teams stud Deshazor Everett filled in adequately until his injury. Then UDFA Jeremy Reaves took over.

This is a far cry from Washington’s storied history at the position. The deep middle was once patrolled by Hall of Famers Paul Krause and Kenny Houston. Sean Taylor was on the same path. But since Taylor’s tragic passing, a host of journeymen have manned the role for a year or two before moving on.

But in this day and age, you may not need an every-down classic free safety. Which is why I’m not convinced the Washington Football Team, with so many other holes to fill, should spend big for one.

If I had an unlimited bankroll to play with, the top name on my list would be Denver’s Justin Simmons. Simmons is a do-everything stud who will be 27 at the start of the 2021 season. He comes from the line of Denver players who helped invent the modern do-everything safety – Dennis Smith and Steve Atwater. Denver will spend a lot to retain Simmons and I don’t think Washington should try and match them.

The same applies to Marcus Maye, who emerged as the Jets’ best defensive player after Jamal Adams was traded. And as good as Hyattsville’s own John Johnson would look in a Washington Football Team uniform, the Rams’ burgeoning star is another in-the-box safety whose skill set mirrors that of Collins and Curl.

The Vikings’ Anthony Harris fits the exact profile of what Washington needs. But I suspect that Harris, who got a franchise tag from Minnesota in 2020, will also command too high a price for Washington. It is not simply an issue of cash. Washington has a good salary-cap situation. It is more a question of apportionment. Washington is already heavily invested in the defense and will have to begin working on long-term plans for its young and talented defensive line. With pressing needs at multiple positions, can the team really afford to pay big money to a safety?

Collins’ contract is a bit of a ball and chain in 2021. If Washington could find a trade partner for Collins, I presume they would be prepared to move forward with Kam Curl. Then they might be inclined to spend more on a classic deep safety. But that does not appear likely at this point.