Washington Football Team: Mock free agency, roster cuts, trades

Washington Football Team free agent signings: K.J. Wright

The Washington Football Team now after trading for Deshaun Watson and releasing six players, now has a projected cap space of $44.9 million dollars to spend… or, to save.

Surely, there’s a couple of positions of need they can upgrade now with the money they have.

To begin, this team needs a revamped Linebacker core desperately. While Kevin Pierre-Louis played his WILL linebacker role fine, Jon Bostic lacks true sideline to sideline range and struggled when defending the run. Cole Holcomb is still as raw as they come as a SAM linebacker, showing flashes of great things against the run and as a pass rusher, but still a very raw player against the pass.

The first step toward fixing that is bringing in someone who can defend the pass and is a sure-fire tackler. That would be signing veteran K.J. Wright from the Seattle Seahawks.

Wright posted a 67.6 grade when defending the run, which is well above league average according to Pro Football Focus. Coming into 2020, he had a career year in 2019, posting a career-high 132 stops.

But while his 2020 campaign wasn’t as impressive as a run defender, he’s been as elite as they come in coverage. K.J. Wright had 10 passes defended last season coupled with a coverage grade of 79.2 according to PFF.

Wright’s unique coverage ability fits perfectly as a 4-3 WILL linebacker. While he excels in coverage, he’s an adequate run defender as well and posted his second-lowest missed tackle percentage of his career in 2020.

While I previously discussed Wright coming to DC, the possibility makes even more sense now. A leader on and off the field that has a winning pedigree, Wright would command a contract of just two years and $17 million. That would leave the WFT’s cap situation at $36.4 million in free space.