Washington Football Team: An early look at the 2021 wide receivers
By Jonathan Eig
Changes made to Washington’s WR group in 2021
Another trivia question. In 2018, name the five receivers who were on the field for more the one-third of Washington’s offensive plays.
They were, in order of usage, Josh Doctson, Maurice Harris, Jameson Crowder, Paul Richardson, and Michael Floyd. With the exception of Crowder, those receivers combined for exactly ZERO catches in 2020.
By 2020, there was some progress. Even so, of the five receivers who played on at least 30% of the offensive snaps, three of them – Dontrelle Inman, Steven Sims, Jr., and Isaiah Wright – are either already gone, or will have a difficult time making the final roster.
That leaves two likely receivers returning from last season – Terry McLaurin and Cam Sims.
They are almost certainly going to be joined by free agent acquisitions Curtis Samuel and Adam Humphries. Since the Washington Football team has traditionally kept six receivers on its final roster, that would leave two additional spots. Steven Sims and Wright will be fighting it out with 2021 draftees Dyami Brown and Dax Milne, along with a couple of recent draft picks who have been struggling with injuries, Kelvin Harmon and Antonio Gandy-Golden.
Washington may opt to keep a seventh receiver in DeAndre Carter, but he probably would not affect the other six spots as he would be viewed more as a kick returner who could also provide some emergency depth and gadget-play potential.
It’s way too early to predict this, but I will say that Brown and Harmon have the best shots at filling out the receiving corps. Injuries will of course be a major factor.