Washington Football Team: An early look at the 2021 tight ends

Rounding out the rest

Amongst the three remaining tight ends, you find another college quarterback (Swoopes), a college wide receiver (Cantrell) and just a regular old tight end (Hemingway). Hemingway impressed the coaching staff enough to get on the field in 2020 before an injury ended his season. Cantrell is a very gifted pass catcher who could play a role similar to the one Dan Arnold played for Arizona in recent years. And Swoopes, who was recently profiled by Riggo’s Rag’s Hirdesh Matta, seems like a second-coming of Logan Thomas.

I like Cantrell a lot, but he may simply be a man without a position – not quite fast enough for receiver and not quite strong enough for tight end. Swoopes has very little to evaluate at the position. Hemingway has the best shot at challenging Baugh and Yelder and grabbing a spot on the roster.

The tight end group remains a work-in-progress. With the addition of more weapons on the outside in 2021, the Washington Football Team tight ends will see fewer targets. But with more space in the middle of the field, those targets could be more meaningful. The only disaster scenario for 2021 is an injury to Thomas.

But if reasonable expectations are met – Thomas maintains the high level of play he showed in 2020, Baugh (or Yelder, or Hemingway) becomes a solid Jeremy Sprinkle replacement, and Bates proves to be at least nearly as good as Washington thinks he can be – they should see continued improvement. If Reyes, or one of the others, truly steps up, it could become a real team strength.