Washington Football Team Depth Chart: Breaking down the QB room for 2021

Practice squad QB: Steven Montez

Steven Montez was signed as an undrafted free agent after the 2020 NFL Draft. Many thought he would have a chance to be a Day 3 pick, but he slipped to the ranks of the undrafted.

Washington scooped up the toolsy passer as one of their four undrafted free-agent signings during the ’20 post-draft period. The plan was to develop him and see if he can turn into anything. At this point, it’s hard to imagine the team straying from that plan.

Montez has a 6-foot-5, 235-pound frame and had a solid career at Colorado. He posted three straight seasons with at least 2,800 passing yards and 17 touchdowns and completed at least 63 percent of his passes in each of his final two seasons. He is a work in progress, but if he can put everything together, he has the arm talent, frame, and athletic ability to make a 53-man roster.

That won’t happen quite yet though. Montez’s growth and development were stunted a bit by the COVID-19 pandemic and his inability to get in preseason reps certainly did him no favors. That’s part of the reason that Montez was passed over in favor of Heinicke when the WFT endured injuries to Smith and Allen and released Haskins last year. He simply wasn’t yet game-ready.

Still, no matter what happens, it seems likely that the Washington Football Team will try to stash Montez on the practice squad. He’s just 24 years old and has the skills needed to find a home at the NFL level. They can keep developing him for a year and if there’s not enough progress, they can move on from him.

But until then, there’s no use getting rid of him. As the team learned last year, you can never have too many quarterbacks. If Heinicke could be a solid quarterback after some time on the practice squad, then Montez should have a shot to become one as well, even if he is just serving as a role player to start.