Washington Football Team has flexibility in the secondary in 2021

Injury scenarios

I said William Jackson III is the closest thing Washington has to an elite player in the secondary. Suppose he goes down. After quarterback, boundary corner is the single hardest position to play in the NFL. Washington could slide McCain from safety to corner and play any of the three men who saw time at free safety in 2020 (Curl, Everett, Reaves) into McCain’s spot. You don’t lose a player like Jackson and not feel it, but Washington has experienced, capable players to step in at a moment’s notice.

What if McCain should also go down? Now you are missing both Jackson and McCain. That’s where you have to hope third-round draft pick St-Juste proves to be as good as he recently looked in minicamp. He is likely to be your next boundary corner on the field. So far, the reports about him have been outstanding.

Let’s just jump ahead and go full doomsday scenario. All five projected Washington Football Team starters are out. What do you do? Curl and Everett are your safeties. St-Juste and veteran Darryl Roberts play the boundaries and either Jeremy Reaves or Cole Luke takes over in the slot. Obviously, at this point you are holding your breath a bit, but what you have is a group young vets with some experience along with a promising rookie in St-Juste. In other words, a secondary that is still better than Detroit’s.

And you still have players like Stroman, Danny Johnson, and 2021 draftee Darrick Forrest competing for playing time as well. They may not offer the positional flexibility of the others, but they cover the field. Stroman is best suited to player the boundary, Johnson the slot, and Forrest free safety. There are still three other players currently on the roster – Torry McTyer, Linden Stephens, and Jordan Brown – any of whom could surprise.

I just mentioned 16 players, and before getting to Troy Apke.

Apke was the starting free safety at the beginning of 2020.

The Washington Football may or may not repeat its 2020 division title this season. But they are clearly building a better roster.