3 goals for Washington Football Team in second half of 2021

2. Play the rookies

I’m really talking about two guys here: Jamin Davis and John Bates.

I am not worried about Sam Cosmi and Benjamin St-Juste. Cosmi looks great, and St-Juste, for all his struggles, has shown the tools to be a legit boundary corner. Even in Week 1, when he was getting abused by the likes of Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, he showed the physical tools to be in position. He just needs time.

But I am worried about the first and fourth picks in the 2021 draft – Davis and Bates. We have all weighed in on the Davis situation. Throwing a relatively inexperienced guy into the middle of an NFL defense was never going to be smooth. The growing pains have been obvious. The successes of Micah Parsons and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah have made it a bit more painful. Non-first-rounders Pete Werner and Baron Browning have had comparable starts to Davis. He needs to be on the field a lot in the second half of the season.

So does Bates. The fact that he has done virtually nothing after starter Logan Thomas’ injury is disturbing. This should have opened a door for him, but instead, the Washington Football Team has leaned entirely on veteran Ricky Seals-Jones.

The fact that Bates hasn’t torn it up is not the least bit surprising. Rookie tight ends rarely do. Kyle Pitts was supposed to be Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates rolled into one. It has taken him a while, but he is just beginning to emerge. The same is true of Pat Freiermuth and Tommy Tremble, other tight ends drafted ahead of Bates. Several of the tight ends drafted after him have recently begun to show a bit more as well. Brevin Jordan just caught his first touchdown pass. Luke Farrell has caught one pass in every game since Week 1.

https://twitter.com/Panthers/status/1447255144232591360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

After quarterback, tight end and linebacker may be the two hardest positions to learn in football. Both positions require the player to do a lot of things – both physically and mentally. You are far more likely to find other position players making a big splash during their rookie seasons. So I am not overly worried about either Davis or Bates. Yet. But we should begin to see clear signs of growth in the second half of 2021. And we won’t see that unless they are one the field, play after play after play.