Washington Football Team: Ron Rivera answers fans’ prayers with latest roster move

We would all agree that the Washington Football Team has been a laughingstock, both on and off the field, for several years now, right?

So, when the franchise makes puzzling roster transactions that are almost guaranteed to blow up in its face, fans tend to freak out.

Taking that into account, you could imagine the reaction when Washington released Dustin Hopkins and appointed former Pitt star Chris Blewitt, who had never kicked in an NFL game before, as his replacement.

While Blewitt showed promise in practice, he imploded on game day, as three of his first five field goals never made it past the line of scrimmage.

Blewitt had two field goals blocked in Washington’s final game before the bye, a 17-10 loss in Denver. As a result, fans pretty much demanded that the team have a new kicker in place before Sunday’s clash vs the Buccaneers.

After previously stating his allegiance to Blewitt, Ron Rivera answered fans prayers on Tuesday by cutting Blewitt in favor of Joey Slye.

That’s right, folks. Washington has a new kicker.

The Washington Football Team cut Chris Blewitt and signed Joey Slye.

Finally, a move the entire fan base can get behind.

We didn’t actually believe Rivera would trot Blewitt out there another week after his first two outings for the team went up in flames.

In Rivera’s defense, there was no viable replacement available at the time. However, the 49ers’ decision to wave Slye in the middle of last week gave the second year head coach a window of opportunity to atone for his gaffe.

A former college star at Virginia Tech, Slye had spent time with both the Texans and 49ers as an injury replacement this year. In six games, he’s a clean 11-of-13 (84.6%) on field goal attempts, but just 9-for-12 (75%)  on extra-points.

In his last game for San Francisco in Week 8, he connected on 4-of-5 FG tries, while knocking down 1-of-2 point-afters.

The extra-point struggles are a little alarming, but Slye will offer much-needed stability at the kicker position. He has one of the biggest legs in the league, so Washington should have a chance to put points up on the board as soon as they cross an opponents’ 40-yard line. That’s the kind of value Slye brings.

Want another reason to feel good about the move? Slye kicked for Rivera in Carolina two seasons ago, so there’s familiarity there. That year, the former Hokie drilled nearly 80% of his FGs and over 88% of his extra-points.

As far as midseason acquisitions go, it’s tough to envision Rivera and Washington doing much better than Slye.