4 Washington players who didn’t prove their worth in 2021

The Washington Football Team’s offseason discourse, which really started for fans after the club was eliminated from playoff contention, has largely comprised of the pending quarterback search and new nickname.

We’ve followed that trend, but there’s nothing saying we can’t jump off the bandwagon and discuss other relevant topics, right?

After all, the season just ended. There’s still plenty of room for assessing player performance and speculating future roster moves.

Let’s stay focused on the former topic for now.

More specifically, let’s highlight some players who have something to prove to the organization after a disappointing season. For the second player listed below, his season wasn’t necessarily disappointing. He just has some things to work on before we can fully say he’s earned a future with the franchise.

4 Washington players who didn’t prove their worth in 2021

4. Landon Collins/Antonio Gibson (sort of)

Deciding who got the No. 4 spot on this list was extremely difficult. While players like Montez Sweat and Chase Young didn’t live up to expectations when they were on the field, both missed time due to injury (Young more so, obviously) and a family tragedy forced Sweat to miss a few extra games.

Compassion is important.

With that in mind, you might be wondering why we went with Landon Collins and Antonio Gibson, two players who were positives in an otherwise lackluster season? Well, picking them separately would be too harsh, but they were so maddening at times that you can justify combining them in this instance.

In Collins’ case, well he was one of the worst defenders in all of football before the coaching staff came to its senses and stripped his full-time safety role and moved him into his preferred box linebacker position.

For as outstanding as Collins was defending the run and getting after the quarterback in his Buffalo nickel role, it’s simply impossible to forget that he was a colossal liability for the first two months of the season. Sorry, but after the start to Collins’ tenure in Landover, he needs more than a five-game sample size for us to buy into the idea that his value has been restored.

He’s trending in that direction, but we’re not there yet, especially after he ended the year on injured reserve with a foot injury, which has been a theme with the former All-Pro safety since he arrived in Washington.

In regard to Gibson, we’re going to keep this short. The fact he churned out over 1,000 yards on the ground after fighting through a stress fracture in his shin just encapsulates why the fan base has a soft spot for him.

We’d even understand some fans whom believe Gibson has “proved his worth.” However our definition of the phrase is different for the second-year running back. Unlike Collins, who we still have questions about in terms of whether he can be consistent, we’re not concerned about Gibson’s growth.

The only problem with AG, though, is the fumbling. His six fumbles were the most of any running back. He also lost more fumbles (four) than any other RB. Most of these turnovers cost Washington dearly, too.

It pains us to say it, but that’s a problem.