The State of the Redskins at the Preseason Half-way Mark

by Steve Thomas

August 16, 2017

The Redskins will do battle with the Green Bay Packers this Saturday evening at Fed Ex Field in their second preseason game of this young season, making this week the half-way point before the season begins in earnest.  What have we learned about what’s in store for the team when it starts to count in three weeks?  Quite a bit, as it turns out, if you’ve been paying attention.  Let’s take a quick look.

Coaching:

At this point, head coach Jay Gruden has established credibility through his documented results with this team; however, the team has once again started slow.  This has been a pattern with the Redskins for essentially Gruden’s entire tenure here.  This needs to change.  It is possible for an NFL team to look strong and competent from the first drive of the first preseason game, but the Redskins under Gruden simply have not cracked the code, and if the Ravens game is any indication, 2017 won’t be any different..  The blame for this continuing phenomenon rests squarely with the coaching staff.

The major coaching shakeups of the offseason were (1) Gruden taking over play calling duties, (2) new defensive coordinator Greg Manusky, (3) new defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, and (3) new defensive backs coach Torrian Gray.  It’s too early to judge the results of any of these coaches, although, at a minimum, coach Tomsula seems to be significantly shaking up the defensive line.  Only time will tell whether good results will follow.

Offense:

Somewhat surprisingly, the offense seems to be the unit with the most issues thusfar.  The major questions resulting from the loss of former mainstays Pierre Garcon and Desean Jackson were supposed to be tempered by the return of 2016 1st round selection Josh Doctson and the signing of former quarterback turned wide receiver Terrelle Pryor away from the Cleveland Browns.  As excited as the fanbase is for the addition of those two, the fact of the matter is that both Doctson and Pryor bring a fairly large amount of uncertainty to a position group that previously was proven to be one of the steadiest in the NFL.  Doctson, of course, is hurt again, did not play in the Ravens game, and, while he showws flashes very early on, generally hasn’t been able to do much in camp to date.  My analysis of Pryor from last week (read it here: http://www.thehogsty.com/2017/08/08/so-whats-the-deal-with-terrelle-pryor-really/) showed that, while Pryor is a quality talent, he isn’t yet in the top tier of NFL receivers.  With both Jamison Crowder and Maurice Harris also hurt, the back of the roster members of the wide receiver group – folks like Matt Hazel, Zach Pascal, and Brian Quick – were given their opportunity against the Ravens, and for the most part didn’t particularly impress or excel.  Ryan Grant is what he always is – there and decidedly average. So, while there’s reason for optimism, the truth is that this position group has alot to prove.  The national NFL media does not have much faith in the Redskins’ wide receivers, and while they do have quite a bit to prove, the truth of the matter is that there is a tremendous amount of talent, at least at the top of the depth chart.

In a similar vein, the running back group features a quality back in second year man Rob Kelley, and a bunch of other guys who are either unproven or, in the case of Matt Jones, in a hole he needs to climb out of in order to stay on the roster.  Unfortunately, the running game was completely unproductive against the Ravens, in part due to a bad performance by the offensive line, but also as a result of poor running.  Rookie Samaje Perine appeared somewhat lost, and while he has talent and will no doubt get better, clearly has a long way to go.  The reports out of camp regarding the running backs have been fairly limited, and our own reporting yielded nothing either too terrible or too great.  The point is, this position group has talent and a quality starter at the top of the depth chart, but, with all due respect to the opinion of Clinton Portis (who’s forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know), this group hasn’t given any indication that it’s going to be one of the tops in the league.

The tight end group, of course, features All-Pro Jordan Reed who – wait for it – has been injured the entire preseason.  Not only has he been injured, but we learned that his injury is a toe problem that has been bothering him since last year.  We had to take last year’s game previews with all of the injury reports off of our website due to a change in our website host, but trust me when I say that the Redskins never listed a toe problem for Reed last year.  When we first heard about this injury, the public was told that it was a day-to-day problem.  We’re now into week 3 of this day-to-day problem, and, particularly given Reed’s injury history, just call me skeptical that the Redskins are telling the truth about this.  He has capable backups behind him, particularly the ageless Vernon Reed, but the star of the show and the best player on the team is Reed, and his health status is a mystery.

The Redskins quarterbacking hasn’t been a problem per se, but starter Kirk Cousins did not perform particularly well in his 6 snaps against the Ravens, and hasn’t has too many reports either good or bad during camp.  Colt McCoy got significantly more run than did Cousins in the game, but for the most part looked bad.  Third stringer Nate Sudfeld was marginally better, and reports out of camp, including from our own Alex Zeese, suggest that he’s made some progress since last year.  I’m certainly willing Cousins the benefit of the doubt on his bad day against Baltimore.

The offensive line is another unit that hasn’t received much attention during training camp, most likely because they’ve been healthy and there isn’t much controversy over the starters or the backup jobs, but the Ravens game was the offensive line at their very worst.  Neither the starters nor the backups played up to the level that the team will need once the season starts, but I doubt that it’s a sign of regression.  We’ll talk about this again after the Packers game.

Defense:

The defensive line is the unit under the biggest microscope, considering their poor 2016 and the fairly massive offseason upheaval, with a new coach and a new group of starters.  Prized rookie Jonathan Allen has had flashes during camp, is clearly talented and is making progress, but is also just a rookie with alot to learn.  New veteran acquisitions Terrell McClain and Stacy McGee have been practically invisible for the entire camp, although McGee showed slightly more ability against the Ravens than did McClain.  The defensive line embarrassed themselves in 2016, but there’s hope for 2017, although the jury is still out for this new group of players.  They had ups and downs against the Ravens, with more downs than ups, but Allen, at least, had his moments last Thursday evening.

The inside linebacker group appears to be the tightest competition on the entire team, and one with more potential than most.  If you didn’t see the game Thursday, you missed the arrival of Pro Bowler Zach Brown.  I’m here to tell you that Brown is by far the most athletic and speedy backer on the roster.  He was a force against the Ravens, displaying outstanding lateral agility, a keen eye for diagnosing the play, and a relentlessness to get to the ball.  In my eyes, Brown made a clear case to be a starter this past Thursday evening.  The other starters, Mason Foster and Will Compton only played a limited number of snaps; the biggest observation was that Foster was given an opportunity to be the defensive play caller for a series.  Watch out for the Brown-Compton-Foster battle to come down to the bitter end.  On another note, this year’s winner of The Colt Brennan Memorial Featured Underdog Award[1], Nico Marley, was a force against the Ravens, displaying tenacity, energy, and greater agility than his pre-draft workouts would suggest.  While his severely undersized frame (5’8”, 200 lbs) will probably keep him from ever starting, a player like Nico impresses coaches and could possibly underdog his way into a spot on the final 53 as a special teamer.

The outside linebacker group took a serious hit when Trent Murphy went down for the season with torn knee ligaments.  Fan favorite Junior Galette did not play against the Ravens due to a minor hamstring problem, so we really did not get to see the starters and second string players at their best.  Galette has excelled thusfar in camp, showing that he’s regained a significant portion of his speed and burst that he had prior to his two achilles injuries.  Ryan Anderson is also clearly a rookie trying to learn, but when he’s been at his best, he’s exihibited a nasty streak, strength, and good effort.  A cautious thumbs up to Ryan thusfar.

Finally, the defensive backfield is in flux, to a certain extent, in the #2 and slot corner positions, as well as the backups behind Quinton Dunbar.  Nothing that we’ve seen either in camp or against the Ravens has shed much light on how things will line up once the regular season starts.  The group does show potential, though: Kendall Fuller is now healthy and has both been burnt and showed potential; Fabian Moreau is now healthy and has both been burnt and showed potential.  Rookie Josh Holsey somewhat surprisingly was giving first quarter play time against Baltimore, so he clearly has gained credibility in the eyes of the coaching staff.  The biggest question mark, of course, is Bashaud Breeland’s role in this defense, which is something that clearly has not been resolved just yet.  Potential for high performance exists with this group if things go well.

All in all, as I said at the top of this column, the offense surprisingly now has more questions than the defense, which is not what I expected.  Only time will tell how the team performs when week 1 finally arrives.

 

 

[1] Hopefully this doesn’t need to be said, but this isn’t a real award, so don’t look for it.