Position Group Breakdown: Safety

July 2, 2022

by Alex Zeese

Unlike with Washington’s cornerbacks roster, there has been some interesting changes with the safety roster this season as compared to last season. Landon Collins was released due to his large cap hit and after falling short of the expectations the team had when he signed a monster deal three seasons ago. Meanwhile, longtime backup and special teams stud Deshazor Everett was released by the team after 6 seasons after being charged with involuntary manslaughter when his girlfriend died in a car accident in which he was at fault.

The team’s starters next season look likely to be similar to last season.

Bobby McCain re-signed with Washington on a 2 year, 11 million dollar deal. He was brought in last season but had some struggles early on, but his play improved over the course of the season. We regularly hear from beat writers how much the coaching staff loves McCain.

I mentioned on the most recent show that  if there was an underdog fan favorite with this roster is may be Kamren Curl. The seventh round pick has far outplayed his draft status and become a starter. While he may not be a pro-bowl caliber defender his has played his way into an unquestioned starter role.

McCain and Curl are very similar kinds of defenders. Neither is a natural “in the box” safety or a great fit for the buffalo role that Washington loves to use. But the tandem could be great in a lot of cover-2 and cover-4 packages.

Washington has two key backups, each with a very different playing style.

Derrick Forrest was drafted last season and had a very limited role in the 8 games in which he played.  He only had 26 snaps on defense, and most of his time on special teams. His best hope next year would be to eventually fill in Collins’ role as a run stopping down hill strong safety next season.

Percy Butler was drafted in the 4th round this year out of Louisiana. Butler is a true natural free safety who is going to be best dropping back into deep zones when he’s on the field.

Troy Apke … oh Troy, why are you still here? I get it, he’s a fast player, but that’s it, that’s all he can do is run fast, and outside of having him run down the field on kick offs and punts they have never seemed to find another use for Apke.