Let’s review, shall we?

March 27, 2023

by Steve Thomas

Now that we’ve gotten over the initial hump of free agent and are barreling towards the draft, it seemed like a good time to reassess Washington’s offseason – on the field only; no Little Danny talk today!   One caveat: this isn’t going to be a salary cap piece.  I’ll update the cap soon, but here, I’d like to just address the team’s moves and what they possibly mean for the draft.  Let’s jump right in.   Since the beginning of the offseason, Washington has made the following moves:

Players who were given futures contracts, re-signed or tendered:

Quarterbacks	Defensive Line
Jacoby Brissett	DE Abdullah Anderson
Jake Fromm	DE William Bradley-King
	DE Efe Obada
Running Backs	DT Daron Payne
FB Alex Armah
RB Jonathan Williams	Secondary
	CB Cameron Dantzler
Wide Receivers	CB Danny Johnson
Alex Erickson	CB DeMarcus Fields
Marcus Kemp	S Troy Apke
Kyric McGowan	S Jeremy Reaves
Offensive Line	Linebackers
C Tyler Larsen	Cody Barton
G Nick Gates	Nate Gerry
G Nolan Laufenberg	Khaleke Hudson
T Aaron Monteiro	David Mayo
G Trenton Scott
C Keaton Sutherland
T Andrew Wylie

Players from 2022 who were lost, either via release, free agency, or retirement:

QB Taylor Heinicke (signed with Falcons)

QB Carson Wentz (released)

RB J.D. McKissic (released)

WR Cam Sims (signed with Raiders)

TE Eli Wolf (retired)

CB Bobby McCain (released and signed with New York Giants)

C Nick Martin (remains a free agent)

G Wes Martin (remains a free agent)

G Wes Schweitzer (signed with New York Jets)

G Trai Turner (remains a free agent)

What should we make of these moves?  What is Washington’s thought process, and what is the impact on the draft?  First, the obvious, easiest to analyze moves are at quarterback.  Head coach Ron Rivera publicly supported Sam Howell early in the offseason and backed it up by letting Heinicke go and cutting Wentz.  His move to bring in Jacoby Brissett is an obvious, mandatory hedge against Howell, who has talent but is a huge risk as a starter.  Washington was always going to bring in a veteran.  In terms of the draft, though, I think this means that Rivera isn’t planning on using a high draft pick on a quarterback.  Plus, it’s pretty late in his tenure to make a move like that.

The next thing that should jump out at you is the sheer number of moves at offensive line.  It’s no secret that Washington’s offensive line landed somewhere between “putrid” and “trainwreck” last year, so the team had to do something to improve the situation.  Bringing in Andrew Wylie  at three years, $24M means that he’s the new starting right tackle.  Nick Gates and his three year, $16.5M contract probably means that he’s going to start at guard.  The team likes Charles Leno at left tackle, and has Chase Roullier on a large contract at center, and also brought in folks like Trenton Scott and Keaton Sutherland.  Translation = Washington is trying to avoid drafting offensive lineman high in the draft.

Washington didn’t make big moves at the running back and wide receiver groups, so it’s possible that those are avenues for the draft.  However, they’ve put a large amount of draft resources into the wide receiver group, and those players are succeeding, so it seems highly unlikely that they’ll spend yet another high pick.  They’ve done the same thing for the running back group, but those players haven’t been quite a successful.  Therefore, let’s keep running back open as a possibility.

Washington needs tight ends and they didn’t make any moves at this position, so that’s also a possibility.

As far as the defense goes, God help us all if Washington spends even more high draft picks on defensive linemen.  That’s the last thing they need considering they re-signed Daron Payne and brought back the rest of the crew from last year.  Surely even Washington isn’t stupid enough to use a day one or day two pick on a defensive lineman.

The linebacker group, on the other hand, is a different story.  Much like Washington’s offensive line group, it’s a trainwreck, and signing Cody Barton isn’t exactly locking down Lawrence Taylor.  The team should seriously consider linebacker with a high draft pick, so let’s put that one the list with the tight end group.

The secondary group is a bit of a mystery.  The team already has two solid starting corners and two solid safeties.  They certainly need a starting slot corner, so that’s a possibility, although a first round pick doesn’t seem to be the most efficient use of resources.

Therefore, after going through this exercise, I think Washington’s approach to free agency means that they are, or at least should be, looking at running back, tight end, linebacker, and corner for days one and two of the draft, in one order or the other.  Teams don’t draft either only for need or only based on talent.  They have a draft board that takes both into account to one extent or the other.   Regardless, it seems most likely that Washington will prioritize those groups and draft the best players available from those groups in rounds 1, 2, and 3.

What do you think?  Let me know in the comment section.