2018 Off-Season
What’s up Redskins Nation?! I realize I haven’t posted anything since the miracle in Seattle, which ended up being a lone bright spot in another disappointing season. The classic Redskins meltdown in New Orleans was my final straw, which sent “The Hail Huddle” into full off-season mode. Alas, the official start of the 2018 season is upon us and I am back to provide (false?) hope and optimism for our beloved burgundy & gold.
Before we look ahead to the current state of the Redskins, I want to officially put an end to the Kirk (Kurt) Cousins saga. Dear god, it was exhausting. The back and forth between the Cousins brass and Redskins front office was meaningless fodder, which resulted in an unnecessary amount of BS articles from tool bag NFL beat writers (Ian Rappaport and anyone at ESPN not named John Keim). It is a known fact that the Redskins front office completely botched Kirk’s contract situation after his record breaking 2015 campaign. The end result was Kirk becoming the first quarterback to receive the franchise tag in consecutive seasons. In hindsight, a long term deal never came close to being finalized, and we now know that Kirk didn’t want to be in Washington. After the low ball offer during the 2016 off-season, it became apparent that Kirk was destined for free agency. It took the Redskins 25 years to find a legitimate starting quarterback, and just like that, he’s about to hit the open market. It’ll be interesting to see what teams ends up overspending for our former politician, I mean QB1.
Alex Smith is now the face of the Redskins. In a blockbuster trade that finally becomes official on March 14, the Redskins front office was able to effectively clean up their (self-inflicted) mess at quarterback. It was unfortunate that Kendall Fuller was a part of the trade, but quality starting quarterbacks come at a steep price. Of the quarterbacks that were going to be made available via trade or free agency, Alex Smith was the best of the group. He’s a top half of the league starting quarterback with playoff experience, which should bring a renewed confidence to the offensive side of the ball. With more athleticism than Kirk, I think he may be an even better fit for Jay Gruden’s scheme. We saw last year first-hand how his ability to extend plays can throttle a defense. With Smith’s contract not taking up the cap space a Kirk Cousins LTD would have, it is now up to the front office to bring in more talent around him.
Free agency starts in a week and the Redskins should have a little over $30 million in cap space available once you factor in Alex Smith’s contract extension. Upgrades are desperately needed at the offensive skill positions (along with a starting caliber LG). We definitely need another WR opposite Doctson and I won’t even discuss our running games woes (doesn’t apply to Chris Thompson). Defense needs more help on the line and more help at inside linebacker. It was smart to bring back Mason Foster — the team missed his productivity after he went to IR with a torn labrum. The hope is that Zach Brown will be back on a new deal as well. His speed was a difference maker this year (although he was a liability in coverage). After losing Fuller, there will now be an additional hole to fill in the secondary. Bottom line, this roster needs a facelift and hopefully we’ll be a little more aggressive going after some of the top free agents this year.
2018 will be interesting for our Redskins. The front office wouldn’t have made the trade for Alex Smith if they didn’t think this team was close to contending (we’re talking playoffs, not super bowl). Very few teams suffered the amount of injuries the Redskins did last year (8 starters on IR). Heck, there was a three game stretch where we only had one starting offensive lineman available. I personally believe if the Redskins had stayed somewhat healthy they could have been a 9–10 win team. With the Kirk Cousins soap opera finally over, this should be a drama free off-season. The NFC East looks like it’ll be the best division in football once again, so it is imperative we do our part to improve our football in the early stages of free agency. So message to Bruce Allen — let Doug Williams run the show and stay out of the way.
Cheers & Hail,
Kevin (Your fellow die-hard fan)
