If there is one decision that is flying under the radar this past off-season, it is the Washington Redskins decision to bring in their new General Manager in Scot McCloughan. For those of you who are curious who this man is, he is the man who helped build both the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks in the past decade and is known for being a thorough scout and player evaluator for both current NFL players and college players. Now, this doesn't mean the Redskins are going to turn around overnight and win the NFC East in 2015, but it means that they actually have hired someone who has the authority to make his own choices. Also, McCloughan should be able to keep Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to the side since he does have a proven track record in finding good players and being able to get what he needs out of them. The main questions at this point is how long this process will take, and what to expect from the Redskins in 2015? This article will at least try to tackle the second one, as a rebuild can take several years.
Off-season Departures
Free agency was not where the big deals were done for the Washington Redskins this time around as there is a new Sheriff in town. In fact, departures were possibly bigger than their additions this year. Brian Orakpo is the biggest name to head out of town, as he signed a 4 year, $31 million deal with the Tennessee Titans. Orakpo was never a question of talent, but quite similarly to Sam Bradford, is a question of health. Orakpo has been hurt several times in only a few NFL seasons, and when you are rebuilding a roster, every dollar counts. Their next highest paid free agent to leave on defense was Stephen Bowen, who signed with the New York Jets, but he only played in 8 games and had 11 tackles with no sacks.
Offense was a bit of a different story however. Roy Helu, their talented third down back behind Alfred Morris, signed a deal this off-season taking him to the West Coast with the Oakland Raiders. When the Redskins would go no huddle, Helu was a major portion of that offense, and since he was the third down back, it could easily be assumed that Helu has much better hands to catch than Morris does. They also lost a starting offensive lineman as guard Chris Chester left to sign with the Atlanta Falcons. Another player left to go to the Falcons in wide receiver Leonard Hankerson. Both of those players had their impact on the Redskins offense in 2015 and it's time to take a closer look at who they were able to bring in during free agency in the off-season.
Off-season Additions
On offense, the Redskins did re-sign one of the players that could have left, even though it was third string quarterback Colt McCoy. But a 1 year, $1.5 million deal will work well for that type of roster spot as quarterbacks never come cheap. But the main free agent signings were on the other side of the ball, as the Redskins defense is the part that really needs a lot of work.
Let's start with the secondary as Chris Culliver comes in from the San Francisco 49ers. Culliver did have 45 tackles and 4 interceptions during the 2015 season, including one returned for a touchdown, and just is still young as he is only turning 27 and bringing in a top quality cornerback on a 4 year, $32 million deal should work out well for the Redskins. They also made two big splashes on the defensive line, going with defensive end Stephen Paea and defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. These two men both know how to move a pile and they will at least be together for this season as Knighton is only on a one year deal. Another signing to be on the alert for was that they had signed a former Seattle Seahawk in Jeron Johnson. Again, this would have been someone that McCloughan would have been familiar with during his time in Seattle so he might know more about him than other GM's would have known when he went to sign him.
2015 NFL Draft
Let's start on the offensive side of the ball in the draft as that is where the Redskins started it up as well. Brandon Scherff was taken as the fifth overall pick in the draft. Currently the former Iowa Hawkeye is slated in at right guard to play right next to Morgan Moses. With his size, Scherff will probably get moved to tackle at some point in his career, but there is no need to rush him out there quite yet. They also drafted a running back in the third round named Matt Jones. Jones is looking to fill the shoes of Roy Helu and is currently in second place at running back on the most recent Redskins depth chart.
The Redskins drafted two receivers in this draft as well, with Jamison Crowder going in the fourth round and Evan Spencer going in the sixth round. Both of them are fighting for a spot as the fifth receiver role and should easily be able to replace any loss experienced from the absence of Leonard Hankerson. They also added more depth across the offensive line as they took Arie Kouandjio in the fourth round as well as drafting Austin Reiter in the final round of the draft. Right now Kouandjio is projected to be a backup guard while Reiter is the third string center on the depth chart, but as porous as this offensive line has been in recent years, bulking up the interior of the offensive line must have been a focus for McCoughlan this off-season.
Defensively, this draft focus was primarily about the secondary, but they started with the pass rush as they took former Mississippi State Bulldogs defensive end Preston Smith to be an outside linebacker in their 3-4 scheme. You can simply never have enough pass rushers in a 3-4 defense and that is something that Smith will certainly be proving as the will be a force to be reckoned with as he comes around the tackles from the outside. They also took another outside linebacker in Martrell Spaight, drafted safety Kyshoen Jarrett from the Virginia Tech Hokies, and then their final defensive pick in the draft was Tevin Mitchel. Spaight and Mitchel are actually college teammates from the Arkansas Razorbacks. A few of these defensive players may have an early impact in their career, but most of these players are going to sit and learn the defensive system and continue to improve their skills to take them to the next level.
2015 Washington Redskins Schedule
September 13 - Miami Dolphins
September 20 - St. Louis Rams
September 24 at New York Giants (Thursday Night)
October 4 - Philadelphia Eagles
October 11 at Atlanta Falcons
October 18 at New York Jets
October 25 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
November 8 at New England Patriots
November 15 - New Orleans Saints
November 22 at Carolina Panthers
November 29 - New York Giants
December 7 - Dallas Cowboys (Monday Night)
December 13 at Chicago Bears
December 20 - Buffalo Bills
December 26 at Philadelphia Eagles (Saturday Night)
January 3 at Dallas Cowboys
Well, the pro and con of this schedule is that they open up with several home games, but that unfortunately sets them up for three of their final four games on the road. It will be important for them to get off to a good start then if they want to look like they have improved during this season, because there isn't a lot of easy victories in their final few games of the season. Perhaps to their advantage is that they are playing the NFC South, which struggled mightily across the board last year. This certainly is not an easy schedule, and they will probably go through times of success and times of failure throughout the schedule.
Key Players
There is one person on each side of the ball that this writer thinks is potentially more important than the other 10 men on the field. Offensively, it would be Robert Griffin III. The former Heisman trophy winner has had an odd few NFL seasons now with the Redskins, originally being the Offensive Rookie of the Year, and then after tearing his ACL being told that he can't actually be an NFL quarterback. There will be a lot on his shoulders to see how well they can actually do this season, or they may have to hand the ball over to Kirk Cousins or Colt McCoy.
Defensively, this writer tends to think that Ryan Kerrigan is underrated and will have a profound impact on the defensive success the Redskins are trying to achieve this season. He is their primary pass rusher now that Brian Orakpo is out of town and will need to get pressure so that his cornerbacks in DeAngelo Hall and Chris Culliver are able to matchup well along the outside.
Prediction
The Washington Redskins are a team that could jump up a bit this year, but shouldn't be able to do a quick and easy turnaround to go from worst in the division to first in the division. The Philadelphia Eagles are a wild card and the Dallas Cowboys are the reigning Champions. The New York Giants are a bit of an enigma as well as they are an unknown on the defensive side of the ball as they are not the same team that they used to be with their NASCAR packages and who knows what to expect from the digit challenged Jason Pierre-Paul after his Fourth of July incident. This writer sees them bound for a 5-11 or 6-10 season, in which there is hope for the future, but they shouldn't be able to topple the top teams in the conference yet, but they should be able to get at least one victory away from the former NFC East Champions in the Dallas Cowboys, because it seems like they do every year anyway.