The NFC East Offseason Preview continues with a look at the Washington Football Team. This organization was at the center of several controversial conversations this offseason. Things heated up quickly as they have for many years about the team’s name and mascot. Fifteen women came forward regarding sexual misconduct and verbal abuse from team staffers just weeks after the team decided to change their name. But wait, there’s more: highly-touted running back Derrius Guice was arrested on charges of domestic abuse, which includes a charge for strangulation.
The offseason wasn’t all sour grapes, though. Like fellow NFC East rivals New York and Dallas, the organization made changes to the coaching staff. Ron Rivera represents the head of the team, while Jack Del Rio and Scott Turner have come in to manage the defense and offense, respectively. Washington has had one winning head coach in nearly 40 years and has only nine winning seasons since 1991. The revamped front office and coaching staff look to plant their flag and turn things around.
Offseason Moves
With a heavy focus on bolstering the 27th ranked defense, Rivera and company went to work. Washington signed free agents Sean Davis, Ronald Darby, and Kendall Fuller. They would also bring in a veteran presence in the front seven with acquisitions of Thomas Davis Sr., Jon Bostic, and Kevin Pierre-Louis. The team continued their defensive focus with the drafting of stud defensive end Chase Young out of Ohio State. Young was touted as the best player in the draft for months and gets paired with three other first-round selections on the defensive line, Montez Sweat, Da’Ron Payne, and Jonathan Allen.
Although Washington focused a significant amount of time on the defensive side of the ball, a trade for former Panthers QB Kyle Allen, plus draft selections of Antonio Gibson and Antonio Gandy-Golden should help move the offense forward. Don’t expect the changes to immediately turn this team around from worst-to-first. However, each of them are steps in the right direction. Let’s take a look at how each player can help you win your fantasy football league.
Quarterbacks
Washington has some pretty young, under-developed talent taking control of the huddle in 2020. Currently led by 2019 first-round selection Dwayne Haskins, Washington made a trade to bring in Kyle Allen from Carolina. Neither Haskins (9 games) nor Allen (13) played a full season in their rookie years. However, both signal-callers were a tale of two halves. For Haskins, things progressed fairly well throughout the season. Allen on the other hand saw things get worse as the season went on. During Haskins’ first five games played, many thought he was the bust of the draft. Haskins threw for only 654 yards, had an adjusted completion percentage of only 65%, and had four more interceptions thrown (6) than touchdowns (2). According to Sam’s Film Room, this stemmed from shoddy footwork that forced an overcompensation of his arm, and his lack of experience was the apparent culprit. As the season went on, though, Haskins made significant strides to fix the issues causing his problems. Haskins finished the season with 15 more fantasy points in his final four games. Haskins had more touchdowns (5), fewer interceptions (1), and increased his completion percentage to 72.2% while throwing for more yards on fewer attempts.
Allen, unfortunately, went in the opposite direction. After winning five of their first six games, the Panthers would lose eight straight to end the year. Poor play from Allen caused the departure of Ron Rivera and ultimately, the loss of his QB job. Haskins is a serious sleeper candidate in 2020. His new Offensive Coordinator has experience coaching big-time QBs such as Cam Newton and Teddy Bridgewater and should be an excellent fit for Haskins. His current ADP is 104 and is the 28th QB taken according to FFPC ADP. Allen will likely play the backup role in helping Haskins learn the terminology and getting comfortable with the playbook. However, if Haskins falters, Washington could move to Allen as they head into #TankforTrevor territory.
Running Backs
Even with the loss of Derrius Guice following a domestic abuse incident, the Washington running back room is a bit crowded. Our own FF_Terminator breaks down the Washington running backs following the Guice departure. Washington now has three players who can hold immediate impact with two other veterans waiting in the wings if any of them falter. 14-year veteran Adrian Peterson currently leads the room, even though rookie Antonio Gibson, sophomore Bryce Love, J.D. McKissic, and Peyton Barber add a little something to the roster. AD: All Day (not AP as the misinformed NFL fan base would have you believe) is entering year 14 and is coming off back-to-back seasons of at least 900 yards. Despite his age, Peterson had the 19th most carries (211) and the 17th most yards (898) in 2019. He had the 8th most breakaway runs (11), the 14th best breakaway run rate (5.2%), and evaded the 11th most tackles (77) with the 2nd best juke rate (33.8%).
Antonio Gibson
▪︎Memphis Sr
▪︎6'0" 228lbs 30.9 Bmi
▪︎21.8 yo
▪︎4.39 40 (98th)
▪︎122.8 Speed (99th)
~Beautiful run here. Good Strength Power Contact Balance. Fantastic Juke.
☆Return Ability
■Im interested in the Draft Capital, bit of a wild card pic.twitter.com/nXDNSOB350— Phil Pennington Jr. (@DynastyPhilDawg) April 17, 2020
Antonio Gibson had less than 80 total touches in college but had more than 1200 yards and 14 touchdowns. Bryce Love is coming off an ACL tear in his senior season at Standford that caused him to miss 2019. However, he gained more than 2,000 yards and scored 19 touchdowns in his collegiate career. With the loss of Guice, Peterson should garner most of the work with Love/Gibson taking on more of the 3rd down/passing game role. Nevertheless, if Peterson begins to show his age, one of these youngsters could see an uptick in touches and value down the stretch. Gibson and Love are great stashes in deeper leagues and could provide free value with ADPs of 172 and 326. You can learn more about Gibson’s pre-draft profile from the thread put together by Phil Pennington Jr. above.
Wide Receivers
The Washington receivers are stacked with upside. From Terry ‘F1’ McLaurin to Steven Sims, Kelvin Harmon, and Antonio Gandy-Golden, Washington has some serious talent. Both McLaurin and Sims burst onto the scene in 2019, taking immediate strongholds of the #1 and #2 receiving positions on the Washington depth chart. During McLaurin’s first five games, the former Buckeye found the end zone five times, gaining at least 100 yards twice with 23 receptions. Over that span, McLaurin finished as the 9th best fantasy receiver with 93.8 PPR points. McLaurin would fail to reach 75 yards or the end zone in any of the next six games. However, in Weeks 14-16, F1 got back to his dominant ways ranking as the WR6 with 16 receptions, 273 yards, and two touchdowns.
Over almost the same span, Steven Sims stamped his way onto the Washington depth chart permanently. From week 14 on, Sims finished as the WR9. Kelvin Harmon had a significant opportunity to lock into the #3 WR spot in this offense; however, he will miss the entire 2020 season with a torn ACL.
Gawd I love me some Antonio Gandy-Golden 💎
— Thor Nystrom (@thorku) July 15, 2020
Enter rookie Antonio Gandy-Golden and veterans Dontrelle Inman & Cody Latimer. Gandy-Golden didn’t grade well according to The Draft Network, earning only two stars. His route-running and release are both below average skill sets despite his ability to play physical and his above-average ability to snag the ball. He’s going to lack pure NFL athleticism, however he’s an exceptional pass catcher. If he can work on some of the things he lacked in college, Gandy-Golden could snag the #3 WR role in an offense that’s likely to play behind and will have to throw the rock.
Tight Ends
For years, fantasy players have always held a little extra love for the tight ends in Washington. Jordan Reed was that Evan Engram-type of talent that just couldn’t stay healthy. Despite never playing a full season in his career, Reed caught at least 45 passes in all but one season. Reed is now in San Francisco after passing his physical and signing a 1-year deal with the 49ers. No Washington Tight End caught more than 26 passes last year, with current#1 TE Jeremy Sprinkle pulling in the most. There genuinely are no names on this list that give us high hopes from a fantasy perspective.
Sprinkle doesn’t do anything particularly well, with the 49th best pass blocking ranking according to PFF last year. Other tight ends Logan Thomas and Richard Rogers don’t jump off the page either. As such, the the Washington Football Team decided to go after NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss’ son Thaddeus as an undrafted free agent. Moss isn’t the most dynamic of athletes, however he possesses some pretty decent route running ability, hitting quick stick routes and sitting down in the coverage’s holes. While it’s way too early to say, Moss’ scouting report suggests he can provide some of the similar attributes Jason Witten was able to provide for Dallas for so many years. If Moss can develop his route tree a bit more and learn to create a bit more separation from defenders, he can pair that with an above average catch radius into an excellent career. None of the aforementioned tight ends are particularly exciting to target, but Moss could hold value if he hits on some of the topics discussed.
Make sure to check out other NFC East Breakdowns including the New York Giants & Dallas Cowboys, and be on the lookout for the Philadelphia Eagles breakdown later this offseason.
