Last week we looked at Jim Haslett and his job in improving the Redskins defense this off-season and now we’ll look at the new Redskins offense for 2014.
2013 Review Redskins Offense
First, lets review a tumultuous 3-13 year that had story line after story line. It all started with Robert Griffin III and his recovery from his major knee surgery that came as a result of an injury he suffered during the previous season’s playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. There was even a documentary on ESPN about RGIII’s long road to recovery. All off-season fans and analysts debated whether or not he should start or sit at the beginning of the NFL Season. Griffin was soon cleared to practice and was deemed the starter by the then head coach Mike Shanahan.
From the beginning of the first game against Philadelphia you could see that Griffin was rusty and that balls were sailing on him. Fans brushed the first four games off and counted it as a preseason for Griffin to get his legs back under him. But Griffin and the Redskins kept losing and with losing comes even more drama. Rumors started to come out about Griffin and the Shanahans and how the relationship between the quarterback, the head coach, and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan had gone south. Rumors upon rumors came out and the Shanahans were the new villains in town. If I wrote about all the rumors that came out, I would probably just turn it into a book.
As Washington tried to finish this season strong Shanahan decided that the season was lost and didn’t want to get Griffin hurt again so he sat him and had backup Kirk Cousins finish out the season, but that couldn’t even help this tumultuous team as he went 0-3 and Washington ended the season 3-13.
Jay Gruden
But alas Washington fans things have changed for the better the team now has a player friendly coach and even more importantly, they now have a quarterback minded coach in former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden who has taken over the squad being named the new head coach this off-season.
Now lets break down the offensive side of the ball position by position.
Quarterback:
RG3 will continue to be the starter, with Kirk Cousins as the backup. The main pieces of the quarterback position haven’t changed at all, but with RG3 Healthy (SIA Profile), and with both RG3 and Cousins more experienced the position should be better. As well, “Sexy Rexy” aka Rex Grossman is no more, so that has got to be considered a plus. Colt McCoy takes over as the third string quarterback.
Running Back
This is the most interesting position on the offensive side of the ball. Alfred Morris is still the best running back on this roster and will stay at the top of the depth chart for a long time to come. But after Morris its a little more foggier with four other running backs vying for the second spot and third down back duty.
We have the elusive Roy Helu Jr., the electrifying and jaw dropping Lache Seastrunk, the speedy Chris Thompson, and a guy who has had little success so far in Evan Royster.
I don’t believe that Royster will make it past the first round of cuts, and I would be surprised if he did (but I also thought he wouldn’t have made it this far to begin with). Thompson is a player that I am not sure what to make of. He has great speed and we’ve seen his return skills, but is also undersized and injury prone (SIA Alert). If he makes the team, he’s likely to be a special teams player, and maybe in for some plays catching the ball out of the backfield, but not as a true option behind Morris.
The battle I am looking forward to in training camp is the battle between Seastrunk and Helu Jr. as they both look the part of a starting running back. They can both take it to the house and they will both be on the roster when the finale roster is out, however the question remains as to who will be the second string running back? I think the competition will bring the best out of both players come training camp, but in the end I see Seastrunk getting more playing time.
Wide Receivers
In DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, and Andre Roberts the top three wide receivers are set. Jackson and Roberts are new additions, but they are extremely talented, so its just a matter of learning a new offense and developping chemistry with RG3. The added threats should help the Redskins offense put up more big plays, more first downs, and most importantly more points.
Behind the big three we should see a battle for the next two to three wide receiver spots. Competing for time will be Ryan Grant (2014 5th round draft pick), Santana Moss, Aldrick Robinson, Leonard Hankerson, and Cody Hoffman (UDFA).
Hankerson is most likely done in Washington as he has been hurt every season he’s been in the league, and when he’s not hurt, he isn’t living up to his potential (SIA Profile). Moss is not getting any younger, but with his new contract is probably going to be kept around for the veteran experience. Robinson still only knows one route which is straight, he will have to develop more versatility to be a useful piece of the roster. We cant judge Hoffman or Grant as they are both rookies and we don’t know how good they will be, but they both have potential. It surprised some when Hoffman wasn’t drafted out of BYU, and Grant played well at Tulane and is impressing coaches with his performance at mini-camp. Predicting the remaining receiver spots is difficult and will come down to training camp and pre-season performance.
Tight End
Jordan Reed had good production as a rookie, until he was injured (SIA Alert). He should be back fully healthy and ready to take over the starting spot once again.
Logan Paulson should be the second string tight end. He’s a better blocker than receiver, though he did have some good games catching the ball at the end of last year. Rookie Ted Bolser will battle Paulson for his spot.
Offensive Line
Now we come to the offensive line, a unit that has come under heavy scrutiny since 2012.
Jay Gruden has added talent and beef to the line and has gotten rid of Will Montgomery who didn’t do the job he was supposed to do which is to make the proper pre-snap blocking calls on the line. With the new beef on this line, they should be better than they were last year and should no longer get pushed around.
Rookie Morgan Moses (3rd Round) will battle with Tyler Polumbus for the starting spot at Right Tackle. Shawn Lauvao, Chris Chester, Josh LeRibeus, and Adam Gettis, will compete in training camp for the guard spots.Spencer Long (3rd round) was drafted in the third round, but is still getting over an injury suffered at Nebraska. Long has a lot of potential and will push the incumbents here once he is healthy. They will either need to be better or Long will soon take their spots. Chris Chester should start at Left Tackle again.
All in all this offense has improved a lot more than it is being given credit for by most analysts. This will show itself during the season, but until then there is still a lot of work to be done.
Coming up next, I will have my unofficial depth chart before the start of OTA’s.
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