The Redskin Report

A lot of things go wrong when you finish with double digit losses, but for the Washington Redskins last year, depth was perhaps the biggest problem facing the team. As injuries occurred, the Redskins were forced to play guy who were lucky to be on NFL rosters, let alone starting for a team with supposed Super Bowl hopes. With names like Vernon Fox, Mike Rumph and Kenny Wright were getting significant time on the field, it’s no wonder the Redskins finished in the basement of the NFC East.

One of the over-looked aspects of this relatively quiet off-season (well at least by Redskins standards) was the restocking of the cupboard so to speak. For the most part the Redskins ignored the big name expensive player instead turning to cheaper options and leaving some cap space for decent reserve players.

Jon Jansen’s injury is a prime example. Todd Wade was signed late in training camp last year to provide depth, but even behind him the Redskins have Stephon Heyer. Heyer isn’t a star by any stretch, but on Sunday he proved he could hold his own if pressed into action. Considering there are teams out there that have trouble enough finding two tackles who can handle NFL duties, having four is a definite strength.

Looking over the roster, you see more of the same. Legitimate
NFL players as back-ups like David Macklin, Randall Godfrey, Pierson Prioleau and Rock Cartwright are sprinkled throughout the team. In a tough 16 week season, all those players could play dividends at some point.

Two positions are still very low on depth however – defensive line and wide receiver. You can say the Redskins go three deep at both spots on the line. Cornelius Griffin, Anthony Montgomery and Kedric Golston can all play tackle while Andre Carter, Phillip Daniels and Demetric Evans are decent ends. After those 6 players, you start hitting whathisnames and whotheheckisthis guys instead of established players.

Wide Receiver is even slimmer depth wise. You have Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El and allegedly Brandon Lloyd as guys who’ve produced in recent years and a bunch of question marks (Lloyd is a question mark as well these days). James Thrash appears to be more of a blocker than a pass catcher these days – the Todd Yoder of wide-outs if you will. But after him, you’re looking at pulling players off the waiver wire instead of looking down the bench for replacements.

Despite those two positions (and those could come back to bite the Redskins don’t get me wrong) this is a big improvement over this past year. The Redskins start a fair number of older players who are likely to get dinged up at one point or another, having some decent back-ups for once, could make those playoff dreams come reality.