Kyle Shanahan

Redskins will have rough 2020 season but potential is there, NFL preview magazines say

Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins is hoping to make a good impression with his new coaching staff as he enters his second season. Photo by Brian Murphy.

After a toxic 2019 season that saw a fan revolt unlike any in recent memory, the Washington Redskins underwent a culture change by firing team president Bruce Allen and hiring former Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera.

Rivera brought over a lot of his Carolina staff to instill that culture. That also includes former players like linebacker Thomas Davis Sr. and quarterback Kyle Allen.

Second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins showed progress at the end of what started out as a rough rookie campaign. This will be an important season to impress the new coaching staff and show off his true potential.

The Redskins rid themselves of several big names like star left tackle Trent Williams, who held out all of 2019 and was traded to the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers and old friend Kyle Shanahan. The team also traded cornerback Quinton Dunbar to the Seattle Seahawks and released cornerback Josh Norman and tight end Jordan Reed. Norman signed with the Buffalo Bills while Reed is still a free agent after missing the 2019 season following a concussion suffered in the preseason. Reed’s release and Vernon Davis’s retirement left the team’s tight end room bereft of talent.

Washington showed interest in tight end Austin Hooper but didn’t compete with the Cleveland Browns’s four-year, $44 million deal. The team also swung and missed on wide receiver Amari Cooper after reportedly offering more money than the Dallas Cowboys, where the star wideout ultimately re-signed for $100 million over five years.

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Redskins 2015 free agents: Keep ’em or let ’em go?

By Jake Russell

The Redskins are expected to have 16 players with free agent designations when the new league year begins on March 10. The open negotiation period between free agents and other teams opens on Saturday but deals can’t be signed until Tuesday at 4 p.m. The team will need to make several big decisions.

Assuming restricted free agents Kai Forbath, Trenton Robinson and Justin Rogers, and exclusive rights free agents Chris Thompson and Rishaw Johnson all return, the team will be left with 11 unrestricted free agents, meaning they are free to sign anywhere after March 10.

Safety Ryan Clark was set to become an unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year deal last year. The 13-year veteran instead opted to retire after a lackluster 2014 season.

The team re-signed tackle Tom Compton on February 27, who was slated to become a restricted free agent. Compton played in all 16 games in 2014 and started the final nine games in place of soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Tyler Polumbus.

Exclusive rights free agent safety Duke Ihenacho was re-signed on March 4. As an ERFA, the fourth-year veteran would have had to either re-sign with the team or retire.

Below is a list of the team’s 11 unrestricted free agents.

Keep ’em:

OLB Brian Orakpo

Photo by Brian Murphy.

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What position should the Redskins take at 34th overall?

By Jake Russell

Cyrus Kouandjio, Kyle Van Noy, Morgan Moses, Stephon Tuitt, and Xavier Su’a Filo are top draft prospects. Will one of them fall to the Redskins at 34?

For the second year in a row, the Washington Redskins’ first selection in the NFL Draft will not come until the second round, this time at 34th overall. (more…)