NFL PREVIEW: 2020 WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM

By Adam Greene

Key Additions: TE Logan Thomas (free agent), OG Jeremy Vuknovich (free agent), OG Wes Schweitzer (free agent), TE Richard Rogers (free agent), LB Kevin Pierre-Louis (free agent), LT Cornelius Lucas (free agent), S Sean Savis (free agent), RB J.D. McKissic (free agent), WR Cody Latime (free agent), QB Kyle Allen (trade), RB Peyton Barber (free agent), CN Ronald Darby (free agent), LB Thomas Davis (free agent), CB Kendall Fuller

2020 NFL Draft: DE Chase Young, Ohio State (round 1), Rb Antonio Gibson, Memphis (round 3), OT Saahdiq Charles, LSU (round 4), WR Antonio Gandy-Goldon, Liberty (round 4), C Keith Ismael, San Diego State (round 5), LB Khaleke Hudson, Michigan (round 5), S Kamren Curl, Arkansas (round 7), DE James Smith-Williams, N.C. State (round 7)

Projected Offensive Starters: QB Dwayne Haskins Jr, RB Derrius Guice, WR Terry McLaurin, WR Steven Sims Jr, WR Kelvin Harmon, TE Jeremy Sprinkle, LT Geron Christian St, LG Wes Schweitzer, C Chase Roullier, RG Brandon Scherff, RTZ Morgan Moses

Projected Defensive Starters: LDE Ryan Kerrigan, LDT Jonathan Allen, RDT Daron Payne, RDE Chase Young, WLB Thomas Davis, MLB Jon Bostic, SLB Reuben Foster, LCB Kendall Fuller, RCB Fabian Moreau, SS Landon Collins, FS Sean Davis

K: Dustin Hopkins

P: Tress Way

Head Coach: Ron Rivera

2019 Record: 3-13, 4^th place NFC East

A Look Back: The decision to keep Jay Gruden employed in the offseason doomed Washington from the start. The man had no business ever being a head coach in the NFL and the only surprise about his eventual firing was the fact that it didn’t happen sooner.

While loading Gruden into the trebuchet and sending him hurtling over the castle wall after an 0-5 start was probably good for morale, it didn’t help the team on the field. They managed just three wins, all over horrible teams, and finished out December going 0-4 with an embarrassing loss to the New York Giants, who were about to fire their own head coach.

There’s no part of their season worth hanging a hat on. Sure, maybe they found their quarterback in Dwayne Haskins, but he went 2-4 as a starter, got hurt and missed the last two games and only topped 200 passing yards twice. 

2020 Projection: Washington won the early offseason by hiring Rivera and then drafting Chase Young out of Ohio State at No. 2 overall. It’s all been downhill after that.

First, their sponsors and apparel companies demanded they change their name because it’s 2020 and it was ridiculous that they were still using a racial slur as a mascot. They capitulated, scrubbed the old name from the team and then found themselves in a pitched battle with a copyright troll who squatted on pretty much every name Washington could pick. For now, they’ll be known as the “Washington Football Team”.

While they were dealing with that, the Washington Post broke the story that Washington had organization-wide sexual harassment problems, with 15 different women alleging misconduct against so many current and former staff members that I won’t even list titles. Even their radio play-by-play guy is implicated.

As distractions go, Washington has plenty.

But it also has Rivera and that will mean something when the season finally does start. They’ll be better just because he’s the coach and will win games they shouldn’t based on their lack of roster talent.

2020 Projected win total: 6-10. Rivera is a significant coaching (and moral) upgrade over Jay Gruden, but there’s a multi-year rebuild taking place in Washington. It’s not going to happen all at once.