The Washington Redskins have now put the 2020 NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, and they will be forging ahead into an unpredictable offseason in the NFL, likely comfortable with who they have on the roster.
We’ve yet to see what undrafted free-agents the Redskins will look to sign over the coming days, but for the most part, we have a good feeling for who the Redskins will be heading into the 2020 season with.
So while a number of positional needs were filled, and several questions were asked, what do we still want to know about where the Redskins will go from here? Let’s take a look at some popular questions that might pop up over the coming days.
What’s the plan at tight end?
Probably one of the biggest head-scratchers during the entire draft for Washington was their choice to pass on addressing the TE hole on the roster. In almost all of our mock drafts, we had the Redskins grabbing one of the top TEs of the board, be it Cole Kmet or Adam Trautman or Albert Okwuegbunam, usually somewhere in the 3rd-to-5th round. As Day 3 of the draft went by, we kept waiting and waiting for Washington to pull the trigger, and it seemed obvious that they would take Washington’s Hunter Bryant, who was miraculously still on the board. with one of their final picks of the draft. They never did.
It’s apparent that Rivera doesn’t think that a TE drafted in the mid-to-late rounds of the draft will have a chance to start, and he wanted guys who could make a difference going forward, and be better than what they have on their roster. Speaking of which, the Redskins are also reportedly very high on both Richard Rodgers and Logan Thomas, the two tight ends they signed in free agency. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Washington roll into the 2020 season standing pat at the TE position, unless they were to sign some undrafted free agents. Speaking of which…
Who are some UDFA’s that Washington might add?
Almost every team in the NFL takes to the UDFA market once the draft is over, and the Redskins will be no different. Things may be a bit different this year, though, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to change the way of daily life in the NFL. Many owners have already come out and stated that they will be signing fewer UDFAs than normal. Nonetheless, here are some names that I have my eye on:
TE Thad Moss — LSU
CB Lavert Hill — Michigan
WR Quartney Davis — Texas A&M
LB Jordan Mack — Virginia
S Myles Dorn — UNC
Who are the most-likely starting skill-position players going to be?
Have you checked out what the starting offensive lineup could look like next season? Boy, is it fun to look at. Here is who I predict will be the starters at skill positions in 2020.
QB — Dwayne Haskins
RB — Derrius Guice
RB — Adrian Peterson
WR — Terry McLaurin
WR — Antonio Gandy-Golden
WR — Steven Sims Jr.
TE — Logan Thomas
And throw in a rotation of Antonio Gibson and Peyton Barber at RB, plus Kelvin Harmon and Cody Latimer at WR. That should be fun to watch.
Did the Redskins draft LT Saahdiq Charles to be a starter?
In my opinion, no — Saahdiq Charles will not get much playing time during his rookie season. The Redskins drafted him in the fourth round because they have an obvious need at the LT position going forward with Trent Williams no longer in the building, but it’s hard to find a starting level OT in the first or second round of the draft, let alone the fourth.
If Charles puts the work in and keeps his off-field issues to a minimum, I have no doubt that he can turn into a solid LT a year or two down the road, but as of now, I think he will spend most of the 2020 season on the bench adapting to the NFL.
How would you grade Ron Rivera’s first draft in Washington?
I was very impressed with how Rivera handled his first major event as the head coach of the Redskins. He and Kyle Smith obviously had a plan for Washington going into the draft, and the wanted to take the best player available to them to help boost their roster, rather than handcuffing themselves by being concerned with areas of need. Rivera knows that the Redskins likely won’t be a 10-win team in 2020, so he is laying a solid foundation of hard work and skill while he has the flexibility.
By watching Rivera complete his objective in the draft, I have a lot of confidence that he is the right man to turn the ship around in Washington and get this thing going in the right direction. He has proved it well enough over the past three days.
