A disappointing and often frustrating start to the 2019 season has left the Washington Redskins in a tough situation. As they enter their Week 10 bye, much of their depth chart is filled out with either aging veterans or young players who could benefit from seeing an increase in work share.
With a 1-8 record and a chance to secure a high draft pick in 2020, many think that Washington should be tanking the season away and giving the youth in-house a chance to get some experience, but judging by the snap counts at the midway point, on top of Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen’s refusal to trade anyone away at the deadline, that doesn’t seem to be the team’s philosophy.
Let’s take a look at the snap counts from the first half of the season, starting with the offense.
Offense
Despite some very low expectations coming into the season after being labeled as a bust in the early years of his career, LG Ereck Flowers has been a delightful surprise for the Redskins, as he has been the picture of consistency on the left side of the line, and his play has greatly improved in a new system. For the most part, the entire offensive line has remained surprisingly healthy through the first half of the season, with only Chase Roullier and Brandon Scherff missing some time due to injury.
It’s also no surprise to see rookie WR Terry McLaurin rank high up the list of snaps, as he has undoubtedly been the biggest bright-spot for Washington so far this season, and the Redskins have done everything they can to keep him on the field.
Surprisingly, RB Adrian Peterson only played just over 44% of snaps, although the team has committed to a heavy run-scheme under Bill Callahan, but his healthy scratch from the first game of the season under Jay Gruden likely has a big effect here.
Three players to watch going forward will be QB Dwayne Haskins, RB Derrius Guice, and WR Kelvin Harmon. All three are young players, and a smart team would give them a massive share of the workload going forward in order to improve down the road. Of course, Guice was injured in the first game of the season, but he is expected to return when the Redskins come back from their bye week, which will also likely have an impact on Peterson’s snap numbers.
Defense
When you think about the Redskins defensive production so far this season, who would you expect to be leading the charge on the field? Landon Collins, Jon Bostic, Daron Payne, and Quinton Dunbar? Yep, that just about matches up with the data shown here. CB Josh Norman also is high on the list of snaps played, but that should hopefully change as the season goes on.
For the most part, the secondary has stayed relatively healthy this season, with Collins, Dunbar, Norman, and Montae Nicholson all seeing more than 400 snaps apiece. Going into the second half of the season, it would be nice for young corners like Jimmy Moreland and Fabian Moreau to take over a bulk of the share from Norman, as he will likely be gone from the team in 2020.
Bostic has done a great job taking over the defense after just coming into the program this summer, and his 91% of snaps played shows a small picture of where Washington has found success on that side of the ball. Likewise, the combination of Payne, Matt Ioannidis, and Ryan Kerrigan have been highly productive on the defensive line, which is apparent here.
