With the free agency period largely over and the draft in the rearview mirror, there is only one big decision left to be made in the league:
Who will be featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” in 2019?
Every year, the premium cable network deploys their crew into the locker room of a lowly NFL franchise that is struggling to find success. This year, there are four teams eligible to be the subject of the show, and the Washington Redskins are one of them.
To start, we should mention that there are three exemptions to mandatory inclusions for the show:
- Having a first-year head coach.
- A playoff berth in either of the last two seasons.
- A previous appearance on the show in the past 10 seasons.
Along with the Redskins, the three teams that fit that bill are the New York Giants, Oakland Raiders and Detroit Lions. (The San Francisco 49ers were also subject to appearing on the show, but according to NBC Sports, the NFL has taken them out of the running because Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch “expressed their opposition” to being on it.)
Whether you want the Redskins to appear on the show or not is personal preference. It has a long history of opening the public’s eyes to the inner workings of an NFL locker room, no matter how crass or brutal it can be. However, the show also does a great job of giving a glimpse into the lives of NFL stars, depicting family life and relationships with others.
Like it or not, the Redskins are (finally) interesting and would likely create a buzz if they were to be selected. There are numerous interesting storylines: Dwayne Haskins’ potential emergence as an NFL star; Derrius Guice progressing into a starting role under the guidance of Adrian Peterson; Landon Collins and Josh Norman chattering in the secondary. The league could find a more boring team to follow for a month.
The decision will be made sometime this spring, so there is time to decide whether or not you want to get an in-depth look in Washington and their hopeful rise to long-awaited success in the NFL.
