Redskins Position Group Breakdown: Wide Receivers
June 21, 2018
by Steve Thomas
If you’re one of our regular readers or listeners, you know that we are in the middle of our annual position group breakdown series. Jamual Forrest usually writes these columns for you, but he’s unfortunately busy this week, so you’re stuck with me and my mindless ramblings about the Redskins wide receiver corps.
The success of the 2018 Redskins receiver group will begin and end with the progress of third year player Josh Doctson. Since his first year was essentially a total wash due to injury, Doctson’s 2017 campaign served as his first real NFL season. Doctson, who is 6’2”, 206 pounds, is a player with a significant amount of natural talent, most prominently his 41 inch vertical leap. In 2017, he made 35 catches on 78 targets for 502 yards and an average of 14.3 yards per catch and 6 touchdowns. Even understanding that the Redskins had significant injuries and a quarterback who was clearly angling to leave, his 44.9% completion percentage is totally unacceptable for a player who was brought here to be the team’s #1 receiver of the future. 2018 is a very important year for him – Docston must begin to show strides and substantive production, or he’ll be gone after 2019. Expect Doctson to continue to start at the X position next year.
Starting opposite Doctson at the Z position will be new Redskin Paul Richardson, Jr., who was given a five year, $40M contract to come to DC from Seattle and produce at a level that, frankly, his stats to date don’t back. There’s no doubt that Richardson has talent, and the Redskins clearly saw enough of him on film to make a huge investment, but this is a case where the team is banking on a significant increase in production. I wrote a full study on Richardson back when he was signed, which you can read here. He’s fast, but not Desean Jackson fast – he ran a 4.4 40 yard dash at the 2014 Combine, but reportedly ran 4.28 at the University of Colorado. He can run the entire route tree and will be able to be the deep threat that the Redskins lacked last year, but he is a player who will drop a ball on occasion. The bottom line is that Richardson was given a large contract and needs to perform.
Jamison Crowder is the team’s starting slot receiver. Crowder emerged last year as a legitimate threat and forced opposing defenses to pay attention to him in a manner that they had not before. He completed the 2017 season with 66 receptions on 103 targets for 789 yards and an average of 12.0 yards per reception and 3 touchdowns. Make no mistake: Crowder is not on the level of Jarvis Landry in terms of his on the field production, but he’s a legitimate upper-level slot receiver with good hands, route running, and explosiveness. His rookie contact expires after the 2018 season, so he will become an unrestricted free agent and will be handsomely paid by someone one year from now.
Maurice Harris, 6’3”, 200 pounds, has progressed from back of the roster undrafted free agent to solid contributor who will most likely make the active roster and contribute. Harris has spent most of his time in Washington on the practice squad, and only had 4 receptions for 62 yards and 1 touchdown in 6 games in 2017, but he’s shown potential and versatility and appears poised to have a breakout season in 2018. Harris has the ability to play multiple positions within the position group, so look for him to be the principal backup and #4 receiver for the team this season.
Brian Quick is the veteran of this group. Quick, who is 6’4”, 209 pounds, didn’t produce much on the field for the Redskins last year, with only 76 yards on 8 receptions, but has the body to be Josh Docston’s backup at the “X” position. The coaches clearly saw enough of him to believe he can make a contribution to the team, particularly on a contract that’s only worth $880K.
Robert Davis, last year’s 6th round draft pick, has it all in terms of physical attributes: size (6’3”, 220 pounds), blazing speed (4.44 second 40 yard dash), and elite athleticism. Davis is raw technically and will likely need another year to continue to develop his route-running ability and NFL-level receiver skills. At some point, whether this year or next, I expect Robert Davis to break out and show what he’s really capable of doing, and when that happens, look out, because it’s not often that a player with his measurables comes along.
This year’s 7th round pick, Trey Quinn, who is 6’0” and 208 pounds, has already captured the hearts of a significant portion of the team’s fanbase. He had unbelievable numbers in his one season at SMU – he was one of the most productive receivers in the NCAA in 2017. Quinn is going to get a shot at the kick and/or punt return job, so if he is able to grab one of those roles, he’ll end up on the active roster sooner rather than later. He’s a slot receiver who will back up Jamison Crowder if he finds his way onto the active roster this year. He already has quality route-running skills. His principal weakness is average athleticism, speed, and burst by NFL standards. I wrote a lengthy piece on Quinn back in May which you can find here.
Washington has signed 4 undrafted free agents to compete at the position, Simmie Cobbs Jr (6’3”, 220), Shay Fields (5’11”, 185), Darvin Kidsy (6’0”, 180), and Cam Sims (6’5”. 214). Of those players, head coach Jay Gruden specifically singled out Sims, who played at Alabama, as a player who’s flashed during OTAs and minicamp. Sims has tremendous size but runs in the 4.6 second range in the 40. He’s worth keeping at eye on during training camp.
The Redskins have quite a bit of unproven talent in this position group, and will need to see several players have breakout years in order to be successful. The team will most likely keep either 5 or 6 on the active roster this season. Docston, Richardson, and Crowder are roster locks, and Harris is probably close to a lock, so that leaves Davis, Quick, Quinn, Cobbs, Fields, Kidsy, and Sims competing for one or two open slots at most. Of the remaining 5 or 6 receivers, I expect the team to keep at least 2 on the practice squad.