We Have a Roster, and I Can’t Resist Writing About It
September 4, 2018
by Steve Thomas
Before I get started with this week’s column, a little programming note: the regular season obviously begins this week, so we are transitioning to our regular season schedule on this site, which for regular Sunday games means:
Monday: game recap show and game recap column
Tuesday: The Takeaways column
Wednesday: It’s Just Business show every other week only
Thursday: game preview show
Friday: game preview column
The schedule will have to change a bit for Monday and Thursday games, but we’ll deal with that as it comes. We’ll obviously have more great unscheduled content throughout the year, but those are going to be the regular features from now through at least the end of the regular season, depending on how the Redskins do and how we feel once the playoffs arise.
On to what I really wanted to say.
The weekend before the regular season starts in earnest is always one of the toughest and most highly visible of the year, with rosters being reduced from the offseason limit of 90 down to the 53-man limit. So, I’d like to take one quick trip through each position group before we hit the regular season grind.
The status of the running backs was perhaps the biggest team issue going into roster cutdown weekend. There’s no question that Adrian Peterson is the lead back. The debate was how many backs the team was going to keep, and who those backups were going to be. Byron Marshall’s injury is going to put him on the sidelines for awhile one way or the other, either through injured reserve or by being inactive. The fact that the Redskins cut Kapri Bibbs over Samaje Perine was the right move from a roster management perspective, but not in terms of talent. Bibbs is a better and more versatile back than Perine, but the fact is that Perine (and for that matter, Kelley) isn’t going to go to the practice squad, whereas Bibbs can do so without being instantly stolen. I would’ve preferred Bibbs on the active roster, but the path the Redskins chose ultimately gives the team more options, so Bibbs had to go.
The receiver group was decided in the way most expected given the hints that Jay Gruden has been giving, but if you want a controversial opinion, here it is: I think Darvin Kidsy might just have been a better option than Trey Quinn. Kidsy has better athletic measurables and is comparable in terms of height/weight. Quinn has quality hands, puts out a great effort, and most importantly has Gruden’s confidence, but it’s possible that Kidsy’s ceiling is higher. Cam Sims became the darling of the fanbase during preseason, and with good reason: if Doctson doesn’t pan out, he might just be a cheaper replacement. Throw in the fact that starting slot receiver Jamison Crowder is in his contract year, and it’s pretty clear that the season will be decisive in terms of the future of this group.
The interior of the offensive line could be a major problem if injuries hit. The team apparently viewed Casey Dunn as the best option at backup guard of the group in camp, and I’m not going to question that, but what I did see was a group of second and third stringers that was consistently abused in the preseason, so the backups not named Ty Nsekhe don’t exactly inspire confidence. Tony Bergstrom made the team primarily because he’s the only reasonable backup option at center, not because he performed particularly well. I think that it’s likely that the front office finds some more help here, because God help us if this team gets to the point at which backups in the interior 3 positions are playing again.
In my view one of the major surprises from the cuts was that JP Holtz did not make the roster at tight end. I thought he showed enough versatility blocking that the team might keep him around in a fullback role, but it was not to be. As to the active roster, though, the team seems to be pushing in their chips on Jordan Reed’s health by only keeping three tight ends. As I’ve said on the show, the Redskins simply cannot, and should not, continue to pay him huge money if he can’t ever stay healthy. It doesn’t appear as though Washington is really set for a future without him at this point, considering Vernon Davis’ age, so get well soon, Jordan. If you want another hot take, here’s this: Reed’s contract allows him to be cut next year without losing money via a huge dead cap figure, so if he has another injury-riddled season, look for the Redskins to move on one way or another next offseason. His cap hit is $13.4M in 2018, $9.7M in 2019, and $10.3M in 2020, which is a big chunk of space. You heard it here first, kids.
The quarterback group has the least amount of surprises of any position on the team. There was no debate about the status of Alex Smith and Colt McCoy; the only question was whether the team would keep three quarterbacks on the active roster. Kevin Hogan answered that question for the team when he performed poorly against the Broncos in the final preseason game and failed to played himself into a spot. Nic Shimoneck, the rookie from Texas Tech who spent time with the Chargers this offseason is his practice squad replacement. I’m not going to pretend to know much about him right now. Just remember this before you overanalyze this guy: he’s a practice squad arm, and the odds that he ever sees the field for the Redskins are extremely slim.
I feel good about the defensive line in that the team made the correct decisions and has turned a huge weakness into something of a strength. The team’s cuts went the only way that makes sense, so I have no complaints. Tim Settle played his way onto the roster when he wasn’t guaranteed at spot based on his draft status. The starting group was exposed somewhat against Denver, which makes me think that perhaps we won’t see quite the level of performance that we hope, but all the same, from a roster standpoint, the 6 players who remain were the top 6 and it should be an improvement on the last couple of seasons. On Monday, the team waived Anthony Lanier with an injury designation and signed Caleb Brantley as his replacement, which was surprising, but overall, I have no issues with this group.
Probably the biggest surprise amongst the roster decisions was the forced departure of linebacker Martrell Spaight. In essence, the team picked Zach Vigil as the principal inside linebacker backup over Spaight and Pete Robertson. I think Vigil was actually the least effective of the three, so while I’m not going to lose sleep over this, I think it was a mistake by the front office.
In the corner group, the story of the preseason was the rise of Danny Johnson out of nowhere to make the active roster. Nobody could have reasonably anticipated that he was going to be as good as he was, and the result was that the Redskins were basically forced to keep 6 corners at the expense of another position group. In the end, this group has a ton of unproven youth behind Josh Norman and Quinton Dunbar, and it could go either way – it’s not impossible to think that we could see problems here, particularly if injuries hit. The Redskins are taking a big chance by not keeping a veteran backup.
Finally, amongst the safety group, it was a mistake to keep Troy Apke on the active roster. He had issues tackling in the preseason, and it’s going to be a problem if he has to line up at safety in 2018. Hopefully he will be able to take this season as a learning experience and will be ready to play next season.
That’s it for the roster. Now all that’s left is to actually play the games. See you in the regular season.