The Future of the Redskins’ Receivers Group

May 2, 2019

by Steve Thomas

Now that the draft has come and gone, it’s time to assess what’s happened and the impact the new players may have on the team.  It’s safe to say that coming out of the 2018 season no position group on the roster needed more help than the wide receivers.  With Washington’s quarterback of the future is in the building, the front office needs to focus on providing him a group of weapons that can actually produce and are worthy of his talent.

Fortunately, Washington’s front office knew this and acted on the problem, drafting new quarterback Dwayne Haskins’ college teammate, Terry McLaurin, and North Carolina St.’s Kelvin Harmon.  The Redskins can use their production and talent.  Here is the combined production for all of the team’s wide receivers last season:

Player                          Gms                Catches           Yards              Touchdowns

Jehu Chesson              12                    1                      7                      0

Jamison Crowder        9                      29                    388                  2

Robert Davis               0                      0                      0                      0

Josh Doctson              15                    44                    532                  2

Michael Floyd            13                    10                    100                  1

Maurice Harris           12                    28                    304                  0

Darvin Kidsy               2                      1                      8                      0

Paul Richardson         7                     20                    262                  2

Brian Quick                6                      3                      18                    0

Trey Quinn                 3                      9                      75                    1

Cam Sims                   0                      0                      0                      0

 

TOTALS                                             145                  1,694               8

The Redskins’ original starters at the beginning of the year, Doctson, Richardson, and Crowder, produced the following combined totals:  93 catches, 1,182 yards, and 6 touchdowns.  In contrast, 13 receivers around the NFL gained more than 1,182 receiving yards last season, and 10 receivers had 9 or more touchdowns.  I’m not going to dig up the stats for every receiving corps in the NFL for this column, but it’s safe to say that this production is pathetic and almost certainly one of the lowest outputs in the league.

Of last year’s starting group, Crowder is obviously gone, having signed a 3 year, $28.5M contract with the Jets, leaving Doctson and Richardson as the incumbents at the X and Z positions, respectively.  Harris is also gone, having signed a one year deal with the Patriots.  It’s safe to say that Doctson has not produced or developed as the team hoped; that having been said, he was still the team’s leading receiver last year.  That’s more an indictment of his quarterbacks and the other receivers than anything, but nevertheless Doctson is most likely going to be the team’s #1 receiver heading into training camp,, by default.  Richardson’s contact dictates that he’s going to be a starter as well, so realistically, the only slot receiver position is wide open, with Quinn as the starter heading into camp due to a lack of other options.

Davis, who was a sixth round pick in 2017, went down in training camp with a brutal injury that reportedly left him with multiple torn ligaments in his knee, plus a broken tibia, as well as some nerve damage.  His injury is apparently very serious and he cannot be counted on to be ready for the season, or, sadly, at all.  Cam Sims was something of a revelation last offseason, as he almost instantly produced during training camp at a level that was unexpected given his minimal output in college at Alabama.  Unfortunately, he also went down with a serious ankle injury, but his prognosis is markedly better than that of Davis, and is expected to be back at full strength.  Brian Quick has been re-signed and will thus be back for camp, at a minimum.  The veteran Michael Floyd was not re-signed and is a free agent.  The other back of the roster types such as Chesson and Kidsy.  It’s also likely that the team will sign one or two more undrafted free agents who can some in and compete; it’s unlikely that the team will unearth any gems.

McLaurin and Harmon will both have a chance to quickly make a difference amongst the receivers given the thin amount of existing talent.  It seems logical to think that the connection that Haskins and McLaurin had in college should continue in Washington.  For his part, Harmon seems poised to be a classic “X” possession receiver, although a big receiver with quality route running skills and hands could also hypothetically play slot as well.  Many draft observers believed that Harmon would be drafted significantly higher than round 6, so in terms of “draft value”, he was an outstanding pick up by the Redskins.  He’s big, physical, a good route runner, and knows how to use his size and strength against opposing defenders.  Harmon probably doesn’t have the speed and ability to separate to be a consistent deep threat in the NFL, but his talents appear perfectly suited to a red zone target and a go-to, “move the chains” type.

McLaurin, on the other hand, by his own admission, views himself first and foremost as a deep threat, and was viewed principally as a slot receiver; however, Jay Gruden stated at the post-draft press conference that the team is going to give McLaurin a shot on both the outside and in the slot.  He’s a fairly complete receiver, will only get better, and is by far the fastest player in the position group.

What does this mean for the future?  First, the Redskins, as reported by both JP Finley and John Keim, have supposedly decided that the team is not going to exercise their fifth year option on Doctson.  They shouldn’t.  He’s not worth it, as I discussed earlier this year (click here to read).  Unless he makes a giant leap forward, the odds are good that Doctson will be gone after the 2019 season.  Folks like Darvin Kidsy and Jehu Chesson are young players who could surprise, but most likely won’t.  Brian Quick is an experienced vet, but not a long-term solution.  As to Robert Davis, as I said above, it would be great if he’s actually able to come back from his injuries and get back on the track he was on, but that’s unfortunately not likely either.

That leaves, in no particular order, Paul Richardson, Trey Quinn, Terry McLaurin, Kelvin Harmon, and Cam Sims as the realistic future at this point.  Richardson is an outside receiver who has played the “Z” essentially for his entire career.  Sims actually played out of the slot at Alabama, but the Redskins used him exclusively on the outside before he got hurt last year, and he seems to be a prototypical “X” receiver, as does Harmon.  Quinn is locked into the slot.  If the team does try McLaurin in the slot, the hope would be that he quickly becomes the starter over Quinn.  In other words, this may be the realistic depth chart of the future, as least as things stand right now:

X: Harmon, Sims, McLaurin

Z: Richardson, McLaurin

Slot: McLaurin, Quinn, Harmon

Will this depth chart provide Dwayne Haskins with the weapons to succeed?  It’s too early to tell.  Can this group at least produce more than 145 receptions and 1,700 yards?  I’d like to think so, because that’s a pretty darn low bar, but once again, it’s too early to tell.  That group of players has tons of youth and very little proven NFL production.  I’m hopeful, though, that the offense might finally be on the right track.