2021 Washington Football Team Front Office Review
January 19, 2022
By Noonefromtampa
The primary duty of the football side of an NFL front office is to manage the talent on the team roster. The major paths to acquire talent for the roster are through trades, the annual draft, or free agency. A less common path is in-season player acquisitions. All these efforts are driven by the scouting department, which continually evaluates players both in the college and professional ranks.
With that preamble out of the way, this column will take a look at what the Washington front office did during the offseason and in the season for 2021 and how successful those moves were.
Given all the injuries and COVID issues this past season, the lists below are limited to those players who had some appreciable playing time.
Trades
In April, just prior to the 2021 NFL Draft, the Washington Football Team added a key piece to the offensive line when they traded with the Miami Dolphins for guard Ereck Flowers. Flowers started sixteen of seventeen games at left guard, missing one due to COVID protocols. The cost of this transaction was the exchange of two 7th round picks, Washington’s 244th pick for Miami’s 258th pick, and Flowers.
Rating: Positive
Free Agency
| Player | Position | Comments | Rating |
| Curtis Samuel | WR | Injured most of the year. Samuel did little bring the diversity to the offense that was much needed to take pressure off of Terry McLaurin. | Negative |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | QB | His injury in the first half of the first game left the offense in the hands of Taylor Heinicke all season, not what the coaches or front office had planned for. | Negative |
| William Jackson | CB | The team signed a man-to-man cover specialist to play in a primarily zone cover scheme. The defense had major issues during the first half of the season and confusion in the secondary was one of the major issues. The coverages actually improved when Jackson went out with an injury. | Negative |
| Adam Humphries | WR | Much was expected since Humphries had such a good connection with Fitzpatrick in Tampa Bay, but he only had 41 catches on 63 targets for 383 yards and no touchdowns. | Neutral |
| Charles Leno Jr. | LT | A late addition after he was released post-draft, Leno started all 17 games at left tackle and did a very good job. He was rewarded with a three year, $37.5 million contract extension on January 5, 2022 | Positive |
| Bobby McCain | S | McCain played in all 17 games, starting 16. He started playing well after the bye and ended the season with a 2 pick game. | Positive |
| Tyler Larsen | C | When Chase Roullier went down with a season-ending injury Larsen stepped up and the offensive line didn’t seem to miss a beat. He also ended up on injured reserve but started 3 games. | Positive |
| David Mayo | LB | Originally signed to be a special teams role player, Mayo ending up starting the last couple of game at middle instead of Jamin Davis because of his experience in play calling on defense. From a skills perspective, he looked overmatched most of the time. | Neutral |
| DeAndre Carter | WR | Carter had a surprising good year, playing in all 17 games on both special teams and offense. He averaged 8.4 yards per punt return and 25.1 yard per kickoff return, with one touchdown. With injuries to the receiving corps, Carter also contributed 24 catches on 44 targets for 296 yards and 3 touchdowns plus 89 yards on 10 rushes. | Positive |
| Darryl Roberts | CB | He spent a good portion of the season on injured reserve, but played well when he came back due to injuries at cornerback, playing in 6 games and starting 3. | Positive |
| Torry McTyer | CB | McTyer came out of nowhere in the offseason to capture a roster spot during training camp. Unfortunately, he suffered a torn ACL in the win against the Falcons. | Positive |
| Ricky Seals-Jones | TE | Seals-Jones won the #2 TE spot during the pre-season and with Logan Thomas injuries he became the defacto #1 TE. He caught 30 passes on 49 targets for 271 yards and 2 touchdowns. | Positive |
Draft & Undrafted Players
| Round | Player | Position | Comments | Rating |
| 1 | Jamin Davis | LB | Davis basically had a very disappointing season. The coaches finally admitted he was being played out of position towards the end of the year. | Neutral |
| 2 | Samuel Cosmi | OT | Installed as the right tackle when Morgan Moses was released, Cosmi was injured twice but managed to start 9 games. | Positive |
| 3 | Benjamin St-Juste | CB | Showed flashes of being a very good prospect since training, St-Juste played in 9 games and started 3 before being placed on injured reserve for concussions. | Positive |
| 3 | Dyami Brown | WR | With Samuel out, Brown had the opportunity to showcase his abilities but what he showed mostly was that he needed to improve his route running at the next level. Brown had 12 catches on 25 targets for 165 yards. | Neutral |
| 4 | John Bates | TE | Started out slow, but the coaches increased his playing time due to injuries as the season went on. He showed that he can develop into a solid #2 TE with his blocking and pass catching abilities. | Positive |
| 5 | Darrick Forrest | S | Spent about half the season on injured reserve, but played in 8 games. The week 18 Giants game, gave everyone a glimpse of the speed he brings to the safety position. | Positive |
| 6 | Camaron Cheeseman | LS | Drafted to specifically replace veteran Nick Sundberg, Cheeseman initially had some early issues that affected timing to kicks, but steadily improved as the season went on. | Positive |
| 7 | William Bradley-King | DE | Started the season on the practice squad but because of the roster situation saw action in 3 games with a ½ sack. | Neutral |
| 7 | Shaka Toney | DE | Saw action in 10 games and started one. Toney had 1.5 sacks and 3 QB hits. | Positive |
| 7 | Dax Milne | WR | Played in 13 games and started 1. Milne only had 9 receptions on 14 targets for 93 yards, but his hands and route running showed promise. | Positive |
| UDFA | Jaret Patterson | RB | For an undrafted player, Patterson had a good first year with 68 rushes for 266 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 10 catches for 73 yards. | Positive |
| UDFA | Sammis Reyes | TE | He never played college football, so it was a long shot to see him do much this season. Reyes appeared in 11 games and started 1 and was in on 2 special team tackles. | Neutral |
Key In-Season Moves
| Player | Position | Comments | Rating |
| Corn Elder | CB | With all the DB injuries, Washington signed Elder off the Panther’s practice squad in October. He played well enough in 5 games, that the team resigned him after the season. | Positive |
| De’Jon Harris | LB | A mid-season addition to the practice squad, Harris saw action in 5 games after COVID protocols kept a lot of players out of games. In limited snaps he got 1 sack and 1 QB hit. | Positive |
| Chris Blewitt | K | Not sure what the evaluators saw in him, but I don’t remember a Washington kicker having three blocked field goals in 2 games. | Negative |
| Joey Slye | K | Slye was 12 for 12 on field goals including a 55 yarder. | Positive |
| Brian Johnson | K | Played in three games after Slye got injured and was 2 for 2 on fields. | Positive |
| Ryan Winslow | P | Winslow was signed to replace Tress Way when he went on the COVID list and he averaged 42 yard per punt. | Positive |
| Garret Gilbert | QB | Gilbert was signed off the practice squad of the Patriots since he had actual game experience. He had a decent game against the Eagles, although he wasn’t asked to do much. | Positive |
| Jonathan Williams | RB | Williams was with Washington during the preseason but ended up on the Giants practice squad before Washington signed him away. His stat line was 17 carries for 79 yards and 1 touchdown with 28 yards receiving on 4 catches. | Positive |
| Wendell Smallwood | RB | Filled in for J.D. McKissic after his injury and appeared in 3 games. | Neutral |
Summary
The season was very challenging from a roster management perspective with the number of injuries and lost playing time from COVID protocols. The plan laid out for the season took a huge hit right from the start with the three marquee free agency signings (Samuel, Fitzpatrick and Jackson) contributing very little to the team’s overall success during the season.
The better news was the team did make a lot of positive secondary level moves in free agency such as signing Leno, Carter, McCain, Larsen, and Roberts. The team did a very good job of making moves during the season as various needs arose, except for the Blewitt selection. I expect the team to have a kicking competition between Slye and Johnson during training camp and the preseason games.
Samuel and Jackson will be back next season and have another chance to prove their deals were not a long-term mistake. The team is likely to move on from Fitzpatrick, either through free agency or the draft.
The trade for Flowers was a great move and filled a big need on the offensive line. His contract runs through 2023 so the left side of the offensive line will be intact for next season.
It takes a couple of years to really evaluate a draft class as some players make greater strides in year two while others do not develop beyond their initial potential flashes. I know a number of fans view the Davis pick a bust after the success of Chase Young last year; however, one must view his play in context since he was not put in a position to succeed this year. Year 2 will be critical for most of the picks from a developmental perspective. The 2021 draft class has the potential one of the better ones in recent years with as many as 6 or 7 players being regular contributors over the next several years.
What’s Next?
Over the next several months as the team moves through free agency, the draft and into training camp, The Hog Sty will provide coverage and analysis to guide our readers through all the team needs and possible options to improve the roster before the start of next season.