What does Washington need to accomplish in training camp?

July 31, 2023

by Steve Thomas

Now that we’ve made it out of the darkness of the Snyder era and the emptiness of the offseason, it’s – thankfully – time to start focusing on football.  So we’ll put the brakes on our offseason commiserating about ownership and scandal and talk a little bit about some actual on the field issues.  The topic that has been going through my head recently concerns what the team should be trying get done during this time.  What are the goals of training camp, and what do they want to accomplish?

The offensive line needs to gel

We’ve spent a significant amount of time and space here at The Hog Sty talking about how just how unaccomplished this offensive line is and the danger it could pose to a new young quarterback.  In my view, job number one during this training camp is to arrive at a group of five starters who can both pass protect and run block at a level that is at least league average.  I have my doubts that the team will actually be able to do this, but they need to go all out, as this is the biggest and most important need on the team.  Washington needs to give every lineman on the roster, even the practice squad level players, a legitimate shot at starting, regardless of money.  Mix up the lineups as much as possible in order to give everyone the best possible chance.  Also, watch the waiver wire – it’s pretty likely that another team that has paid more attention to its offensive than Washington may cut someone who is better than everyone in DC.

Stick with Sam Howell

Look, Howell isn’t Johnny Unitas.  He’s a very young and inexperience quarterback who was drafted in the fifth round.  The odds are heavily against him walking in and being great right from the start – his one game last season was mediocre at best.  Throw in the questionable offensive line, and it seems pretty likely that there’ll be ups and downs in training camp.  Maybe the one thing which Washington has historically handled the worst in terms of on the field issues, is that benched or simply quit on on quarterbacks way too soon.  Washington simply doesn’t groom young quarterbacks for more than five minutes.  The various head coaches for both the Redskins and this new expansion franchise have, with the exception of Kirk Cousins, nearly universally quit on quarterbacks way too soon, going back many years.  I’ve advocated on the show for an open competition between Howell and Jacoby Brissett, but if the coaches have already made up their minds that Howell is going to be the starter, then they should get Howell as much playing time as possible in training camp, and don’t give up on him when he falters, because it’s going to happen.

Find a #1 running back

I’m not sure any of the running backs currently on this roster are really worth the “franchise running back” label.  I suspect that we’ve already seen the best of Antonio Gibson – he’s already mentioned to the media that his job may be transitioning to more of a third down role, which isn’t surprising.  Gibson has talent, but we’ve seen that his skillset doesn’t lend itself to that of an every-down, inside power back.  There’s a place for him on this team, but it’s probably not as the featured starter.  Brian Robinson struggled for most of last season, but he was obviously overcoming a serious, traumatic injury and deserves a second shot.  Rookie sixth round draft pick Chris Rodriguez strikes me as more of a one trick pony – my initial impression is that he’s a straight downhill power back.  Nobody else on the roster appears to have starter-level potential.  In my view, Washington should give most of the carries to Robinson and Rodriguez in training camp and see which one of them shows the most potential.  Either way, with a young and inexperienced quarterback under center, the coaches need to figure out a way to make this running back a positive and a benefit to the offense, despite an offensive like that’s probably going to be a net negative.  To me, the way to do that is to let Robinson and Rodriguez battle it out for the principal starting role.  If neither one of them are up to the challenge, that’s when Washington will be in “running back by committee” territory.

Get the secondary starters right

For the love of all that’s good and holy, Ron Rivera, please but these corners in the right roles and get them used to it during training camp.  I have news for the coaching staff: Benjamin St-Juste isn’t a slot corner and Kendall Fuller isn’t an outside corner.  It seems clear to me that the obvious lineup needs to be St-Juste and first round draft pick Emmanuel Forbes on the outside, and Fuller in the slot, regardless of salary.  I don’t think anything else is going to work out to the level needed.  Washington’s coaching staff needs to make this call quickly and early and let the players start to gel and get used to their positions.

Figure out whether the team has at least two starting linebackers

Jamin Davis is the only starter-worthy linebacker on the roster, or so it appears.  As is the case with the offensive line, Rivera has been downright negligent in his handling of this group.  His one and only attempt to bring in a plus-level player at middle linebacker was Davis, who was pretty clearly not a middle linebacker from day one, and the rest of these players are probably backup-level talent at best.  Much like the offensive line, Washington needs to have an open competition at this position group during training camp in order to find out if the team can even get two of them on the field on a regular basis, to say nothing of three.  I suspect that the answer is no, which will lead to big-time problems at some point this season.  The team needs to get the entire group, such as it is, on the field early and often during training camp to hopefully give at least one of them the chance to prove that he belongs.  Also, the front office needs to keep an eye out on the waiver wire, because finding a player who is better than who Washington currently has on the roster is a low bar.

That’s it – those are the on-the-field issues on which I think Washington should focus during training camp.  What’s your opinion?  Let me know in the comment section.