Washington Training Camp Spotlight: Week 5 Edition

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August 30, 2024

by David Earl

The Elephant in the Room: Ron Rivera Drafts

As Jake Russell points out, just 12 of the 33 players drafted by Ron Rivera since 2020 are currently on Washington’s roster. Before reviewing the bad parts of this draft let’s acknowledge a couple of notable finds, starting with safety Kamren Curl drafted in the 7th round of the 2020 draft. Curl certainly outplayed his draft position, hauling in 3 interceptions his rookie season (albeit the only 3 he’s had), along with 80-plus tackles each season, including 115 last season. In his first 4 seasons, Curl accounted for a total of 15 forced fumbles, 5 quarterback sacks, and 11 additional quarterback hits. He was certainly a strong in-the-box safety who was very effective rushing on passing downs. He is replaced by safety Jeremy Chinn as the front office and coaching staff did not see a role for Curl. Whether money or his style of play was the determining factor, he was a Rivera selection who earned a starting role in the NFL.

Washington drafted Sam Howell in the 5th round of the 2022 NFL draft. His fate is still yet to be determined, but he has certainly shown the capability to be on an NFL roster. Last season was just a mess in offensive line construction coupled with a scheme that played into this group’s weakness in pass blocking. For Seattle, he completed 66% of his attempts with 2 touchdowns and zero interceptions in the preseason. Granted, those stats came against very basic base defensive schemes but Howell has shown poise and composure within the pocket thus far. Time will ultimately tell on Sam Howell but he was certainly a value selection in the 5th round.

Now let’s look at some of Ron Rivera‘s misses and reaches in his Washington draft history. Many of these arguably made this team worse off than when he took over this team, which is really saying something. Here are some examples of the players who are no longer here and raised many questions:

  • DE Chase Young (#2 overall selection of 2020 draft): Passing on two quarterbacks, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert, Rivera selected a player who some labeled as a “generational talent”, Chase Young. Regardless of how you felt about Young, Rivera was sitting in a luxury position at the time, already having a young defensive line with plenty of high-ceiling talent. Having known that Tagovailoa dominated the talk of which quarterback Washington should take if the pick was not Young. This certainly has to be a moment Rivera would want back although he’d probably never admit it publicly.
  • WR Jahan Dotson (#16 overall selection of 2022 draft): I was excited about this pick and I still believe he is a good, viable receiver. That said, I also acknowledge that Dotson has some issues to work out, such as his ridiculously high drop rate of 9.8% in 2022 and 6.0% last season.  However, the biggest regret now was the trade back with the New Orleans Saints. Washington could have taken one of the best players in the draft, safety Kyle Hamilton, who was selected as First-Team All-Pro this past season. This isn’t just hindsight; at the time, Hamilton was a consensus clear pick by fans and national evaluators alike. If not Hamilton, then offensive linemen should have again been the primary focus but that just did not materialize. Just another miscalculation on Rivera’s part.
  • CB Emmanuel Forbes JR (#16 overall selection of the 2023 draft): Forbes is still on this roster and may eventually become a solid player down the road but I included him for a very good reason. Cornerback was a need, and Rivera passed on the top corner in this draft and projected top 10 pick, Christian Gonzalez. The jury is still out on Gonzalez but there was not an evaluation I have seen that put Forbes above him in any scenario. To add more salt to the wound, linebacker Jack Campbell was also available and would have addressed a major need at the middle linebacker role.
  • Offensive Line negligence: The offensive line was the most neglected position group in the draft through Rivera’s 4 years. In his time in DC, Rivera drafted 6 offensive linemen.  Of those, 2 remain on this roster Samuel Cosmi, who was a 2nd round pick in 2021, and Chris Paul, who was selected in the 7th round in 2022. Probably the worst part was over-drafting players while passing on others in this more pressing area of need when help was there to draft. Rivera passed on left tackle Christian Darrisaw to select Jamin Davis nearly a round early and out of position as a middle linebacker. Davis barely made the final cut this year and is not even listed as a linebacker. He selected defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis in 2022 despite the fact that the defensive line was already a deep position group, while passing on center Cam Jurgens, who is now starting for the Eagles, right tackle Luke Goedeke, who was taken by Tampa Bay, and right guard Ed Ingram, who was selected by the Vikings. The lack of attention through the draft and patchwork services in free agency, signing aging veterans to this position group was ultimately Rivera’s downfall, along with settling on a true franchise quarterback.

This team was drastically set back due to the decisions made by Rivera the general manager. He had plenty of opportunities to successfully address the needs of this team, but failed to do so. Granted, the draft offers no guarantees but his decisions were never structured in sensible manners. Washington’s offensive line should not be in the condition it is today, especially with what he started from in year one. Hopefully, the current front office does not make the same decisions, although their first draft had some issues addressing the offensive line as well (read here).

Additional Observation: Final Thoughts

Adam Peters decided to keep 6 safeties and 5 cornerbacks, which was not a surprise to me as I mentioned earlier. The depth at safety in terms of talent was just much better, especially with the play of undrafted free agent Tyler Owens. Quan Martin allows flexibility to play a corner role in certain packages, which will in turn allow the team to use  either Derrick Forrest or Percy Butler in the free safety role.

The release of defensive end K.J. Henry, who was later claimed by Cincinnati Bengals, was a bit surprising as Washington is not very deep in talent at this position. After Dorance Armstrong, Washington kept a former first-round bust in Clelin Ferrell and converted linebacker Jamin Davis into an edge rusher. I thought Henry had a solid camp and was active in the preseason games that warranted a roster position. This release could become a bit regrettable later, on as he could have been a good rotational piece, especially on definite pass-rush downs.

The addition of WR Noah Brown to the receiving group added size and reliable hands from the slot position in particular. His biggest issue is health – Brown only started in more than 7 games once  (2022 started 13) in his career. The trade of defensive tackle John Ridgeway III to the Saints should not have been a surprise, as Adam Peters was reportedly shopping him before the 4 pm deadline Tuesday. Washington received a 6th round pick for him and also included a 7th Round pick to the Saints. This trade shows the confidence the team has in defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis, as well as the health status and availability of 2nd round pick defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton entering week 1 of the season.