Morgan Moses Released…What’s The Motivation?

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May 25, 2021

by David Earl

Surprising Outcome

To the surprise of many both locally and nationally, Morgan Moses was granted the right to seek a trade a week ago, and then was released by the team shortly thereafter.  Moses, who Pro Football Focus graded as the 6th-best right tackle in the league in 2020, is coming off a career year in which his penalties were down from past years. Moses has been the most durable player for Washington over the last 6 years, playing 96 of 96 games while playing through pain and smaller nagging injuries. While he may not have been Washington’s best offensive lineman, Moses was certainly the most reliable over the last 6 years. Entering the 2020 season, although very forward about the Trent Williams situation and the organization, it truly seemed he 100% bought in on Ron Rivera and his direction. He became a vocal locker-room leader and carried that on the field with a career year as Washington’s right tackle. Thus, when the news came out about thw team telling him to seek a trade, that was surprising enough until a few days later Moses was outright released.

Initial Reaction

As the initial news of Moses given permission to seek a trade raised a few eyebrows, the fan base was quickly shocked by the news of his release a few days later. Of course, the reactions were mixed, especially with the “In Ron We Trust” core of this fan base, among whom the overall common theme was that of displeasure and confusion. The idea of releasing a reliable starting right tackle at such a reasonable cap number ($7.75 million) and possibly relying on the younger proven offensive linemen like Saahdiq Charles and Sam Cosmi seems far too risky. Considering that Morgan Moses was reliable and steady on the right side and that the team already had a healthy team cap number, the savings from releasing him didn’t seem justifiable in some people’s eyes.

Was Morgan’s release part of a continued purge?

Al Galdi echoes the opinions of many on the idea that Ron Rivera is simply continuing his house cleaning of the Washington organization.  Let’s be honest: can you blame him? Focusing on just the Bruce Allen era alone and His Collective Sins that created such a dysfunctional franchise, removing any and all remnants of that time frame is understandable. Yes, players like Ryan Kerrigan and Jordan Reed were far from cancerous personalities in the locker room, but a deep cleansing of an entire organization results in collateral damage to a few. The players weren’t the only ones – it was also necessary to reach executive-level pieces like Eric Schaffer, especially considering the relationship some of them had with Dan Snyder. As I’ve stated before, this remake of the organization is much different than when Mike Shanahan and Joe Gibbs were hired as the head of football operations to remake this organization. In both circumstances, both coaches had to deal with a middle man and his politics, especially Mike having Bruce Allen talking in Dan’s ear. There was always a clear hierarchy while Bruce was here as his ability to push blame and responsibility onto his sacrificial lambs bought far more time than he deserved here in Washington. Thus, with Bruce’s influence on Dan, the environment within the organization led to scandal and various corporate misconduct to go along with one of the worst football-run organizations in the NFL. With all that said it isn’t a surprise that Ron Rivera has taken what appears a very strategic approach to reshaping this organization. Now, the only whispers in Dan Snyder’s ears are Ron himself or one of his trusted football executives who are only speaking to Ron’s vision. I dare anyone to show me a time during this ownership in which we witnessed such a turnover and vision, because you just can’t.

There’s A Vision And Plan

I certainly subscribe  to the idea of a full organizational purge, but the future and Ron’s vision for this team is absolutely a factor (needless to say). With Jonathan Allen coming up for a new deal and others to follow the next few years, the release of Morgan Moses and the infusion of younger, cheaper talents on this team will help keep the defensive line unit together for the foreseeable future. Remember the perspectives of Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio during their respective times in the NFL. Ron played on one of the league’s all-time best defenses which dominated teams on the way to a Super Bowl championship with an average quarterback in Jim McMahon. Del Rio led a Denver defense that carried Peyton Manning, who was a shell of himself, to a Super Bowl win over Rivera’s Panthers and league MVP Cam Newton. Yet another example is the 2000 Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, which displayed a dominant defense by holding opposing offenses 10.3 points per game while being led by a journeyman quarterback. I’m sure you’ve noticed a pattern here: defense, defense, and more defense. Keeping the core of the defensive line together will be costly and, as history does show, very worth the money spent. Of course, rookie linebacker Jamin Davis will eventually need to develop into a key contributor, and the one thing the 3 previous teams mentioned had were good, productive offensive lines.  Having offensive talents like Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuels, and Antonio Gibson becomes a luxury; the clear focus here is to win in the trenches and with a dominant defense.

Final Thought

Regardless of where you stand on the Moses release and the apparent vision of Ron Rivera, it’s important to note what we are witnessing. The common theme under a Dan Snyder run organization has been dysfunction and no team identity other than the delusional posturing of Bruce Allen saying, “We are close!” There has never been a time, except the brief time under Joe Gibbs, this fan base could point to where Washington had structure and a vision like we are seeing today. Whether you are for or against what Ron has done to this point, it’s important to realize he should be given time and space to see this vision out to its fullest. Sink or swim, this organization has finally received national attention as a team with a bright future, with the dysfunctional label quickly fading away.