Washington Redskins: 5 offseason needs in 2019
By Jon Dove
The Washington Redskins roster has a ton of holes to fill as the team enters the 2019 NFL offseason.
There was a point last year when the Washington Redskins looked like the most likely team from the NFC East to make the playoffs. However, the horrific injury to Alex Smith derailed all their postseason hopes.
Looking at their current depth chart, it’s hard to envision them fielding a competitive team this year. Washington has several key players hitting free agency and only about $14 million in cap space.
They are going to have a tough time retaining their own free agents let alone filling needs. Washington also doesn’t have a lot of clear ways to create more space. Cutting veterans like Josh Norman, Zach Brown or Jordan Reed may create more problems than it solves.
Washington can look to the draft for some help as they own the No. 15 overall pick in the first round. They also have their own second, third, fourth and seventh round picks.
The problem here is this isn’t a ton of draft capital for a team with so many holes. They may see trading down in the first round as a to improve the team’s overall depth. However, Washington might also be in a position to draft a high-upside quarterback at that spot.
This is a team with a lot of work to do and not much ammo. It’ll be interesting to see how they attack the offseason. The way they handle the Alex Smith situation will be one of the more intriguing storylines.
5. Guard/Center
The Washington Redskins have some major issues along the interior of their offensive line. They have six players scheduled to hit free agency including Shawn Lauvao, Jonathan Cooper, Arie Kouandjio, Luke Bowanko and Tony Bergstrom.
Washington basically has only Chase Roullier and Brandon Scherff slated to return. This is a problem for an offensive line that has dealt with plenty of injury problems over the past few years.
The Redskins will need to make adding both depth and talent to the interior of the offensive line a priority this year. Former Kansas City Chiefs starting center, Mitch Morse, is the prize player available at either guard or center.
It’s possible that Rodger Saffold and Matt Paradis are also considered by the Redskins.
However, Washington might need to look for cheaper options based on their salary cap issues. Someone like John Miller or Quinton Spain might make more financial sense. The draft is another obvious route for the Redskins to address this need.
Oklahoma’s Cody Ford is someone who could be available when Washington picks at No. 15 overall. Later round options would be Penn State’s Connor McGovern and Wisconsin’s Beau Benzschawel.
The Redskins ideally will come out of this offseason with at least two new interior offensive lineman added to the roster.