For ay team who is not still currently competing in the playoffs — meaning any team outside of Kansas City, Tennessee, San Francisco, or Green Bay — now is the time to be assessing your roster and building a gameplan for the offseason draft and free agency period.
For the Washington Redskins, it’s hard to argue against the notion that filling the void at the tight end position should be the biggest goal for the team this coming year. Of course, the offensive line needs help, and a couple more players on the defense and in the receiving corps could be highly beneficial, but giving a young quarterback like Dwayne Haskins a tight end to bail him out of some situations might be the bests gift you could give him.
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Looking back at the 2019 season, the Redskins put on a masterclass of how to waste a position, and it wasn’t all by their own doing. Veteran tight end Jordan Reed sat out the entire season after suffering his seventh documented concussion, and fellow TE Vernon Davis, who turned 36 this year, missed the last 12 games with a concussion as well. That left Washington to trot out a combination of Jeremy Sprinkle, Hale Hentges, Jerome Cunningham, and Caleb Wilson. Those four players combined for 226 yards and two touchdowns on 18 catches.
So with that being said, where do the Redskins go at the position? Many believe that — and are encouraging — Jordan Reed will retire this offseason, and the same fate could be true for Davis, who is also a free agent this year. At this point, choosing a TE on the roster to step into the starting role is bordering on negligent for the Redskins, which leaves free agency and the draft to fill the position. When new offensive coordinator Scott Turner talked to reporters earlier this week, he all but confirmed that the team will look to free agency to get the job done.
“Right now, the tight end is very important to our offense,” Turner said, via Redskins.com. “We’re evaluating everything. We’re going to try and get as much talent as we can on offense. You look at that in different ways, obviously what is on the roster currently, but then we will look in free agency and we’ll look in the draft. Those are the different avenues to acquiring talent and we’re open to all of that.”
It’s important to note that the NFL Draft is also a valuable option, but with the Redskins virtually a lock to spend their No. 2 pick on Chase Young, and the absence of a second-round pick, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to draft a rookie tight end capable of making a difference in his first year with the team.
All of this doesn’t mean that all six (!!) unproductive TEs will be out as soon as 2019 contracts expire in March. Hentges showed some promise late in the season, and he could do well to fill a backup role in the offense. As for the rest, it’s hard to find a starter in the mix. For that, the Redskins will undoubtedly have to look to the open market to be successful.
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