Coming off of a disastrous 3-13 season in 2019 that saw the head coach be fired early on, and the team president get canned after all was said and done, it’s an understatement to say that the Washington Redskins were in need of a solid offseason to get things back on the right track heading into 2020.
According to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, they did just that. Barnwell has the Redskins rated as having the 11th best offseason in the NFL, hiring a new coaching staff, and creating a new culture in Washington now that Bruce Allen is gone. The hiring of two-time coach of the year Ron Rivera was highlighted, along with free-agent signings of Kendall Fuller, Thomas Davis, and Ronald Darby. Oh, and the draft selection of Chase Young didn’t hurt either.
While the team added young playmakers like Antonio Gibson and Antonio Gandy-Golden in the draft, Barnwell states that he would have liked to see the Redskins more active when it came to the free-agent market, maybe making a run at a WR like Robby Anderson.
When Robby Anderson’s price dipped, I would have liked to have seen Washington target the former Jets wideout on a similar sort of contract to the two-year, $20 million pact he inked with Carolina. Anderson is probably stretched as a No. 1 wideout, but he would have made an excellent No. 2 across from budding star Terry McLaurin.
It’s fair to note that Washington didn’t add much veteran talent this offseason, and one of the vets they did add was recently arrested on five charges related to discharging his weapon in a Colorado apartment. Still, this is a Redskins team that knows they aren’t likely to make the playoffs this season, and they’d rather spend their energy on developing young players now and hoping to make waves in the future.
Nonetheless, having an offseason ranked just outside the Top-10 in the NFL is not too shabby for a Washington team that has spent the better part of the last decade near the bottom of the league.
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