Category: 2019 NFL Regular Season

Former Redskin DeAngelo Hall wants to be part of Washington’s front office

Hall played for 10 seasons with the Redskins, and now he wants to help the franchise find success, but this time in the front office.

During his long career in the NFL, DeAngelo Hall became a beloved player for the Washington Redskins.

In 10 seasons as a defensive back in Washington D.C., Hall hauled in 23 interceptions and three touchdowns. Though his time with the Redskins was often plagued by injuries, he still managed to be a source of stability for the franchise over the years.

Now that he is retired from the game, it hasn’t changed his desire to contribute to his former team. The only thing that’s different this time around is that he wishes to do so as a part of the front office.

According to a piece from NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay, Hall is throwing his name into the ring of potential candidates to help remake the front office in Washington. It is a managerial team that has faced much criticism over the past decade, and it could be in line for a big shakeup this offseason, with Team President Bruce Allen rumored to not be long for the job. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a part of this front office and help make the Redskins a dominant team again,” Hall said, via NBC Sports Washington.

Hall doesn’t have experience working in the front office of an NFL team yet, but since his retirement in 2017, he has spent his time as an analyst for the NFL Network, and he is still closely connected to the game. He may not possess the experience that many front office personnel has, but he knows what the importance of a veteran presence can mean to young players, and he knows player personnel. Multiple young players in the NFL, including Washington’s star cornerback Quinton Dunbar, have credited Hall as one of the reasons they were able to find success in the NFL, as he helped them grow in their early days in the league. Dunbar even changed his number to 23 after Hall retired.

According to NBC Sports Washington, Hall made it clear that he is not trying to oust Allen for the job, and that he would be happy in any front-office position, as long as he is able to contribute to his former team and hopefully help lead them back to greatness. However, if Allen were to leave, Hall would be a great name to replace him.

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Redskins place Derrius Guice on Injured Reserve, ending his season

Guice will sit out the rest of the year as he is sent to the IR to recover from a sprained MCL he suffered on Sunday.

The Washington Redskins have made the move to place second-year running back Derrius Guice on the Injured Reserve list after he sprained his MCL in Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

This is the second time this year that Guice has been placed on the IR, the first of which came after the first game of the year when he tore his meniscus against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The move for the Redskins doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as Guice was already ruled out of this week’s game against the Eagles, and many speculated how much he would play for the rest of the season, as there are just three games left on the schedule.

It will be another long offseason spent recovering from a knee injury for the second-year player who is now dealing with his third major knee ailment in two seasons in the NFL.

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2020 NFL Salary Cap projections give Redskins some room to work in free agency

A projected 2020 salary cap between $196- and $201 million will give the Redskins room to work in free agency is they rid of some contracts.

Per a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the 2020 NFL Salary Cap is projected to increase to somewhere between the range of $196.8 million to $201.2 million.

The increase marks a significant jump from where it was back in the 2015 season, when the cap sat at $143.4 million.

According to Rapoport, this is the 7th consecutive year where the cap is projected to climb more than $10 million per club, year over year. Since 2011, the cap has increased roughly 65 percent and $76 million per club.

The Washington Redskins currently have just over $163 million committed to the 2020 salary cap, which would leave them with approximately $40 million in salary cap going into the new year. This number could also grow if they are to cut ties with aging and expensive players like Josh Norman, Trent Williams, Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis.

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It’s time for the Adrian Peterson show in Washington once again

With Guice sidelined this week at the least, AP will again be called upon to shoulder the load, and he has some incentives to pad the stats.

It’s times like these when having a future-Hall of Fame, veteran running back on your roster really pays dividends.

With second-year breakout running back Derrius Guice now sidelined with a sprained MCL, it will once again be the Adrian Peterson show in Washington. By now, he’s used to stepping up when called upon, and this time around should be no different.

Over a year ago, AP was signed by the Redskins just before the season after Guice went down with a torn ACL. He stepped in to rush for over 1,000 yards that season. Earlier this year, AP was once again called upon to shoulder the load after Guice suffered a torn meniscus in the first game of the year. Now, he will once again be asked to keep the ground-game afloat while Guice sits for at least this next game, and quite possibly the final three weeks of the season.

None of this is to say that Peterson has not maintained a role with Guice in the lineup, but it has been diminished. So far on the season, AP has ran for a total of 718 yards and three touchdowns. In the four games where he’s split the load with Guice after the young gun returned from injury, Peterson has 227 yards and two touchdowns — hardly RB2 numbers.

It should also be noted that Peterson has some incentives to pad the stats in these final three weeks, as a $500,000 roster bonus kicks in if he rushes for over 1,000 yards again this season.

With an increasing likelihood that we don’t see Guice take the field again until 2020, it will be the Adrian Peterson show once again in Washington. Even at the ripe of age of 34, that’s always some must-watch television.

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The Redskins are allowing Dwayne Haskins to get sacked at a historic rate

Haskins has been sacked on average four times per game this season, which would be on pace for the third most in NFL history.

Washington Redskins rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins has been sacked more in 5 games than quarterbacks like Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, Derek Carr, Patrick Mahomes, and Drew Brees have been sacked all year. Think about that.

In five starts this season, Haskins has been taken to the ground a total of 22 times — which doesn’t take into account the number of hits and pressures he’s felt. Put that on pace for a 16-game season, and Haskins would be sacked a total of 70 times. That would be the third most in NFL history, trailing only David Carr (76) and Randall Cunningham (72).

Something needs to be fixed.

While two of the teams that Haskins has faced as a starter rank in the top-10 of the league when it comes to QB pressures — the Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills — the trend is still disturbing, and cause for much concern. We saw on Sunday that Haskins is able to play through some pain, as he toughed out the second half while hobbling on a bad ankle, but that’s no recipe for success with a young quarterback.

The Redskins have been playing with a weakened left side of the line after Pro-Bowl left tackle Trent Williams refused to play this season. The replacements have been serviceable, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

Much has been made about the need for stronger quarterback play to take this team to the next level, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that what the Redskins need to focus on is protecting that quarterback and giving him time to make things happen. As Haskins goes, so will the team.

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The NFC East has a chance to be tied for the worst division in NFL history

With two more non-division games, the NFC East is two losses away from being tied for the worst record in NFL history.

With two more losses this season, the NFC East will cement its place in history as the worst division ever in the NFL.

It’s that bad.

While the rest of the league is duking it out for highly-coveted playoff spots at the top of the standings, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys are currently involved in a rock fight at the top of the division, trying to determine which team with a losing record will host a playoff game come January.

Here’s how the NFC East shakes out right now:

Dallas Cowboys: 6-7
Philadephia Eagles: 6-7
Washington Redskins: 3-10
New York Giants: 2-11

Put that together, and you get a record of 17-35, which is actually a worse winning percentage than the worst in NFL history, the 2008 NFC West, which finished the season 22-42.

The Giants play the Miami Dolphins this week, and the Cowboys play the Los Angeles Rams. Those are the last two non-division games for any NFC East team, so if they lose those, then the division cements its place in history.

On the bright side, at least it’s not just the Redskins that are historically awful for once.

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Eric Bieniemy named as a front-runner for Redskins head coaching job

The Redskins are narrowing their focus to Eric Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, as their potential next coach

The Washington Redskins are reportedly focusing their attention on one candidate for the vacant head coaching spot they need to fill this offseason, and it actually makes quite a bit of sense for the team.

According to Pro Football Network’s Benjamin Allbright, the Kansas City Chief’s Offensive Coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, is an early front-runner for the head coaching job in Washington. Bieniemy has been the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs for the last two seasons and has seen a significant amount of success alongside his mentor Andy Reid.

According to Allbright, Redskins’ owner Dan Snyder has been vetting applicants to try to find the ideal candidate that could maximize the talent they believe they have in quarterback Dwayne Haskins, and many in Washington believe Bieniemy can do just that.

Alongside Reid, Bieniemy has overseen the growth and management of reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes after he took the league by storm in 2018, and Snyder seems to believe that he could have a similar impact on Haskins if given the job.

Bieniemy also has a connection with Redskins quarterback Alex Smith, as they spent five years together in Kansas City before Smith came to Washington. In that time, the two went to the playoffs four times in five years. While Smith isn’t currently playing, he definitely has gained some sway with the organization as he’s been seen regularly at practice helping to mentor Haskins and other young players.

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Derrius Guice confirmed to have sprained MCL

Guice was confirmed to have a sprained MCL on Tuesday, which is good news because the injury could have been much worse.

It was confirmed on Tuesday morning that Washington Redskins running back Derrius Guice suffered a sprained MCL on Sunday when taking a direct hit to the knee and awkwardly falling to the ground in the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers.

Guice, who has dealt with both a torn ACL and torn meniscus already in his two-year career, has been ruled out of this week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to hear him be ruled out for the rest of the season, with just three games left on the schedule.

After the game, Guice took to Twitter and called the hit a cheap shot, and claimed that the defender was aware of his knee issues, and took direct aim regardless. The tweet was later deleted.

For now, this is relatively good news, as the injury could have been much worse for a young and dynamic player who has already battled enough in his short NFL career.

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Ryan Kerrigan ruled out for Sunday with calf injury

Kerrigan left the game on Sunday with a calf injury that looked troubling.

Ryan Kerrigan didn’t miss a single game to start his career, but he will miss his second game of the year this upcoming Sunday as a calf injury suffered against the Green Bay Packers will hold him out of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Kerrigan came out of the game early in the third quarter on Sunday after pulling up short on a pass rush, favoring his ankle. The severity of the injury was not released, but it didn’t look promising after Kerrigan slowly was helped to the sideline.

The team said on Sunday that they were hoping it was a more minor injury that focused on the calf, rather than the achilles, which would hold Kerrigan out for much longer.

Derrius Guice will not play on Sunday vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Guice has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Eagles while the team awaits his MRI results.

Washington Redskins running back Derrius Guice underwent an MRI on Monday morning, and the team is awaiting results of the testing. Meanwhile, head coach Bill Callahan announced that Guice will not play this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles due to the injury.

While the severity of the injury is not yet know, a report came out on Sunday that the team believes it is a sprained MCL. There is not yet any word on how long the second-year star will be held out of action, though with just three games remaining in the season, it is possible that he will be held out for the rest of the year.

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