Category: 2019 NFL Regular Season

Will Derrius Guice be a productive fantasy football player in Week 11?

Guice is returning to the field on Sunday after missing the first nine games with an injury, but will he be able to put up fantasy numbers?

Are you hindered by one of the last major bye weeks in fantasy football this week? Are you in desperate need of a fill-in running back, and happened to miss out on Atlanta’s Brian Hill on the waiver wire?

It’s possible that Washington’s Derrius Guice is a solution for you, but make sure that you know he is a very high-risk option if you were to stick him in your starting lineup. However, if things were to pan out, Guice could help you to a Week 11 victory. Let’s take a look at some Pros and Cons for this play.

Pros:

  • Guice is coming off of the Injured Reserve, so he has fresh legs.
  • The Redskins have heavily emphasized the running game since Bill Callahan took over, leading to the fantasy success of Adrian Peterson.
  • The team said on Wednesday that Guice looks to be filling a nice role in the backfield, catching passes on checkdown routes and offering a change of pace from Peterson.
  • Though he’s barely seen the field in his career due to injury, we’ve seen in the preseason — and his time at LSU — that Guice has a unique explosion that can be deadly when he gets into the open field.

Cons:

  • Guice hasn’t seen any live-game action since Week 1 when he tore his meniscus, and he was held out of his entire rookie season with a torn ACL. Rust is a real factor.
  • The Redskins’ offense is abysmal, and they’ve currently gone 3-straight games without scoring a touchdown, so any fantasy points would likely have to rely on the volume of work unless Washington is able to end that streak.
  • AP clearly holds the RB1 role for the Redskins, and they don’t seem to be willing to go away from him any time soon.
  • Rookie QB Dwayne Haskins will be making his second career start, so the offense might continue in its stagnant nature.
  • We just haven’t seen Guice be an effective fantasy RB as of yet. The skills are there, but until we witness some production, it might be hard to start him with confidence.
  • The New York Jets have the second-best defense against the run in the NFL, allowing just 81.9 yards per game on the ground.

Has your confidence been boosted, or did this have the opposite effect? That’s understandable. The truth is that Guice offers an extremely high risk-reward option this week, but we don’t really know how high his ceiling is. I wouldn’t be blown away to see him score 12 points in PPR scoring, but the same would hold true if he put up 3 points — we just don’t know. If you are absolutely desperate, there are worse options on the board.

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Redskins will send someone to watch Colin Kaepernick’s workout

Colin Kaepernick is holding a private workout for all 32 NFL teams on Saturday, and the Redskins will be in attendance.

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News broke in the NFL on Tuesday that free agent Colin Kaepernick would be holding a private workout for all 32 teams on Saturday in Atlanta.

A number of teams will take a look at the veteran QB who hasn’t played in several years, and the Washington Redskins will be one of them. Coach Bill Callahan originally cited that they already have three quarterbacks and are not looking for more, but John Keim of ESPN reported that the Redskins will be in attendance to watch Kaepernick.

While Kaepernick could have been an interesting addition to the team a couple of years ago, after Kirk Cousins left for Minnesota, he doesn’t fit with the current roster at the moment. As Callahan noted, the Redskins have what they think can be a franchise quarterback in rookie Dwayne Haskins, and any distraction to him would severely hinder future growth.

Now that Haskins was finally named the starter for the rest of the season, you shouldn’t expect much QB movement in Washington – even with the team going to evaluate Kaepernick.

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Derrius Guice can alleviate the on-going loss of Chris Thompson

Chris Thompson has missed several games due to a toe injury, but the return of Derrius Guice will help the offense greatly.

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Derrius Guice is coming back at just the right time for the Washington Redskins.

As the team enters Week 11, news has come out early this week that running back Chris Thompson is still dealing with a toe injury, and all signs are point towards him sitting out yet another game. That’s an injury that has been pretty detrimental to the Redskins over the past month or so, but it will be less harmful now that Guice is set to go.

Now, with the team less reliant on Adrian Peterson, and AP alone, the offense can start to expand once again as rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins feels comfortable. When talking to the media on Wednesday, coach Bill Callahan said that he is excited about the prospects that Guice brings out of the backfield, though he doesn’t yet know how the workload will be split between him and AP.

The team hopes to know more about the status of Thompson as the week goes on, but things aren’t looking up in that department at the moment. However, with Guice’s long-awaited return to the field, it may not be as detrimental to success as it once was.

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Dwayne Haskins is more comfortable, and ready to be a starting QB in the NFL

After being moved to the QB1 spot, Haskins admits that he is much more comfortable, and his demeanor shows that he’s ready to be a leader.

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We’ve seen rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins take the field before for the Washington Redskins, and every time he did, it didn’t go very well. So when he trots out to the hashes on Sunday to face the New York Jets in his second career start, what will make this time different? Why should fans have boosted expectations?

Repetition and comfortability, straight from the QBs mouth.

When speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, Haskins said that having the experience of live reps in the offense has improved his comfortability immensely, and given him a great deal of confidence going forward.

The truth is, the spotlight is now focused solely on Haskins, as he has been named the starting QB for the rest of the season in Washington. Though, as a first-round signal-caller, the spotlight has always been on him, it’s now brighter than ever going forward. He seems to understand that and has been trying to bring more accountability and leadership with him each day at practice.

If you still have low expectations for the rookie on Sunday when he takes the field against the Jets, nobody can blame you. But things seem to be different this time around; Haskins is carrying himself with the demeanor of a starting QB in the NFL. We’ll just have to wait and see if that shows itself on the field on Sunday.

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The open-market price has been set for RG Brandon Scherff, thanks to the Eagles

Scherff will be looking for a new contract from the Redskins this offseason after his expires, and it will likely be an expensive one.

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Earlier this season, Washington Redskins offensive lineman Brandon Scherff expressed his desire to be a member of the Redskins for the rest of his career, which is convenient, as his contract is set to expire this coming offseason.

As one of the premier right guards in the NFL, it has been expected that Bruce Allen and Co. would do what they could to retain Scherff, who the Redskins drafted with the No. 5 overall pick in 2015. However, it was unknown how much Scherff would be looking to get in a new contract.

Thanks to the Philadelphia Eagles, the market has now been set for a premier right guard in the NFL.

On Tuesday, the Eagles signed Brandon Brooks to a four-year, $56 million extension to keep him in Philadelphia. You can be assured that Scherff made sure to take note of that number. If he is able to test the open market in a few months, he will undoubtedly be looking for an extension that rivals that $14M annually, and chances are that he could ask for a bit more, as he is a couple of years younger than Brooks and Dallas’ Zach Martin, the other top paid guard in the NFL.

Everything was sunshine and roses earlier this year when Scherff showed his HTTR pride and expressed his love for the team, and nothing has changed on that front. What’s different now is that Washington has become aware of what it will take to keep that relationship strong, and it’s going to cost a pretty penny.

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Ex-Redskins coaches, players have found massive success since leaving

A number of the top minds in the NFL were at once a part of the Redskins organization, but they’ve found success elsewhere.

“I wish there was actually a way to know you’re in the good old days before you actually left them.”

Andy Bernard — played by Ed Helms — said that on the Season 9 finale of “The Office” years ago, but it fits pretty well with how the Washington Redskins might feel just about now. While they are currently sitting with the second-worst record in the NFL, a look around the rest of the league shows numerous staffers, coaches, and players finding great success in new locations. Whether it’s a coach who used to be a coordinator in Washington or a GM who found a new team to manage, it seems that the Redskins franchise was exactly the jumping-off point that these guys needed to get their careers going.

In case you need help remembering who all of those future stars were they go as the following: Kyle Shanahan, Redskins OC; John Schneider, Redskins VP of Player Personnel; Matt LaFleur, Redskins QB coach; Kirk Cousins, Redskins QB; Sean McVay, Redskins OC.

All of them were at one point in the building, working to bring success to Washington. Now, they’ve been able to find success elsewhere, and the Redskins are still sitting at the bottom of the league, looking for the right answers. Here’s to hoping that the good old days are right around the corner.

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Washington would have the No. 2 pick in 2020 if the season ended today

The Redskins have the second-worst record in the NFL, and judging by the future schedule, it will be hard to come by a win from here on out.

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It’s been a strange year for the NFL, where an oddly extensive amount of teams are still in contention to make a deep playoff run, and arguably no team is a heavy favorite to win the Super Bowl. Despite all of that, there are still some teams who can’t be bothered with the playoff race.

For teams like the Washington Redskins, what matters each week is figuring out where they are in the projected 2020 NFL Draft Order, and after a wild Week 10 in which three of the heavy favorites for the first overall pick found paths to victory, things are looking up for Dan Snyder and his team.

As it stands now, the Redskins are projected to have the No. 2 overall pick in 2020, sitting with a 1-8 record headed into Week 11. Here is how the first 6 picks shake out, according to USA Today’s Draft Wire:

No. 1 | Cincinnati Bengals 

No. 2 | Washington Redskins

No. 3 | New York Giants

No. 4 | Miami Dolphins 

No. 5 | New York Jets

No. 6 | Atlanta Falcons

There are many directions that the Redskins could go in if they were to finish the season with such a coveted draft pick. Many mock drafts have had them slotted to take DE Chase Young out of Ohio State, a generational talent that would be too good to pass up on, though Washington doesn’t have a major need at that position. It has also been posited that they may draft WR Jerry Jeudy, a sure-handed deep-threat out of Alabama, or maybe even a top-rated QB, should things with Dwayne Haskins not pan out down the stretch of the season.

None of that is important now, though. What matters is that Washington keeps losing, and they continue to see their name high above those mock drafts as the season comes closer to an end.

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Derrius Guice is “itching” to go for Week 11 against the NY Jets

Guice has finally been removed from the IR and will take the field this week as the team prepares to host the Jets.

Week 11 is finally here, and the Washington Redskins get one of their best players back on the field at long last. After sitting out the last eight games, second-year running back Derrius Guice is ready to get back in the mix.

While Adrian Peterson has once again been great in Guice’s absence, it will be a two-man show going forward as the team looks to split the workload between them, though they haven’t yet said who will see the brunt of the load.

Guice has yet to play a full game in his young career, as two consecutive knee injuries have kept him sidelined.

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Redskins name Dwayne Haskins starting QB for rest of the season

The Redskins finally bit the bullet and said that their rookie QB will be named the starter from here on out.

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The Washington Redskins have officially named rookie QB Dwayne Haskins the starter for the rest of the season.

It was reported earlier last week that Haskins would at least accrue two-straight starts after being named QB1 in Week 9 against the Buffalo Bills, as interim coach Bill Callahan said that he would be the guy going into Week 11 against the New York Jets, but now Callahan says that they will be going with the rookie for the rest of the season.

This can be seen as a great move by the Redskins, as they need to get Haskins as many reps as possible during the remaining games this year as the team has no hopes to reach the playoffs.

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Terry McLaurin has accounted for nearly half of Washington’s touchdowns this year

The Redskins rookie has been outstanding this season, but his brilliance helps to magnify the turmoil all around him in Washington.

It’s a great sign to see a rookie break out in the first season of his career, no matter what position he plays. That becomes significantly less great when you consider the fact that the breakout season is virtually the only positive sign of life from the team.

That’s the situation that the Washington Redskins are in with rookie wide receiver Terry McLaurin. Through his first nine games, the 3rd-round pick out of Ohio State has almost 500 yards receiving and five touchdowns, which is the first among rookie receivers. That’s great news for Washington, but it’s troubling when you consider the fact that those five TDs have accounted for 45% of the Redskins 11 total touchdowns, none of which have come in the last three games.

It’s tough to look at a stat like that and feel sorrow, as it likely points to McLaurin being a huge piece of the future offense in Washington. The Redskins just need to make sure he’s not the only piece of the offense.

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