Category: Latest Washington News

Ron Rivera admits Washington had major eyes for Joe Burrow in 2020 draft

Though Washington is happy with Chase Young as their pick, Rivera admits that they would have taken Joe Burrow should he have been available.

With the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Washington Football Team pretty much had their pick of the litter when it came to guys they wanted on their team.

Pretty much.

The one guy that they couldn’t get to was LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who went No. 1 to the Cincinnati Bengals after winning both the Heisman Trophy and the National Championship. Now, as we head into Week 11 and prepare for Burrow to face off against Washington and Chase Young, who was eventually selected at No. 2, Ron Rivera is letting the truth out about Burrow and their initial intentions on draft day.

Back in April, it seemed pretty clear that Washington was going with Dwayne Haskins as their starting QB, but the ‘coach speak’ was that there was going to be a competition at the position and the best man would win. It appears that this line of thinking from Rivera goes along the same lines of what ended up happening, with him not being married to Haskins, and an early interest in Burrow as his franchise quarterback.

Of course, there was almost a zero percent chance that Burrow was going to slip past the Bengals at No. 1, so everything played out pretty much as expected.

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LOOK: Washington to break out ‘retro vibes’ for homecoming game vs. Bengals

Washington will be switching up the jersey game this weekend, going with their ‘retro’ look, minus the old logo on the helmets.

The Washington Football Team will be switching it up a bit this weekend when they host the Cincinnati Bengals, donning their ‘retro’ jerseys for the matchup that falls on Homecoming Weekend.

While the normal jerseys this year look slightly different than in years past, the retro jerseys fall along the same lines, with a darker maroon top and gold pants, rather than white. The major difference will be the lack of a logo or numbers on the helmet, with just a blank dome this time around.

Unfortunately from a prediction standpoint, NBC Sports Washington points out that Washington has lost three straight outings when wearing their retro fits, and they were also the jerseys worn the game that Alex Smith went down with his broken leg in 2018. This might not bode well for them this weekend against Joe Burrow and the Bengals.

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Injury Report: Dustin Hopkins, Cornelius Lucas remain out in practice report

There are several key pieces in Washinton who are currently banged up, namely Cornelius Lucas and Dustin Hopkins.

It was another tough day on the injury front in Washington, with former starting left tackle Geron Christian being sent to the injured reserve, while backup LT Cornelius Lucas remained away from practice yet again.

With Christian out of the picture, and a second-straight missed practice from Lucas casting his availability for Week 11 in doubt, it is increasingly looking like starting RT Morgan Moses will get the start at LT, while David Sharpe will move over to RT. Washington tested out this grouping last week after Lucas went down with a leg injury, and it actually worked pretty well.

Another player who notably didn’t practice was kicker Dustin Hopkins, who has been dealing with a groin injury for a couple of weeks now. Hopkins is a player who many fans have been calling for to be benched or cut, but Ron Rivera has stated that the team would stick with. We’ll have to see if his injury designation changes things at all on that front.

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Rivera: The ‘ship hasn’t sailed’ on bringing in FA safety Eric Reid to Washington

Ron Rivera is still open to bringing in FA safety Eric Reid to help in Washington after injuries to Deshazor Everett and Landon Collins.

Washington has had a lot of tough luck at the safety position this season, with both Landon Collins and now Deshazor Everett succumbing to injury in the past month or so.

With both players down — Collins for the season with an Achilles injury, and Everett for an unknown amount of time with a high ankle sprain — coach Ron Rivera said on Thursday that the team might still be open to bringing in free agent safety Eric Reid to help out. The team offered Reid a spot on the practice squad earlier this season after Collins went down with his injury, but Reid turned it down, claiming that he felt he deserved a spot on the active roster instead.

There are still some young players on the roster that Rivera wishes to give a chance, but it’s good to know that the team is still willing to look to Reid as a potential replacement, someone who has a history with Rivera and still is good enough to play in the NFL.

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Washington won’t be moving away from Burgundy & Gold: ‘You can put that one in pen’

Washington is searching for a new team name and logo, but president Jason Wright has made it clear they are keeping the burgundy & gold.

The topic of a name change has become newsworthy in Washington once again, with team president Jason Wright sitting down with ESPN’s John Keim for an update on where the team is in the process of finding a new mascot or potentially sticking with the ‘Washington Football Team’ moniker for the future.

While no decisions have been made, and Wright says that everything is still on the table, we can gather some hints to figure out where the team might go down the road.

Before we get into names and logos, though, it needs to be made clear that no matter what this team calls itself, the burgundy and gold color scheme won’t be changing. While other professional sports teams in the area — the Wizards, the Nationals, the Mystics, the Capitals — all have red, white, and blue color schemes, it will take a lot for Washington to change.

“It would take a lot to change the burgundy and gold. You can put that one in pen. I don’t see us moving off that at any point,” Wright said, via ESPN. “That’s not actively being considered. … I’ll revise that if it happens, but I don’t see that happening.”

From the outside, it would seem to make a lot of sense for Washington to take on the nation’s colors while residing in the nation’s capital, but there is a big effort not to change too much about the deeply-ingrained culture in the fanbase of D.C., and going away from the Burgundy and Gold would be a huge loss for many people in the area.

So while we wait to hear what this team may call itself in the future, you can rest assured that you won’t have to get used to any new color schemes in the future.

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Jason Wright says ‘Football Team’ is ‘definitely in the running’ to be permanent Washington name

While fans eagerly await news about a potential name change in Washington, president Jason Wright says ‘Football Team’ is ‘definitely’ in the running.

If you’re a fan of the Washington Football Team, then over the past few months, you’ve absolutely fielded a question about the team’s name, and whether or not they’re going to change it to something cooler.

Are they really going to go by ‘Washington Football Team’ forever?

When are they going to change it? What are they going to change it to?

If you’re like me, you’re tired of answering these questions, simply because we don’t know the answers. For a while, we’ve been under the impression that yes, a new name will be announced eventually, and that the ‘Football Team’ is just a placeholder while they find something better. When it takes place is some time in the nearish future, likely before the 2022 season.

However, are we sure that those answers are correct anymore? According to Washington team president Jason Wright, the WFT could be sticking around.

“It’s definitely in the running,” Wright said of the ‘Washington Football Team’ name, via ESPN. “I don’t think anything is off the table. … With this one, people are excited about the idea of a club has an identity rooted solely in the area it represents. Maybe it’s Football Team or it’s Football Club. We need to get underneath the why, so no matter what direction we go, we can pull on the heartstrings of folks.”

So… ‘Football Team’ might be here to stay, or it could change to ‘Football Club?’

Apparently.

What about the timeline; when is this change going to take place?

According to John Keim, who interviewed Wright for ESPN, it could be a while:

It could be another year, though the name might be known internally by early spring. But then they have to go through the trademark process; people have already filed for trademarks on more than 30 potential names for the franchise. That doesn’t mean Washington wouldn’t be able to get the one they want, but it takes time. He wants to announce the name when they not only have one they like, but also when the logo and design is done.

So a name could be known as soon as this spring, but we won’t know as a general public for quite a bit longer.

No matter what you want the name to change to, or if you don’t want it to change at all, it appears that we’re going to have to be patient going forward. But it’s clear now that everything is on the table, and no decisions have been made yet.

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Washington places Geron Christian on IR; signs Maryland RB Javon Leake to practice squad

Washington’s depth on the offensive line is depleting, with Geron Christian now being sent to the IR and Cornelius Lucas in doubt for Sunday.

The Washington Football Team made a couple of roster moves on Thursday morning, signing former Mayland running back and returner Javon Leake to the practice squad, while also placing former starting left tackle Geron Christian on the injured reserve.

The news about Christian is potentially big for Washington, as it leaves their depth at the left tackle position extremely thin. Coming into this season, the team had Geron Christian, Saahdiq Charles, Cornelius Lucas and David Sharpe at that position. Now, with the first three players injured, Washington has been moving RT Morgan Moses over to the LT spot, while putting Sharpe at RT.

Lucas is not on the IR, but he got injured in last week’s game against the Lions and is uncertain to play this week against the Bengals.

The addition of Leake to the practice squad should be noted too, as the young RB and dynamic returner had a solid career at Maryland. In three years in college, he had a total of 17 touchdowns from scrimmage, and could hopefully be able to work his way up to the active roster in D.C. someday.

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Ron Rivera disputes report that team could turn to Dwayne Haskins again this season

A report surfaced this week that Washington could turn to Haskins at QB if eliminated from playoff contention, but Ron Rivera disputes that.

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A report came out earlier this week that the Washington Football Team could turn back to second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins to become the starter later in this season should the team be eliminated from playoff contention, but there has now been some contention on that front, coming from the head coach of the team.

While it would make sense for Washington to turn towards Haskins and see what they have in the young player, hoping to decide whether they can rely on him as their QB in the future or potentially increase his trade value, Ron Rivera said on Wednesday that he never said the team would be looking at Haskins should the team be eliminated from contention.

The original report came from FOX Sports announcer Dan Hellie, who said on 106.7 The FAN that Rivera “confirmed to him prior to kickoff that he would consider starting Haskins over Smith if the NFC East title gets out of reach.”

Whether a switch is made sometime in the future is yet to be seen, but a type of dismissal like this doesn’t look great for Haskins.

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Chase Young, Antonio Gibson land inside ESPN’s Top 10 rookie rankings for 2020

Washington has two of the top-10 rookies in the entire NFL so far through 10 games of the 2020 season.

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In a year where the Washington Football Team wasn’t expected to win many games or compete for a playoff spot, the main goal was to focus on young talent and develop the newer players on their roster while looking towards future success.

It looks like that goal has been achieved, with ESPN naming both DE Chase Young and RB Antonio Gibson as two of the top 10 rookies in the NFL this season. Young comes in at No. 5 on the list, with 18 total tackles and 3.5 sacks, while Gibson slots in three spots later at No. 8, with over 600 total yards and seven touchdowns.

Outside of both Young and Gibson, Washington fans can feel very confident that they found a few other rookie gems this season, with players like Kamren Curl and Isaiah Wright playing above expectations, while there are still high hopes for both Saahdiq Charles and Antonio Gandy-Golden, though they’ve been dealing with injuries for a lot of the season so far.

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Bryce Love suffers injury setback; return from IR in doubt for 2020 season

There was hope that Bryce Love would make his return soon after practicing last week, but he will now be held out for longer going forward.

There was hope on the injury front for the Washington Football Team a week ago when it was reported that second-year running back Bryce Love had begun practicing again, and there was some hope that he could eventually be activated from the injured reserve and be placed on the active roster.

That hope has seemingly gone out the window now, with coach Ron Rivera saying that Love experienced some soreness in his knee after practicing last week, and the team is planning to hold him out a bit going forward. According to the IR rules this year, Washington had 21 days to activate him to the roster once Love returned to practice last week, or else he will be placed on the IR for the rest of the season. They now have 14 days to do so.

Love has been a frustrating storyline in Washington over the past year. The young RB had a tremendous college career at Stanford, where he finished second in Heisman voting in 2018, but a knee injury caused him to drop in the NFL Draft, where Washington got him in the fourth round, hoping that he could eventually return to the level of play that we saw at Stanford. As of yet, he has been unable to get his knee injury under control, and we are still waiting for him to take his first snap in the NFL.

As of now, it is not looking like that elusive first snap will come in 2020, though things could change.

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