Category: Latest Washington News

Don’t let Chase Young’s introduction overshadow Montez Sweat in 2020

Chase Young is the hot topic in Washington, but we can’t forget about Montez Sweat and the dominance he can bring in his second season.

It’s easy to get swept up in the selection of Chase Young with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but it’s important that fans of the Washington Football Team don’t let his shine get too bright, especially when there are so many other players that deserve shine on the defensive line in Washington.

It was just over a year ago when DE Montez Sweat was drafted in Washington, another first-round pick to go along with the ultra-talented depth of the defensive front. While much of this summer has been focused on Young, who many expect to be a generational talent at the position, Sweat has been able to fly under the radar. However, with the 2020 season fast approaching, he may pop up and surprise a lot of people who forgot just how good he was.

When talking to the media on Monday, Rivera admitted that his staff in Carolina was very high on Sweat in the draft, so it’s understandable that the new coach in Washington is excited to get to work with a bigtime player like the former Mizzou star. With defenses focusing on trying to stimy a Chase Young rookie showcase this season, don’t be surprised to see Sweat get off the ball and wreck the opposite side of the line. We saw a bit of what he could do in 2019, and with some diluted attention thanks to additional talent, the sky is the limit for this defensive front.

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Ron Rivera is walking the walk when it comes to Derrius Guice situation

Rivera has spent the summer preaching accountability and culture in Washington, and he proved that with the release of Derrius Guice.

When Ron Rivera was hired to be the next head coach of the Washington Football Team, many thought of him as a life raft coming to help a struggling franchise stay afloat. Not only was he a great coach in Carolina, leading the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance in 2015, but he also preached endless accountability and hard work, and his leadership skills seemed to be exactly what was needed in Washington.  His main goal was not to win football games but to build a sustainable culture in Washington that could turn the franchise around. Wins would eventually come.

When interviewing for a job, it’s easy to say all of the right things, and Rivera’s words absolutely matched that. However, to get things done you need to walk the walk after talking the talk, and Rivera’s handling of the Derrius Guice situation this past weekend proved that he’s every bit as capable of doing that as well.

On Monday morning when discussing the situation with media members, Rivera stated that it was his decision to release Guice, who turned himself in to police after domestic violence allegations had come to light. It would fall on him if that move went the wrong way.

Choosing to get rid of your lead running back just weeks before the season starts is bold, but it was absolutely the right move in this situation. Not all coaches would have done it, though it’s easy to believe that any decision-maker would have said it’s the type of thing you do when interviewing for that job.

Rivera has had many chances to walk the walk after talking a bit talk earlier this year, and so far he’s charting a great path in Washington, which will hopefully veer towards success at some point down the road.

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How much of an impact will Reuben Foster’s return have on Washington defense?

When healthy, Reuben Foster was one of the best linebackers in the NFL, but it’s fair to question how he will look after sitting since 2018.

It’s easy to forget just how good of a player Washington’s LB Reuben Foster is, but with the news of him being lifted from the PUP list on Sunday, it seems like a good time to revisit some of his past performances.

After being selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 2017 draft, Foster quickly became one of the best linebackers in the NFL, racking up 72 total tackles in just 10 games. According to Pro Football Focus, this had him ranked as the 10th best LB in the league, and easily the best among all rookies that season.

It’s easy to say that Foster will have an impact in Washington once he gets back in the groove, but seeing as he hasn’t played in any regularl-season games since 2018, can we reasonably expect that he’ll be able to hit the ground running this season? If you’re to listen to linebackers coach Steven Mills, they’ve been treating this offseason so that he can do just that.

Getting up to game-speed will undoubtedly take a couple of games, and without a preseason to knock the rust off, we should temper expectations a bit while Foster gets re-acclimated. Still, Washington would not have made this move unless Foster is really ready to take the field soon, and it seems that he’s very close.

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Reuben Foster’s removal from PUP list is major win for Washington fans

It was announced that Reuben Foster was removed from the PUP list on Sunday, which is a rare bit of good news for Washington fans to hear.

Fans of the Washington Football Team received some great news on Sunday morning, as it was announced that linebacker Reuben Foster had been taken off of the PUP list, signaling that he is that much closer to finally taking the field in Washington.

Foster was picked up in 2018, but never played a game for Washington due to a significant knee injury that he suffered in the spring of 2019. That injury held him out of the entire 2019 season, and many believed that it could cause him to miss a good portion of the 2020 season as well, with grim details about his recovery coming out early this year.

Now though, with a string of positive news coming out about Foster, it appears that he will be ready to play sooner rather than later, and he’ll likely be able to join a staunch front-seven on the defense in Washington, operating alongside LB Thomas Davis and LB Cole Holcomb, while cleaning up behind a defensive line that consists of five former first-round picks.

It’s been a tough summer by any accounts for Washington fans, but this is a definite win. Enjoy it while you can.

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Derrius Guice’s release proves 2nd round of NFL Draft is Washington’s kryptonite

Guice’s release Friday makes it glaringly obvious that a lot of Washington’s struggles come from an inability to find players in 2nd round.

There’s no denying the fact that the Washington Football Team has struggled to stay relevant for strictly football reasons for the better part of the last half-decade. While off-field issues and locker room drama has kept the D.C. team in the headlines, the on-field product has been middling at best, and usually near the bottom of the league.

One of the major reasons for that became clear on Friday afternoon when it was announced that RB Derrius Guice was being released from the team following an arrest for alleged domestic violence incidents earlier this year. That reason is that Washington has been incredibly unable to capitalize on second-round draft picks over the past handful of years, which is something that can absolutely decimate your roster. Here is the track record since 2014:

  • 2014 — LB Trent Murphy (22 starts)
  • 2015 — DE Preston Smith (left in free agency)
  • 2016 — LB Su’a Cravens (3 starts)
  • 2017 — LB Ryan Anderson (4 starts, 43 total games)
  • 2018 —RB Derrius Guice (5 total games)
  • 2019 —No Pick (Montez Sweat trade)
  • 2020 —No Pick (Montez Sweat trade)

If you look around the rest of the league, it’s clear that some of the best players were taken in the second round, and understandable why Washington has struggled to find talent on the field. Look at some of the players that Washington could have had instead of Cravens, like WR Tyler Boyd, or CB James Bradburry. How about taking TE Mark Andrews instead of Guice, or maybe WR Juju Smith-Schuster over Anderson?

A lot of the failures in Washington have to do with coaching and management, but a lot have also been caused directly by a lack of talent on the roster. There were some high hopes for Guice to break out and stay healthy in his third season, but his release made it clear on Friday — the 2nd round of the NFL Draft has been Washington’s kryptonite as of late.

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Former Washington LB Preston Smith takes comical shot at Washington fans

Preston Smith says that he may be okay with no fans at games this year, noting that he got used to it while playing in Washington.

Washington has been a solid punching bag for the rest of the NFL for the better part of the last decade, but there are some people who wish to kick them while they’re down.

Not only was RB Derrius Guice released from the team after being arrested for domestic violence charges on Friday, but former Washington LB Preston Smith took an unnecessary shot at the team, saying that the potential of playing games in 2020 without fans in the stands might be something that he’s used to, seeing as he spent the first four years of his career doing something similar in Washington.

Hard to argue with the sentiment, but fair to be annoyed with the timing. There are enough other things going on in Washington to not want to be catching flack from former players, truthful as they may be.

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Guice’s attorney says Washington ‘assumed the worst’ and wrongfully released the RB

Guice was released in Washington after turning himself in to police for domestic violence charges, which his attorney claims was wrongful.

The news became public of Washington running back Derrius Guice’s arrest on Friday evening, and soon thereafter, the Washington Football Team announced that they were releasing the third-year player who has appeared in five games during his career.

After the dust settled a little bit about the domestic violence allegations, Guice’s attorney, Peter Greenspun, released a statement saying that the allegations against Guice were not fully investigated and that Guice was released from the team “without an inquiry as to what did or did not take place.” Greenspun went on to say that Guice will defend these charges in court, where a full vetting can take place, “in contrast to actions by local law enforcement and the Washington Football Team that assumed the worst, directly contradicting every sense of fairness and due process.”

Whether you believe in innocent until proven guilty or not, it’s hard to blame Ron Rivera and Washington for cutting ties with Guice as quickly as they did. The main thing that Rivera has stressed since taking over in Washington has been a solid culture, and it’s clear that distractions such as this have no place in the team that he’s trying to build. Guice will eventually have his day in court, and the truth will be uncovered, but until then, his legal matters are an unneeded drama in Washington that the team decided to do without going forward.

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Derrius Guice is gone in Washington, so what happens now?

Guice was rightfully released from Washington on Friday after turning himself into the police, so it will be next man up in Washington.

The competition for starting running back on the Washington Football Team just got a bit more interesting.

Groundbreaking news dropped late on Friday afternoon, as it was announced that RB Derrius Guice had turned himself in to the police for an alleged domestic violence incident, and minutes later the team released him altogether. Despite what happens for Guice and his future in football, which might be a bit dicey considering his lengthy injury history to go along with a potential legal timeline, it’s clear that he is not in the cards for the future in Washington.

So where does that leave them? Not in a terrible position, to be honest. Thankfully, running back is one of the deeper positions on the team in Washington, where five players now stand to compete for a spot on the roster. We have speculated in the past that Washington might choose to carry four backs on the 53-man roster, but now it could stand to reason that they will keep all five — Adrian Peterson, Bryce Love, Antonio Gibson, Peyton Barber, and J.D. McKissic — and protect against depth or lack of production down the road.

It would be easy to believe that the RB1 job is Peterson’s to lose at this point, as he’s held that role for much of the past two seasons, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. There are also high hopes for both Love and Gibson, who fans in Washington have yet to see outside of some impressive college careers. Both Barber and McKissic, who might have struggled to find a spot on the roster before Guice’s release, will now likely be members of the team going forward, and they can add some crucial depth when called upon.

So is the news about Guice unfortunate? Absolutely. Any domestic violence issue is abhorrent and shameful, and should not be taken lightly. Credit to Ron Rivera and the team for releasing him immediately, showing that this type of behavior absolutely has no place in Washington. Will the team be able to make due going forward? Again, absolutely. It will be the next man up for the Washington Football Team, and luckily there are a lot of men waiting in line for that RB spot.

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Washington releases RB Derrius Guice after arrest for alleged domestic violence

The former LSU Tigers star turned himself in to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in northern Virginia on Friday afternoon.

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The Washington Football Team announced it has released running back Derrius Guice.

Guice, 23, was arrested in northern Virginia on Friday and charged with several counts related to alleged domestic violence, The Washington Post reported. The Post, citing the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, reported that Guice faces charges of strangulation, assault, battery and destruction of property.

Guice turned himself in at approximately 5 p.m. ET. The Post reported that Guice did not attend Washington’s Friday practice, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. His attorney, Peter D. Greenspun, declined comment to The Post at the Loudoun County sheriff’s facility.

Guice was drafted in the second round, No. 59 overall, by Washington in 2018. He missed the entire 2018 season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his first preseason game. He was limited to five games in 2019 by other knee injuries, recording 245 rushing yards and three total touchdowns.

Derrius Guice
The Washington Football Team has released running back Derrius Guice, whom they selected in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Guice is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he starred at Catholic High and Louisiana State University. In three seasons at LSU, he rushed for 3,074 yards and scored 32 total touchdowns.

‘It’s his time:’ Players think Geron Christian is ready to take over as LT in Washington

Geron Christian will be working to earn the starting LT spot in Washington this season, and some think he’s ready to do so.

With a young team in Washington, one of the major questions going into the 2020 season is about who will earn a few of the starting roles on offense. The running back depth chart will be hotly contested, and the starting spots at both left tackle and left guard will be points of contention as well.

Washington drafted rookie Saahdiq Charles this offseason to try and fill that spot, but he will have to knock off both Geron Christian and Cornelius Lucas in order to do so. Lucas was brought in as a free agent, but Christian is arguably the player than everyone has the highest hopes for, as his third-year in the NFL could end up being make-or-break.

Morgan Moses, who is now the oldest player on the offensive line, says that he believes Christian is ready.

Will Christian be able to step up and fill that void left by a future Hall of Famer? We’ll have to wait and see, hoping that reports out of training camp are positive. This is definitely the best chance that Christian has had in his career to earn a starting role, and it may be his last in Washington.

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