It was a rough 2019 season in Washington, and all accounts show that fans of the team could be in for another few rough months ahead as the 2020 season gets going. While the team has a number of promising young pieces and a stacked defense who should be able to impress along the way, there is still not a ton of optimism that Washington will be able to win many games this season.
What’s truly important is that fans are able to hold onto hope, as the team is sure to improve over the coming years and project as one of the better squads in the league, right?
According to ESPN, not so much…
In a recent piece, ESPN power ranked all 32 NFL teams not for the 2020 season, but for the next three years combined. Using a combination of roster strength, quarterback security, draft proficiency, front office, and coaching, a prediction for the future was set. In that prediction, Washington doesn’t get much better than they are now, bumping up to No. 26 in the league hierarchy.
Why they’re here: Washington fetched a mountain of credibility in hiring Ron Rivera as coach, but it’s going to take time to get this ship steered in the right direction. Dwayne Haskins Jr. has a chance to accelerate that process but must make noted strides in his second season, while the offense is in desperate need of more playmakers. There was some encouraging roster-building work done in D.C. this offseason, but this is just the beginning.
One of the biggest worries for Washington’s future success is that the front office will get in the way. After a tumultuous last week that was fraught with allegations and negative headlines, ESPN’s Louis Riddick said that this sort of side-show attention could easily detract from the on-field product and render the Washington TBD’s mediocre well into the future.
“This organization can’t get out of its own way off the field, which renders everything they do on the field irrelevant,” Riddick wrote. “Until the franchise figures out how to stop being dysfunctional, the team has no chance, and a lot of good young players are going to be wasted as a result.”
Hoping that Dan Snyder will suddenly let everything click into place and allow the on-field product to take precedent over everything else? That’s a big ask. However, if they don’t figure something out soon, Washington will stay one of the mediocre teams in the league for years to come, and they’ll continue to be looked at as a shameful franchise going forward.
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