Tag: Derrius Guice

When healthy, Redskins’ Derrius Guice was No. 1 most elusive RB in NFL

The best ability is availability, but considering what Derrius Guice could do during his brief action in 2019, his future is bright.

One of the biggest knocks on Washington Redskins running back Derrius Guice has been his ability to stay healthy. During his two full seasons in the NFL, he’s played in just five games, missing his entire rookie year with a torn ACL, and being sent to the IR twice in 2019 for multiple knee injuries.

When he’s been on the field, however, Guice is nothing but electric. In his five games with the Redskins, he has a total of three touchdowns and 324 total yards on just 49 touches. Though it is a small sample size, those are impressive numbers.

Pro Football Focus would agree. In a recent Stat Spotlight that they did, tracking the elusiveness rating for every RB in the NFL, Guice doesn’t make the list simply because of his minimal number of reps. However, if you were to change the qualifier from 100 carries to 20 carries, Guice jumps up to the No. 1 overall spot.

Don’t know what we’re talking about when we say discuss the elusiveness rating? It simply measures a back’s forced missed tackles and yards after contact.

When you look at the 2019 season as a whole, Dallas Cowboys rookie Tony Pollard (116.1), and Oakland Raiders rookie Josh Jacobs (103.6) were near the top of the list, and Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry was not far behind. But from weeks 11-13, when Guice was healthy and getting a decent workload, his rating, 175.3, was higher than anyone this season.

The low number of attempts skews the statistics a little bit, and if you want to believe that with more of a sample size Guice would have fallen off quite a bit, go ahead. But if you watched Guice when he was on the field, and you saw what he could do with the football when given a chance, you know that the Redskins have something special, should he be able to stay healthy. This PFF stat proves exactly that.

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Adrian Peterson might play football forever

In 2019, Peterson ran for 898 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.

Adrian Peterson might play football forever.

It was announced on Thursday that the Redskins have picked up the 2020 option for the former Vikings running back, who will be 35 when next season starts.

It’s probably the right move for Washington, too.

In 2019, Peterson ran for 898 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.

Peterson has 14,216 career rushing yards, a mark that ranks fifth in NFL history. He is 1,053 yards back from Barry Sanders at No. 4. Unlikely, sure, but if we’ve learned anything over the years it’s that Adrian Peterson is not human.

The 2020 option will pay Peterson $2.3 million. Per Spotrac, Peterson has already made more than $100 million in his career.

What type of opportunity will Peterson receive in Washington? He’ll compete with Derrius Guice and Bryce Love for carries. Guice probably has the slight edge as favorite for being the starter, but he’s been unable to stay healthy during his first two years in the league.

Redskins bring back Adrian Peterson on 2020 team-option

The Redskins exercised their team-option on Peterson’s contract, keeping him around in 2020 as a $3 million hit to the salary cap.

We all expected it to happen, but it appears that the Washingon Redskins will officially be bringing back veteran running back Adrian Peterson for the 2020 season.

At age 35, Peterson had a team option on his contract worth $3 million that the Redskins were able to pass on if they wished, but his production over the past couple of years makes it a pretty easy decision. Since coming to Washington in 2018, AP has run for 12 touchdowns and 1,940 total yards, while also being called upon to shoulder the load a number of times with Derrius Guice on the IR.

Now, going into 2020, Washington will look to have their full stable of running backs healthy, and Peterson will be able to keep doing what he does.

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Young and cheap talent could lead to major success for Redskins in near future

The majority of Washington’s production comes from a number of young and cheap players, which leads to a hopeful bright future.

In the midst of the NFL offseason, while teams prepare for the free agency period and the draft, the value of a young player can often be lost.

While the Washington Redskins made four moves on Friday that cleared upwards of $15 million in salary-cap space, it’s important to note one of the core reasons they were able to do so. It starts with their success in recent drafts, and their ability to rely on young players to produce while on cheap contracts.

The Redskins released WR Paul Richardson Jr. on Friday, making it so they don’t have to pay him approximately $6 million in 2020. When comparing the price they would have to pay for the discouraging and rather inconsistent play they would have gotten from Richardson in 2020, consider this — Washington is set to pay roughly the same amount to arguably their top five offensive players next year.

If you were to couple together the 2020 contracts for QB Dwayne Haskins, RB Derrius Guice, and WRs Terry McLaurin, Kelvin Harmon, and Steven Sims Jr., you get a cap hit of approximately $6.5 million. If you were to add Bryce Love’s $773,583 cap hit, plus Adrian Peterson’s $3 million hit should the Redskins pick up his team-option, you’re left with roughly 90% of your offensive production coming from about $10 million out of your salary cap.

That stat alone should allow the Redskins to hopefully compete in 2020, as they will have a great deal of money to spend on outside talent this offseason, and potentially build a real contender under the new coaching staff.

When you look at teams who have had recent success in the NFL, most of them did so while leaning on cheap talent who produced above their price tag. The Kansas City Chiefs were able to win the Super Bowl this season because QB Patrick Mahomes acted as a $4 million cap hit when he was performing like a $40 million quarterback. If Haskins is able to make a leap and play well above his contract value, and the rest of the young core is able to continue their progression, the Redskins will be in a position to succeed in the coming years, and a couple of playoff runs aren’t out of the question.

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Could Redskins be a potential landing spot for Cardinals RB David Johnson?

The Cardinals are likely to trade Johnson, and they could offer a couple of picks to whichever team is willing to take him off their hands.

Free agency is on everyone’s mind at the moment, and running back is not an area of need for the Washington Redskins. However, an interesting trade opportunity has presented itself recently, involving a once high-profile running back who could be on the move, and a team so desperate to rid of his bloated contract that they may offer a draft pick or two to whichever team is willing to take him off of their hands.

I’m talking about David Johnson and the Arizona Cardinals.

Those who hold memories of the 2016 NFL season are definitely listening now, while recent fantasy owners of Johnson might scoff a bit. After bursting onto the scene with 20 total touchdowns in his sophomore season, Johnson has struggled to live up to the high bar he set, totaling just 16 touchdowns in the three years since. An injury sidelined him in 2017, but the young and adept pass-catcher signed a three-year, $39 million contract with the Cardinals in 2018. Since then, he’s been relegated to a backup role in Arizona, and now the team is looking at the two years and more than $26 million left on his contract with disdain.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Cardinals owe so much guaranteed money to Johnson that they are unable to release him, but there is still a route for them to rid of his contract — via trade. It would take the Cardinals eating a bit of Johnson’s contract, or giving up a draft pick or two, simply in order to get their once-prized RB on a new team.

So could the Redskins take him off of their hands if they were to throw in a couple of mid-round picks? It’s possible.

Like we mentioned earlier, the Redskins don’t have much of a need at the running back position, with Derrius Guice nearing full recovery from a knee injury, Adrian Peterson likely to have his contract option picked up, and rookie Bryce Love set to make his NFL debut in the near future. However, this seems like a low-risk move that could potentially be a difference-maker in Washington; the Redskins have the extra salary cap to make it work, and they could add to their draft capital while bringing a veteran playmaker into the building. You may claim that Johnson is past his prime, and that could be true, but the Cardinals system was never a perfect fit for his playstyle, and a new set of scenery may be just what Johnson needs to jump-start his career.

It’s also important to mention that Johnson’s bread-and-butter is acting as a pass-catching RB out of the backfield, and the Redskins are likely to watch Chris Thompson — who played a similar role in Washington — walk in free agency this year.

It may be a long shot, but it at least should be mentioned and considered. Johnson has the ability to slice and dice opposing defenses when healthy and playing to his strengths. The Redskins would have to give up a little bit of money in order to get the deal done, but in return, they might receive some highly-valuable draft capital and a former super-star in the backfield. It’s worth considering.

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7 Redskins among Fantasy Football Top 200 ahead of 2020 season

It’s never too early to start thinking about fantasy football, and seven Redskins were ranked in the top 200 big board for the 2020 season.

It’s never too early to start thinking about fantasy football, is it?

The NFL season only just ended, with the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the San Francisco 49ers, but if you’re a fantasy nerd, like many of us are, the basketball season just doesn’t quite cut it when you have 17 weeks of pure bliss each fall.

While we are a discouraging number of months away from 2020 fantasy mock drafts to be an acceptable meeting place once again, that doesn’t mean you can’t sneak in a little bit of research on the side. With the help of our friends at NFL Network, we are able to do so, as Michael Fabiano ranked the top-200 players to look at going into the next season. For the Washington Redskins, they have seven players making that cut, with WR Terry McLaurin heading up that list at No. 59.

Here’s a breakdown of the seven players tabbed by Fabiano.

No. 59 — Terry McLaurin (WR29)

Nov 24, 2019; Landover, MD, USA; Washington Redskins wide receiver Terry McLaurin (17) celebrates with fans while leaving the field after defeating the Detroit Lions at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

This rookie was definitely one of the lone bright spots for the Redskins in 2019, and his seven touchdowns and 900+ receiving yards made him a nice contributor for whatever fantasy manager dared to draft him or pick him up off of waivers, early in the year.

With more than 60 yards and a touchdown in both of his first two games, McLaurin became an instant sensation among the fantasy community, and he was able to keep up pretty decent production despite some rocky quarterback play for the Redskins.

As defenses start to key on his strengths, things will definitely get tougher for McLaurin down the road, but he is only going to get better, as the offense in Washington continues to improve.

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3 players the Redskins should let walk in 2020 free agency

The Redskins are unlikely to retain these three players once free agency rolls around, allowing them to find a new team.

As the free agency period in the NFL starts to draw near, we’ve focused a lot on the players that the Washington Redskins need to try and retain, and several more that they need to try and bring in from outside of the team.

Just as important, however, are the decisions that they need to make on current players who are set to become free agents in 2020. While it seems crucial for the Redskins to try and keep players like Brandon Scherff and Ereck Flowers around, who can Washington allow to walk on to the open market? These top three names might be free to look elsewhere once March 18th rolls around.

Chris Thompson — Running Back
NEW ORLEANS, LA – OCTOBER 08: Chris Thompson #25 of the Washington Redskins runs with the ball as Kurt Coleman #29 of the New Orleans Saints defends at Mercedes-Benz Superdome on October 8, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Things never really worked out for Thompson in Washington, unfortunately, and it seems that he’s likely missed his window to be a feature back in the Redskins’ offense. When healthy, Thompson was a solid piece for seven years with the Redskins, but he only amassed five total touchdowns in that time, and he often struggled to fight off injuries. missing 46 games over that period.

While he still holds value as a third-down back when he’s on the field, it’s likely that the Redskins will be able to move away from him in 2020, as they have Adrian Peterson and Derrius Guice shouldering much of the load, and a wildcard in Bryce Love will be available as well. Love, who is virtually a younger and more decorated version of Thompson, has a high ceiling that is almost guaranteed to give the Redskins the confidence to let Thompson walk in free agency this year.

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Derrius Guice looks to avoid ‘injury-prone’ narrative under new Redskins training staff

Guice knows that he’s one trip to the IR away from being labeled as ‘injury-prone’ and he’s working with new training staff to avoid that.

Some players in professional sports are labeled ‘injury-prone,’ and some are just flat out unlucky. For Washington Redskins running back Derrius Guice, the jury is still out on which he really is, but it’s hard to deny his poor string of luck since coming into the NFL in 2018.

In his two years with the Redskins, Guice has as many touchdowns (3) as trips to the injured reserve. He’s had two tears in his knee that required surgery, and he knows that he’s one injury away from being dubbed ‘injury-prone,’ a designation that comes as a major red flag to any NFL team.

As he recovers from a sprained MCL this time around, though, things are a bit different for Guice. He knows that he has to prove his worth in Washington, with two years left on his rookie deal, and he now has a new training staff to do it with. According to the Washington Post, one of the biggest challenges for Guice going forward will be adapting to a new recovery plan with Ryan Vermillion, the Redskins newest head trainer.

The most significant change so far has been the firing of longtime trainer Larry Hess, who was replaced by former Carolina Panthers trainer Ryan Vermillion. Hess had a plan for Guice’s rehab that they were working through, and there was familiarity between the two about what Guice can do and what causes him to struggle. Vermillion has put his own spin on the rehab as the two build a relationship.

Vermillion is a highly-respected trainer in the NFL, and he will surely keep a watchful eye on Guice’s treatment, as the dynamic running back stands as one of the most valuable commodities in Washington. Guice is determined to get back to the field and stay on the field, and Vermillions remade training staff with the Redskins will hopefully help him do so.

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Derrius Guice knows he’s approaching his last chance to prove himself

Derrius Guice was quite honest in a new interview.

Derrius Guice feels the pressure.

The Washington Redskins running back has had problems staying healthy over his first few years in the league and now just has two years left on his deal,

“I’m realistic,” Guice said, according to Kareem Copeland of the Washington Post. “I think about, pretty much, how this is like my last shot to prove I can stay healthy and contribute. It’s in the back of my head somewhere. It’s definitely there.”

Not that Guice has to prove himself as a player. He was electric in exhibitions since joining the Redskins and over five games last year rushed for 245 yards and two touchdowns on a 5.8 per-carry average before getting hurt again.

Looking ahead, Guice merely has to prove he can stay healthy and little else. But given what he’s shown so far, it’s hard to imagine he has any problems earning himself a nice secondary contract if he stays on the field for a full 16 games.

Luckily for the Redskins, they lucked into a resurgent Adrian Peterson right as Guice’s availability started to cause issues.

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Derrius Guice shares image from White House visit

The Redskins RB took a special trip recently.

Washington Redskins running back and former LSU star Derrius Guice visited the White House recently.

Tagging along with Joe Burrow and the national champion LSU Tigers, Guice snapped a photo with President Donald Trump and shared an image of the meeting on Twitter.

Those who know Guice’s life story understand this is a special moment for the running back.

On the field, Guice only managed to get in five games this year, rushing for 245 yards and two scores on a 5.8 average before leaving again with an injury. He’s heading into his third season next year and should again be flanked by veteran Adrian Peterson.

Looking ahead, Guice remains a key element of the Redskins’ offensive future led by sophomore quarterback Dwayne Haskins.

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