While they sit with a 3-10 record and have been officially eliminated from the playoffs, the Washington Redskins are coming in danger of matching their lowest win total in 25 years. Looking back on the last year, where did it all go wrong?
Sure, a coach was fired after Week 5, and a rookie quarterback has been subjected to some bumps and bruises as he starts to gain his footing in the NFL landscape. Still, those two factors can’t be solely responsible for the incompetence that is the 2019 season for the Redskins. However, there is one reason that is currently the leader in the clubhouse for ‘Things That Went Wrong in 2019’ and it’s just so appalling that quite possibly zero NFL teams would be able to overcome it:
The players who are paid top-dollar on the team have looked like anything but top-dollar players.
Of the eight most expensive contracts on the team, six of those players have either been benched due to lack of production (Josh Norman — $75 million); been lost due to injury (Alex Smith — $94 million); or refused to play for the team (Trent Williams — $68 million). Check out this breakdown of the top eight contracts in Washington, and see if you can spot the two players who have arguable played up to their wages.
-
Alex Smith — $94 Million
-
Landon Collins — $84 Million
-
Josh Norman — $75 Million
-
Trent Williams — $68 Million
-
Ryan Kerrigan — $57.5 Million
-
Jordan Reed — $46.75 Million
-
Paul Richardson — $40 Million
-
Morgan Moses — $38.5 Million
Of those eight players, you can really only say that Collins has lived up to the billing, and even then it’s tough to say that his play has been worth every penny of that $84 million contract he signed this offseason. Kerrigan has also played decently this season, but it is nowhere near the level of production that Washington expected when making him one of the 15 highest-paid edge rushers in the NFL — he currently ranks as the 74th best edge-rusher in the league, according to PFF, and his recent move to the injured reserve adds injury to insult.
“The guys who you have big money invested in, those guys have got to be key contributors,” former Redskins salary cap analyst J.I. Halsell said, via The Washington Post. “And when they’re not and if there’s a bunch of them, there’s a threshold where it becomes insurmountable and you just can’t navigate it.”
Many Redskins fans are quick to blame the ineptitude in Washington on the front office and coaching, and there is a lot of truth in doing so. Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen put this team together, and they should be held responsible for the roster that takes the field each Sunday during the season. However, any roster decision can look good on paper, but it’s all for not if the player doesn’t pan out on the field.
So what do you get when a historically inept front office puts together a roster, and those players don’t live up to the billing? You get the Washington Redskins, and it’s not a pretty sight.
[vertical-gallery id=26767]