Tag: Morgan Moses

Morgan Moses admits he almost retired during 2020 offseason

While Moses is having arguably the best season of his career, he was close to hanging up his cleats this offseason after death of his father.

With a lot of questions on the Washington offensive line coming into this season, right tackle Morgan Moses has been a revelation. With Trent Williams now gone, Moses took over as the longest-tenured lineman on the team, and he’s had one of the best seasons of his career thus far, ranked as the 23rd best offensive lineman in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. 

However, this season almost didn’t happen, Moses admitted on Thursday in an episode of the Washington Football Talk podcast. 

“Conversations with me and my agent, I almost put this thing away after that,” Moses said, talking about the death of his father in April of this year.

“You’ve been to training camp and you’ve seen my dad out there every day. I didn’t know what to expect going back to Richmond and not seeing him in that chair and things like that. So it was kind of hard, man. I really had to take some time to myself and kind of just redirect that energy.”

In the end, it was the drive to make his late father proud that kept him on the field. He continued his career and has now stepped up as one of the singular most vocal leaders on the entire roster in Washington.

“I kind of came to like, ‘This is what he would’ve wanted.’ I’m glad I did it because I’m having an unbelievable time with this new staff and just playing football, man. I feel like I have a lot more left to give to the game and I’m just enjoying it.”

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WATCH: Morgan Moses lights into offensive teammates with passionate speech trailing big

Veteran RT Morgan Moses got after his teammates on the sideline with an impassioned speech, trailing the Giants big and getting outplayed.

This isn’t quite the first half that Washington had envisioned when they were preparing for the rematch against the New York Giants during their bye week. Trailing 20-3 in the first half with a number of turnovers and self-inflicted mistakes, Washington has looked terrible all afternoon, being outplayed by the Giants at every level.

This got veteran RT Morgan Moses fired up on the sideline, and he was seen giving an impassioned speech to his teammates to try and fire them up. With this type of motivation coming from such a well-respected player on the team, we’ll see if it does anything to get Washington going.

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A culture shift is already taking place in Washington under Ron Rivera

While the on-field product may not be where we want it to be, players can already tell that the culture is much better under Ron Rivera.

Ron Rivera wasn’t just hired as the new coach for the Washington Football Team to improve the product on the field and help the team win some games. He was hired to completely overhaul the future in Washington, hoping to bring guys into the locker room who wanted to be there and help fill out the front office with respectable people who wouldn’t be constantly in the news for negligent deeds.

So far, less than a year into his tenure, it seems that his goal of building a sustainable culture that players want to play for is working. None other than veteran right tackle Morgan Moses, who knew the old culture well, is happy to see the change.

Moses uses second-year WR Terry McLaurin as a perfect example for players that fit well in the new culture; someone who has no desire to showboat or call out his quarterback for not getting him the ball. He is good enough to be a star in the NFL, yet is content to keep his head down and work for the greater good.

No matter how Washington finishes out the season, whether they make the playoffs or earn a high draft pick, as long as we continue to hear quotes like this, Rivera’s first year in Washington will be deemed a success.

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Injury Report: Steven Sims and Morgan Moses questionable, Cole Holcomb out vs. Browns

Cole Holcomb will be held out of the game against Cleveland on Sunday, while Steven Sims and Morgan Moses are both questionable.

The final injury report for the Washington Football Team has been released ahead of their Week 3 matchup with the Cleveland Browns, and it looks quite a bit better than it did earlier in the week, with only Saahdiq Charles and Cole Holcomb being ruled out for Sunday’s game.

WR Steven Sims Jr. and RT Morgan Moses have been listed as questionable to play. Both were on the field at practice going through full work on Friday, but they are a couple of players who will be game-time decisions in Cleveland.

Yet again, we were graced with the fact that Kendall Fuller’s name was not listed on the final injury report, which will likely lead to him starting his first game back in Washington on Sunday. The secondary could really use it with a matchup against Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry.

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Morgan Moses says that Dwayne Haskins ‘still has a lot to prove’ going forward

Everyone has been focused on Haskins’ physical transformation over the 2020 offseason, but everyone is waiting to see him prove himself.

In a summer that has been absolutely ripe with storylines in Washington, one of the main football-related topics has been about second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins and his physical transformation over the offseason.

Any fan of the Washington Football Team already knows the details; Haskins has shed a layer of baby fat and is in the best shape of his young life; he’s been working with a who’s who of top WRs in the NFL, throwing routes in practice to a number of players who have experience and knowledge of how to get better in the league. For a QB who had a tumultuous rookie season, the summer of 2020 has been about everything you can ask for from Haskins. What’s left to do is prove that he can make all of those changes count on the field.

Haskins knows that, and the team definitely knows that as well. When talking to media members on Friday morning, RT Morgan Moses raved about Haskins and his stellar offseason, but he noted that there is still a lot of proof that needs to be shown, which likely won’t come until 11v11 team periods in practice. Anyone can dominate drills and set throws, but the real players are able to pick apart a defense in live-action and prove their worth in the NFL.

We won’t get a chance to hear the reviews until a little bit later in training camp once the pads come on, but I’m sure that people will be quick to give their opinions. All eyes are on Haskins going into the 2020 season, and he is definitely aware of it.

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Morgan Moses is 13 pounds lighter and ready to prove himself in 2020

Morgan Moses showed up to camp 13 pounds lighter in 2020, and he knows that he will have to work to earn respect from the new coaching staff.

Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera remarked earlier this week that the right side of the offensive line is virtually set, with Morgan Moses, Brandon Scherff, and Chase Roullier holding it down at their respective positions.

While that may give confidence to those players, knowing that they just need to focus on keeping their spots, there are a number of fans who have routinely questioned the production from Moses, the homegrown RT who signed a heft 5-year deal back in 2017. Moses has been incredibly reliable as far as availability goes — he hasn’t missed a start since his rookie season — but he is oft-penalized, with his false start and holding numbers risingSteve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports over the past few seasons.

Going into 2020, Moses knows that he has a new coaching staff coming in that he will have to earn his respect with, and he’s doing everything he can this offseason to make sure that happens.

The weight loss will definitely help Moses’ longevity as he enters this later stage of his career, and I’m sure the new OL coach John Matsko will stress discipline among his front five. If those two things can join hands, Moses is definitely a top candidate to act as a reliable veteran for Washington over these next few seasons, hopefully being rewarded by some success down the road.

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Redskins’ front finishes No. 13 in PFF’s offensive line rankings

Even without Trent Williams, the Redskins offensive line finished in the top half of the league with some make-shift pieces filling holes.

The biggest concern for the Washington Redskins heading into the 2019 season centered around the offensive line.

With a new QB set to be under center, and long-time All-Pro Trent Williams holding out from the team, the Redskins were forced to piece together a make-shift front and hope that it could hold up.

That group did a pretty solid job, considering the circumstances, and they finished in the top half of the NFL’s offensive line rankings, according to Pro Football Focus, coming in at No. 13 out of 32 teams in the league.

The Redskins’ offensive line was operating without its best player all season, as Trent Williams sat out, but the group still managed to finish among the top half of the league in our rankings, led by Brandon Scherff before his season-ending injury. Scherff was a force to be reckoned with in the run game this season. His 76.3 run-blocking grade ranked fifth among all qualifying guards.

Left tackle Donald Penn was signed right before the season, and though he was probably the weakest member of the front-five, he wasn’t a complete liability. Next to him was Ereck Flowers, who did a magnificent job of bucking the ‘bust-narrative’ that has followed him throughout his young NFL career, and he likely earned a spot with the Redskins for several years to come.

The three staples of the line, C Chase Roullier, RG Brandon Scherff, and RT Morgan Moses, were all expectedly solid, and they will remain incumbents at their position for as long as they want the spot. Of course, Scherff is entering free agency with a desire to be paid top dollar this year, so there is a possibility that Washington moves on from the Pro-Bowl guard. However, should Scherff vacate his spot, rookie RG Wes Martin played will in the veteran’s absence this past season, and would step right into the starting spot with ease.

There are few accolades being thrown around the Redskins organization after a 3-13 season, expectedly so. However, we aim to give credit where credit is due, and the offensive line deserves it this year.

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Dwayne Haskins and Morgan Moses both questionable to return

Both Haskins and Moses went down on the first three plays of the half, and both are questionable to return.

It has been a rough start to the second half for the Washington Redskins, as both starting QB Dwayne Haskins and starting right tackle Morgan Moses have been ruled questionable to return after going down with injuries in the first three plays of the quarter.

Haskins was sacked on the first play of the second half and he appeared to injure his ankle on the play. He was later carted to the locker room and expressed frustration. Two plays later, Moses went down with what looked like a knee injury, and he stayed on the ground for a while before slowly limping off under his own power.

Backup QB Case Keenum and rookie tackle Geron Christian are now in the game.

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What’s one overarching reason for the Redskins struggles in 2019?

If you took all of Washington’s problems this year and boil them down to one thing, the inability to play up to expectations is the culprit.

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.

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Morgan Moses put up the highest Redskins grade at PFF vs. Lions

Morgan Moses had an elite game for the Redskins during the win over the Lions.

The best player on the field for the Washington Redskins this year has seemingly been all over the place on a weekly basis.

This week, as seen in the tweet above, the honor goes to tackle Morgan Moses at Pro Football Focus. He not only put up the team’s highest grade, he posted the second-highest grade of his career.

Moses played 100 percent of the snaps while putting on his great performance on a gritty day where the running backs had a rough time en route to 86 yards on the 19-16 victory.

If Moses can keep playing in this range, the Redskins might end up having one less issue to deal with on the offensive line this offseason.

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