Tag: Washington Free Agency

Washington signs CB Darryl Roberts, adds to defensive depth

Washington got a nice piece of defensive depth on Friday with the addition of CB Darryl Roberts.

After losing cornerback Fabian Moreau to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, the Washington Football Team has added CB Darryl Roberts to the roster, giving them some solid depth in the secondary.

Roberts is a former 7th-round draft pick out of Marshall in 2015, and he has spent time with the New England Patriots and Detroit Lions. In 2020, Roberts had one interception and six passes defended with a total of 39 tackles. Roberts has 4 interceptions in his career.

By no means should fans be jumping off of the walls about a Roberts signing, but his presence on the defense will give some much-needed depth, with him now being able to rotate in with Jimmy Moreland and provide some relief in the secondary. This still remains a slight position of need in the draft, but Washington got a guy that they like.

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Washington agrees to sign slot WR Adam Humphries on 1-year deal

Washington has added slot WR Adam Humphries to the roster, further bolstering their receiving corps this offseason.

The Washington Football Team hosted free-agent wide receiver, Adam Humphries, on a visit this week, and they are now agreeing to sign him to a contract for one year.

While we await the final contract details and look to see how much money is guaranteed, we can look at the fit of the move, which seems to make a lot of sense for both sides.

Though Washington already signed a perceived slot-receiver in Curtis Samuel, they reportedly still had desires to get better at the position through either free agency or the NFL Draft, and by signing Humphries, it will likely allow them to move Samuel to the outside to threaten the defense deep alongside Terry McLaurin. With those two occupying the safeties, it should allow both Humphries and TE Logan Thomas to feast underneath.

This is also a great landing spot for Humphries, who played alongside Ryan Fitzpatrick with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and had two of his best career seasons with the new Washington QB. From 2017-2018, when the two were playing together, Humphries had a total of 137 receptions for 1,447 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Humphries also acted as a viable punt-returner for the Buccaneers in his time with the team, which just so happened to be spent under then Special Teams Coordinator Nate Kaczor. Kaczor is now the Special Team’s Coordinator with the Washington Football Team so it could mean that Washington finds a fix at a big hole on the punt-return team.

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Washington hosts FA slot receiver Adam Humphries

Washington has brought in Adam Humphries on a free-agent visit, which makes sense considering his connection to Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Washington seemingly already made a big free-agent signing at the slot receiver position by adding Curtis Samuel to the roster last week, but they still have their eyes on another player at that position, bringing in free agent Adam Humphries for a visit this week.

Humphries is a viable slot receiver who has played with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick before and also worked as a punt returner for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Nate Kaczor was the special team’s coordinator. Kaczor is now in that same position with Washington.

If Washington were to sign Humphries, it would likely mean that the team plans to move Samuel to the outside and place Humphries in the ‘Y’ receiver position where he has thrived in his career. This could open up the offense a lot for Washington, with both Samuel and Terry McLaurin attracting attention outside and deep, while Humphries and TE Logan Thomas are able to work with room underneath.

We will see how the visit goes, but don’t be surprised to see another WR addition in the coming hours or days.

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Ranking Washington’s 2021 NFL Draft needs following free agency

With the biggest free-agency signings now behind us, we take a look forward to the draft and identify the biggest needs Washington still has.

The NFL free agency period isn’t technically over, but the first wave of signings is definitely in the rearview mirror. The Washington Football Team was extremely productive in that first wave as well, adding QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, CB William Jackson III, and WR Curtis Samuel to the roster.

Those three pieces ass came at major positions of need for the team, and they undoubtedly improved their roster with the three major signings.

So now that we have many of the top free agents off the board, and any team looking to find major fixes at a position will likely turn to the NFL draft rather than a flier-signing in free agency, where does Washington stand?

They’re in a good position, but there are still several needs that they have to fill before the start of the 2021 season. Here’s our ranking of their biggest needs heading into the draft.

Washington re-signs CB Danny Johnson to one-year contract

With the top of the cornerback depth chart locked down, Washington re-signed Danny Johnson to provide some depth at the position.

It may not be as groundbreaking of a signing as the others we’ve seen over the past three days, but the Washington Football Team made a move to add some depth to their defensive secondary by keeping cornerback Danny Johnson around for the 2021 season.

Johnson splayed sparingly in 2020, only acting as a special teams returner where he averaged 22 yards per return on 26 attempts. However, in the past, the team has relied on him to provide some relief at the CB position, where he has two passes defended and 19 total tackles over the past three years.

We will see how much Johnson gets into the rotation this year behind Kendall Fuller and William Jackson III, but he should be in the mix alongside Jimmy Moreland.

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Terry McLaurin has been Washington’s biggest winner in free-agency so far

With a risk-taking QB now throwing him the ball, and a dynamic WR taking some focus off of him on offense, Terry McLaurin should be a happy man.

You could break down all of the people and positions that gain or lose something this free-agency period, and in Washington, it seems like there are far more benefits rather than detractions thanks to a few big signings.

However, no matter who you list as your potential winners, there is no single player who has benefited more from the singings in Washington than WR Terry McLaurin. Not only does he now get to play with Ryan Fitzpatrick, a risk-taking quarterback who is extremely prone to air the ball out downfield, but he also was reunited with his old college teammate Curtis Samuel, who he played with at Ohio State. The presence of Samuel will go a long way in taking some of the attention off of McLaurin and making the defense play him more straight-up.

Gone are the days where McLaurin gets automatically doubled by the defense because there are no other major receiving threats on the offense. Gone are the days where no quarterback will be willing to let loose on the deep ball and give him a chance to take the top off the defense. Hopefully, gone are the days where McLaurin is criminally overlooked in the conversation of top receivers in the league simply because of the talent he plays around.

Thanks to the addition of Fitzpatrick and Samuel, we can really see McLaurin blossom this year, and we can’t wait.

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Nick Sundberg’s career as Washington’s long-snapper is over

For the first time since 2010, Washington’s long-snapper will not be veteran Nick Sundberg after the team announced they won’t re-sign him.

One of the several free agents that Washington had to decide whether or not they wanted to bring back to the team this offseason was veteran long-snapper Nick Sundberg, someone who has been on the roster since 2010.

On Wednesday morning, Sundberg was informed that he wasn’t coming back to the team.

“Unfortunately Coach informed me that I’m not in the plans moving forward,” Sundberg wrote on Twitter. “I understand this is a business but I’m still sad to close this long chapter with the Washington football team. I look forward to the next opportunity in my career, wherever that may be. See you on Sundays.”

Through his time with the program, Sundberg played in a total of 152 games and became a staple of the special teams unit. We wish him the best of luck in his next destination.

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Washington re-signs both RB Lamar Miller and OT David Sharpe

Washington brought back two players on Wednesday morning, signing RB Lamar Miller and OT David Sharpe to one-year contracts that add depth.

After bringing in two big-name free agents in both Ryan Fitzpatrick and William Jackson III on Monday and Tuesday, the Washington Football Team kicked the day off on Wednesday with a couple of small re-signings that will keep solid depth on their roster.

Washington brought back RB Lamar Miller and OT David Sharpe, both on one-year deals for the 2021 season.

Miller was a late addition to the roster in 2020, added for depth while rookie Antonio Gibson was sidelined with a turf toe injury, and he never saw the field during the game. However, with Peyton Barber likely gone this offseason, Miller can now occupy that RB3 role behind Gibson and J.D. McKissic.

As for Sharpe, he played sparingly in 2020, starting just 2 of the 10 games he played in and accounting for 17% of those snaps. However, Washington did trade a late-round pick from Sharpe last season to bring him in from the Las Vegas Raiders, so it makes sense that they would be interested in keeping him on the roster.

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The floor for a potential Brandon Scherff contract extension has been set

With the 5-year, $80 million deal for OG Joe Thuney, Washington and Brandon Scherff now have something to negotiate off of.

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While many people in Washington are focused on players that the team might bring into the franchise during this free-agency period, one thing that we need to keep in the back of our minds is what is going on with Brandon Scherff and his potential contract extension.

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Last week Washington placed a franchise tag on Scherff for the second-straight season, which would pay him over $18 million in 2021 if he were to play on the tag. Of course, the two parties have until July 15th to reach an agreement on a long-term extension. So what would that type of extension for Scherff look like it should one come? Well, we can look at one contract that was handed out on Monday to get an idea.

OG Joe Thuney agreed to a five-year, $80 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, giving him $32.5 million guaranteed in the first two years, with $48 million guaranteed by next March.

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By all means, Scherff is believed to be the best guard in the NFL, so we can believe that his extension might be worth more than this. That is a hefty price, so we’ll see if Washington decides that they want to pay it for their All-Pro.

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Is LT Russell Okung the free-agent target we aren’t talking about in Washington?

Free-agent LT Russell Okung is being projected to sign a three-year deal with the Washington Football Team this offseason.

Much of this offseason has been spent in Washington trying to figure out what pieces the team can add to become instant contenders over the next year or two. The obvious answers come at the quarterback or wide receiver position, with some eyeing top linebackers or safeties as well.

However, there is also a need for improvement at the left tackle position, and in their recent piece predicting landing spots for the top free agents in the NFL, Pro Football Focus has LT Russell Okung signing a three-year, $50 million deal with the Washington Football Team.

Okung has ties to Washington: Marty Hurney, who traded for Okung as general manager for the Carolina Panthers back in 2020, is now the executive vice president of football of player personnel for the Football Team (in other words, he has some say in the shaping of the roster). Washington is in need of a left tackle and has the money to afford a guy like Okung.

Okung has played just over 650 snaps over the last couple of years for the Chargers and Panthers. He was average at best on those reps, earning a PFF grade that ranked 46th among 90 qualifying tackles, and he turns 34 years old in the middle of next season. Needless to say, this would be an extremely risky bet for Washington.

No matter what Washington decides to do at the LT position this season, there is going to be risk. PFF noted the risk that comes with Okung, but WFT could also choose to rely on guys who are already on the roster, like Geron Christian, Saahdiq Charles or Cornelius Lucas. There is no certainty that any of those players will play up to expectations.

Paying someone like Okung top dollar is absolutely risky, but it could also bring a major payoff.

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