Tag: Washington Rookies

Can this rookie become the Commanders No. 3 quarterback?

Do the Commanders have something in undrafted quarterback Tim DeMorat?

Who will be Washington’s third-string quarterback in 2023?

Yesterday, Commanders Wire told of current No. 3 quarterback and former Georgia Bulldog Jake Fromm.

In the recent NFL draft many thought somewhere in rounds 3-7, Washington would select a quarterback. However, the Commanders did not go the quarterback route. Soon following the draft they did sign undrafted free-agent quarterback Tim DeMorat.

“Who in the world is Tim DeMorat?” you ask.

Prior to the draft, doing some research on who might be a reasonable Day 3 QB selection, I found one reliable website which listed 18 quarterbacks who could be drafted. You guessed it, Tim DeMorat did not make the list of 18 quarterbacks.

So, honestly, when I read they had signed DeMorat out of Fordham, I confess I did not know the name, knew nothing about him.

Going online to locate his stats for the 2022 season at Fordham, I found DeMorat completed 326 of his 499 passes (65.3%) for 4,891 yards. So I thought, “Hey, he attempted nearly 500 passes in one season, so he has some experience.”

When I read the next stat line I must have done a double-take. More accurately, my jaw probably dropped halfway to the floor. You see, DeMorat passed for 56 touchdowns last season with only 10 interceptions. He “averaged” 407.58 passing yards a game.

He liked to move the ball around, apparently. He had five receivers with more than 30 receptions and three who had more than 10 touchdown receptions.

DeMorat stands 6-foot-4, weighing 220. He appears to be more of a drop-back passer. He passed for 6 touchdowns in three games in 2022. In four games he tossed five touchdowns, while in three games he passed for four touchdowns.

Yes, Commanders Wire will freely admit he was playing against Patriot League defenses. Yet, on the other side of the coin, he was also playing with Patriot League offensive players. For what it is worth, he was the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week nine times in 2022.

Can he play? Can he unseat Jake Fromm as the No. 3 quarterback for the Commanders? We have no idea. The Coaching Staff, especially new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will be watching and evaluating during the Rookie Minicamp (May 11-13).

 

Grading Day: Washington’s final rookie report-cards for 2020 season

Washington had yet another impressive class of rookies who contributed on the field in 2020, and a lot of them received passing grades for the year.

Keeping up with the recent encouraging trend that we’ve seen in Washington over the past several years, there was yet another solid rookie class in 2020 that provided starting-caliber players that contributed a huge role to the burgundy and gold’s eventual playoff berth.

In years past we’ve seen rookies like Terry McLaurin, and Daron Payne, and Jonathan Allen play some big roles in their first year in the NFL, and that trend continued this year with the 2020 class of players that was headlined by a potential Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate.

We may be satisfied with their work, but how excited are we for their futures? Here are our final 2020 rookie grades for Washington.

Antonio Gibson is ‘still learning’ the RB position, which is fantastic news for Washington

Considering the lack of experience that Gibson had at the RB position coming into the NFL, his production thus far has been remarkable.

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Through 10 games so far, it hasn’t been Chase Young that’s gotten the top grade of rookie players in Washington, but rather Antonio Gibson, a third-round pick out of Memphis who had an uphill battle when it came to exceeding at the running back position in the NFL.

We all saw highlights of him in college, darting in and out of tackles and making defenders miss out in the open, but questions still remained. Could a player who only had a total of 33 carries as a running back in college succeed at that position at the next level? Would he be successful running in between the tackles and operating out of a backfield? Was it really smart for Washington to take a bit of a flier in the third round when they already had players like Derrius Guice and Adrian Peterson on the roster?

Man, do those questions seem pretty silly now.

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Gibson has been a revelation so far through 10 games, and with both AP and Guice long gone from the team, Washington needs every ounce of production that the rookie can give them. So far this year, he has 742 total yards with eight touchdowns, and he’s assumed the lead back role on the team with ease. What’s more, is that he claims to still be learning a position that is somewhat new to him.

“Just getting started,” said Gibson, after rushing 16 times for 94 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Bengals. “It’s a lot I have to learn. There’s a lot to the running back position that’s new to me. Each week I’m learning. I keep saying that. It’s just the beginning.”

If “the beginning” means asserting himself as one of the best young players in the game, and finding a spot in the top 15 RBs in the NFL, then yea, I think everyone in Washington is pretty happy with where things might go from here. It’s always hard to predict what the career of a running back might look like because there is usually so much variance from player to player depending on scheme and injury risk, but so far, Washington seems to have found an absolutely solid building block of their offense, and he’s just getting started.

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Chase Young, Antonio Gibson land inside ESPN’s Top 10 rookie rankings for 2020

Washington has two of the top-10 rookies in the entire NFL so far through 10 games of the 2020 season.

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In a year where the Washington Football Team wasn’t expected to win many games or compete for a playoff spot, the main goal was to focus on young talent and develop the newer players on their roster while looking towards future success.

It looks like that goal has been achieved, with ESPN naming both DE Chase Young and RB Antonio Gibson as two of the top 10 rookies in the NFL this season. Young comes in at No. 5 on the list, with 18 total tackles and 3.5 sacks, while Gibson slots in three spots later at No. 8, with over 600 total yards and seven touchdowns.

Outside of both Young and Gibson, Washington fans can feel very confident that they found a few other rookie gems this season, with players like Kamren Curl and Isaiah Wright playing above expectations, while there are still high hopes for both Saahdiq Charles and Antonio Gandy-Golden, though they’ve been dealing with injuries for a lot of the season so far.

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3 Washington rookies provide hope for future success after 34-20 loss to Cleveland

Several young players stepped up on Sunday, but three rookies in Washington really showed that they have a place in the NFL going forward.

We just love to focus on the negatives, don’t we? I fall subjective to it as well, so don’t for a second think that I’m getting on my soapbox here and shaming everyone for being down in the dumps about the quarterback situation in Washington.

Dwayne Haskins had a tough day on Sunday, and it brought the mood of the entire team down. We’ve already delved deep into the Haskins narrative, wondering if and when he will be benched — don’t hold your breath — and what that means for the outlook of the season. However, we’re doing a disservice to the rest of the team if we only focus on the negatives and don’t give props where they are deserved.

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On Sunday, it was the rookie class in Washington who deserved a lot of credit, with three players stepping onto the big stage and at least proving that they belong there.

Antonio Gibson, Isaiah Wright, and Kamren Curl can walk away from that game with their heads held high.

Gibson finished the day as the leading rusher for Washington, which, although it was only 49 total yards and a touchdown, still gave him another step forward in the RB1 battle in Washington.

Wright shined in his NFL debut, catching four passes for 24 yards on six targets, which was tied for the second-most on the team. He also had a huge flay in the first quarter when he salvaged a touchdown drive by playing elite defense on CB Denzel Ward, who was trying to come down with an interception.

Curl flew a bit under the radar, only coming away with two total tackles, but his presence on the defense went far beyond the box score, and he was routinely flying around in the secondary and coming up with big plays. His coaches were singing his praises after the game.

It all ended in a loss, yes. However, if we’re being realistic, that’s going to happen more often than not in the 2020 season for Washington. What’s important is that we find these performances to celebrate, and hold onto the hope that Washington has a bunch of young guys on the roster who can turn into real pieces down the road. We got just that on Sunday, and we’re here to give the rookies all of the credit that they deserve.

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Washington Rookie Tracker: Chase Young signs contract with over $22 million guaranteed

A majority of Washington’s rookies have finalized their deals with the team, allowing them to now get to work and play some football.

With players starting to report to camp and training camp just on the horizon, the feeling that football is returning is finally starting to feel real. For the rookies in Washington, this is incredibly exciting, as they get to start their journeys into new careers that could prove incredibly exciting.

Before they get onto the field and prove what they’re worth, however, all of the rookies must finalize their contracts with the team and get the financials in order. Across the league this has been taking place throughout the summer, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that it started happening in Washington.

So who has signed, and for how much? We keep track of it here.

DE Chase Young

Antonio Gibson

Contract Terms: 4 years, $4.9 million

Saahdiq Charles

Contract Terms: 4 years, unknown value.

Antonio Gandy-Golden

Contract Terms: 4 years, $3.7 million

Keith Ismael

Contract Terms: 4 years, $3.6 million

Khaleke Hudson

Contract Terms: 4 years, unknown value.

James Smith-Williams

Contract Terms: 4 years, unknown value.

Kamren Curl

Contract Terms: 4 years, unknown value.

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