Coming off of a 3-13 season that saw not one, but two head coaches lose their job by seasons end, the Washington Redskins entered the 2020 offseason with a long road ahead of them if they were to find success in the near future.
Coaches needed to be hired, relationships needed to be mended, free agents needed to be signed, and a new culture needed to be set.
So far, all of those things are in progress, if they haven’t been completed already. Ron Rivera brought over a whole host of his former staff from Carolina, and he’s taken over as the leading voice in Washington, constructing his cohorts and building his team. He’s starting from the ground up, and it’s important to remember that before projecting a deep playoff run for the Redskins in the future. It’s going to take a little bit of time.
Rivera seems to be perfectly okay with that, too, judging by the recent free agency transactions. So far this offseason, he has made several roster moves that will help improve the on-field product in 2020, but nothing yet that has made a splash on the open market. He’s avoided giving out a huge contract to a player that may not live up to it — though Washington reportedly did offer Amari Cooper $110 million — and rather filled the depth chart with either young players or veteran assets, all of which have something to prove, and have been paid team-friendly deals. That’s not to say that Washington won’t still sign a big-name guy — players like Xavier Rhodes, Logan Ryan, Prince Amukamara and Delanie Walker are still available — but they’ve missed out on most of the major players so far, the latest of which were WR Robby Anderson, TE Tyler Eifert, and WR Breshad Perriman, all of whom signed with new teams on Tuesday.
Most Redskins fans might be a little jealous of the rest of the NFL, watching teams like the Dolphins and Broncos be major players this offseason. That’s completely understandable, but know that Rivera has a plan in Washington, and it’s well in action by now. It consists of signing talented young players who can produce on cheap contracts, as well as veteran players that he knows well, who can help him set a culture in Washington. That type of thing isn’t done overnight, but when it’s set strongly, it can last for years, if not decades.
The Washington Redskins likely won’t make the playoffs in 2020; they’ll be lucky to have a winning record — that’s okay. Rebuilding a team from the ground up takes a lot of time, and it’s a bit reckless to expect sweeping changes to take hold right away.
As long as you view the Redskins near future with that understanding, watching their ascension will be fairly enjoyable over the next couple of years. But if you get mad that they don’t win 10 games and sign your favorite star to a mega-contract, you’re going to be extremely disappointed. That’s not how Rivera does things.
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