There’s good and bad to find everywhere, but breaking down what’s ugly about everyone else’s team is what keeps us feeling superior as fans. Good, Bad, and Ugly Rankings are here to remind you that your team is just as ugly as the rest of them. Starting with #32, the Washington Redskins.
To kick off the Good, Bad and Ugly Rankings for the 2019-2020 season, we have the Washington Redskins. Some might say that this is unrealistically low for a team that didn’t even finish last in their division last year, but to those people I say; never underestimate how bad the Redskins can be. Let’s start with the good things first.
The Good
Dwayne Haskins is an exciting prospect at quarterback, and he made sure to let us all know right of of the gate that he was going to be playing with a chip on his shoulder. Granted, he only started one year at Ohio State, but a school with such a rich tradition of success in football must have a good track record of producing NFL caliber talent at QB! Except… they don’t at all. Haskins is the first OSU QB drafted in the first round of the draft since Art Schlichter, and we all know how wellthat turned out. It wouldn’t be fair to hold that against Haskins, but even with his tape looking pretty good in the one year he has under his belt, you have to wonder if one year is enough. We’ve seen the league chew up and spit out guys that had much more firmly established themselves as leaders on the field.
While we wait to see how that all shakes out, Haskins will have to beat out a loaded QB room. The Redskins have the likes of Case Keenum, Colt McCoy, and whatever’s left of Alex Smith’s leg. The competition looks pretty tough considering that Keenum is on his fifth team in seven years (and hasn’t been on a team for more than one consecutive season, ever.) Meanwhile, no one even remembered McCoy was still in the league. I actually really like Smith, so I hope for his sake he does not come back to play for the Redskins. This leaves us with Dwayne Haskins as the obvious choice for starter going forward. The question is whether it’s to start the year or halfway through.
Throughout last season, Adrian Peterson was a pleasant surprise in spurts and ended up with over 1,000 rushing yards. That includes a 90 yard touchdown run against the Eagles in Week 13. Even that type of effort wasn’t enough as the Redskins still lost that game. In the off-season the Redskins did manage to make some moves that look good on paper, like acquiring Ereck Flowers, Landon Collins, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, all of which look to start at their respective positions immediately. Drafting Bryce Love out of Stanford was an exciting move, especially given that he fell to the fourth round. It’s not hard to imagine him sharing Dwayne Haskins’ attitude on getting drafted so low.
The Bad
That being said, there isn’t really anything else to suggest that this team won’t finish last in the division. I’m not saying Jay Gruden is the worst coach we’ve ever seen. At this point he probably is the worst one that still has a job though. He’s got one playoff appearance under his belt, and it was a loss. I know we’re a year removed from Kirk Cousins’ departure. It still bears repeating that management royally screwed up that entire situation. For two years they overpaid him simply because they didn’t want to commit to him long-term. Reuben Foster got hurt before he could even prove that he was worth all the controversy that ensued after picking him up in the first place. The Redskins traded for Alex Smith because his picture is next to the word “consistent” in the dictionary. Sadly, he went down in a spooky series of events.
When you combine ALL of that with the fact that the Eagles are looking to retain their Super Bowl winning form, the Cowboys’ defense looking more terrifying than it has in years, and the Giants… well actually, you might be able to win over the Giants, as they aren’t good either. But Saquon Barkley by himself is more talented than anyone in a Redskins jersey.
Also I don’t think Eli Manning is AS bad as everyone thinks he is, even if the front office saw fit to take away his biggest weapon. The only truly winnable games on the schedule would appear to be the aforementioned Giants, and maybe the Miami Dolphins. Maybe. That’s not good. But neither are the Redskins.
The Ugly
Dear god in heaven, Daniel Snyder is an absolute nightmare. I have to assume the rest of the owners in the league are fine with him conducting business the way he does. Thanks to Snyder, no one could reasonably accuse any of the rest of them of being worse for their team. What have the Redskins been able to accomplish under his ownership? Five playoff appearances over the course of 20 years?
Also, I know RGIII wasn’t perfect, but you guys managed to straight up break him. Then, cherry on top, you insulted Kirk Cousins from the get-go by not considering him starter material. Even though Cousins was basically the only good thing happening on the field at the time. Management decided it made more sense to pay him about 44 million for two years instead of watching a game and seeing that he was at least worth a contract. The team name is also still horribly insensitive. But, instead of admitting that, the owner has decided to adopt the ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ approach to justify keeping it.
I thank the NFL gods every year for allowing the Panthers to be created. Before that, the Carolinas all rooted for the Redskins. Those were the games we got to watch on basic cable. We were freed from the shackles of mediocrity just in time to avoid the Snyder of it all. Thank god.
The Redskins managed to go 7-9 last year, but this year I’m projecting a 4-12 record. I see no chance of making the playoffs for Washington. Keep an eye out for the next article of the Good, Bad and Ugly Rankings!
