The Washington Redskins looked like a playoff contender this past season until Alex Smith suffered a gruesome broken leg injury, knocking him out for the season.
Now, the Redskins are entering a rebuild headlined by rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who may very well end up winning the starting job going into 2019.
To be blunt, Washington probably wasn’t going anywhere this past year even if Smith stayed healthy, so the Redskins were in need of a change regardless of what they did in 2018.
It doesn’t just stop at Haskins, though, as Washington has plenty of other issues.
Here are three areas of concern for the Redskins heading into 2019.
3. The Ground Game
Can the Redskins expect 34-year-old Adrian Peterson to replicate his success from 2018?
Everyone loves to talk about just how good Peterson was this past season, and yes, the fact that he rushed for 1,042 yards after looking dead in the water in 2017 was good to see, but he averaged just 4.2 yards per carry.
Because Peterson is another year older, the Redskins are likely going to need production from elsewhere in the backfield, which is where Chris Thompson and Derrius Guice come into play.
Guice missed his entire rookie campaign with a torn ACL, but Washington seems to have high hopes for him in the offense. Meanwhile, Thompson is mainly a threat as a receiver out of the backfield.
Basically, the Redskins are going to need a group effort from their running backs in 2019.
2. The Receiving Corps
To put it plainly, Washington’s wide receivers were terrible in 2018. Their top wideout was Josh Doctson, who caught 44 passes for 532 yards and a couple of touchdowns. No other wide receiver even caught 30 balls.
The Redskins didn’t make any moves to improve their receiving corps in free agency, but they did draft a couple of wideouts, taking Ohio State’s Terry McLaurin in the third round and North Carolina State’s Kelvin Harmon in the sixth.
Obviously, Washington is still incredibly thin at receiver, as its entire group of wideouts is essentially full of unproven guys.
The Redskins do still have tight end Jordan Reed, who is their best pass-catcher, but we all know how much difficulty he has staying healthy.
It might end up being a rough year for Washington’s quarterbacks without any targets to throw to.
1. Who Starts at Quarterback?
Do the Redskins throw Haskins into the fire immediately even though he has a horrific supporting cast offensively? Or will Washington hand the keys to veteran Case Keenum for now and let Haskins serve as an understudy for a bit?
The wise thing to do would probably be to start the season with Keenum, and then if the Redskins are out of playoff contention later on in the season, make the switch to Haskins and get him some reps.
I think Haskins could be special, but there is something to be said for protecting the confidence of a young quarterback, and Jay Gruden and the Redskins need to be very careful how they go about approaching this situation.
Without any reliable receivers, Haskins could end up having a very trying rookie campaign if Washington decides to start him.
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