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Zach Brown's days playing football in the nation's capital are over. According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Washington Redskins are releasing the veteran inside linebacker on Wednesday after failing to garner much traction for him on the trade market.
The #Redskins are going to release LB Zach Brown, source said. They shopped him and multiple teams expressed interest, but couldn't strike a deal. Should sign quickly now that he's free. A @pff favorite.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 13, 2019
Brown's departure from Washington comes as no surprise despite his longtime standing as one of the most underrated players in the NFL. The 29-year-old grew more and more crossways with the organization as last year wore on, culminating in his benching – related to an illness that caused him to miss multiple days of practice leading up to the game – for a depressing 40-16 loss to the lowly New York Giants in Week 14.
After the game, Brown publicly acknowledged the reality that he would play elsewhere going forward.
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“I'm just sitting here just doing what I'm supposed to be doing 'till it's time for me to leave,” he said, per JP Finlay of Pro Football Talk. “You see the writing on the wall. It is what it is. Just here now I just got to contribute to the team and help us get to the playoffs.”
After news of Brown's release, word broke that the Redskins hoped to bring back safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to pair him with the newly-signed Landon Collins in the secondary. The team reportedly hopes to use a portion of the savings gained from cutting Brown to re-sign Clinton-Dix.
Brown, 29, is just two years removed from a career season that saw him make the Pro Bowl for the first time. In 2018, Pro Football Focus rated him the third-best player at his position.
