We have a little over one month until free agency kicks off. The discussions over this span will certainly focus heavily on many free agents who would be likely fits on our team. It is pretty obvious we have a lot of holes to fill on this roster, so both free agency and the draft are going to be very important for the future re-build of the Washington Redskins.
In this depth chart overview, I will take a look at the current state of our depth chart, minus our impending free agents who could/will have an immediate impact on next years roster. I will assign a grade following each position. The grade will include both starters, and current depth. I will then do a re-evaluation, based on us signing our own top free agents. Finally, I will look at some other free agents that can help improve our team.
My grading scale will go as follows:
A - Set at the position
B - Starters are good, depth is decent.
C - Starters are average, depth is lacking
D - Starters are below average, very little depth
F - We need both starters and depth
***The following depth chart is without our pending free agents
QB - Beck - F
RB - Helu, Royster - C
FB - Young, Sellers - B
WR - Moss, Armstrong - C
WR - Hankerson, Paul - C
WR - Gaffney, Austin - C
TE - Cooley, Paulsen - C
LT - Williams, Smith - B
LG - Hurt, Cook - D
C - Cook - F
RG - Chester, Cook - C
RT - Brown, Polumbus - C
DE - Bowen, Scott - B
NT - Coefield, Neild - B
DE - Jenkins - C
OLB - Rak, Jackson - B
MLB - Riley - C
MLB - F
OLB - Kerrigan, White - B
CB - Wilson, Barnes - B
CB - Hall, Westbrook - B
SS - Gomes, Doughty - C
FS - Otogwe, Doughty - B
Redskins priority free agents:
Fletcher - MLB
Landry - SS
Davis - TE
Hightower - RB
Licht(RFA) - OG
Montgomery - C
Carriker - DE
Fox - LB
Other free agents:
McIntosh - LB
Buchanon - CB
Grossman - QB
Golston - DE
Locklear - OT
Stallworth - WR
Anderson - WR
Here is a revised depth chart, assuming we re-sign all our priority free agents(higher grades in bold):
QB - Beck - F
RB - Hightower, Helu, Royster - B
FB - Young, Sellers - B
WR - Moss, Armstrong - C
WR - Hankerson, Paul - C
WR - Gaffney, Austin - C
TE - Davis, Cooley, Paulsen - A
LT - Williams, Smith - B
LG - Licht, Hurt - B
C - Monty, Cook - C
RG - Chester, Hurt - B
RT - Brown, Polumbus - C
DE - Bowen, Scott - B
NT - Coefield, Neild - B
DE - Carriker, Jenkins - B
OLB - Rak, Jackson - B
MLB - Riley, Fox - B
MLB - Fletcher, Fox - B
OLB - Kerrigan, White - B
CB - Wilson, Barnes - B
CB - Hall, Westbrook - B
SS - Landry, Gomes - A
FS - Otogwe, Doughty - B
**This assumes prior injured players are back to 100%
Below are positions that graded out C or worse:
QB - Need a major upgrade here. Look to both FA and the draft
WR - Need a major upgrade here(at least 2 players). Look to both FA and the draft
C - Need an upgrade here as a starter. Monty can be kept for depth. Look to both FA and the draft.
T - Need a young starter, or a guy to groom to become a starter in the future. Draft is the best place to look.
G - Could use a quality starter in FA.
**Both guard spots graded out as a B with Licht back, and Hurt as depth, but I do believe a starter could be had in FA to upgrade this position.
Potential free agents who can upgrade our roster:
QB - Kyle Orton, Matt Flynn, Drew Stanton
WR - Dwayne Bowe, Vincent Jackson, DeSean Jackson, Steve Johnson, Robert Meachem, Mario Manningham
C - Chris Myers, Scott Wells
OG - Carl Nicks, Ben Grubbs
OT - Robert Turner
DE - Calais Campbell
MLB - Curtis Lofton, E.J. Henderson
CB - Brandon Carr, Justin King
Take three to four players from this list, and add them to our lineup. Imagine how this could help.