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Second-year Redskin Su’a Cravens has recently been reinstated after a one-season absence from the team in 2017. The young safety during the time was dealing with a range of emotions that many are only left to speculate. Rumors during his period away from football revolved around not loving the game of football itself, retirement due to injury concerns, losing his starting role on the defense, and more recently a mistrust of the Redskins training staff.
Nobody truly knows what this was all about except for Su’a. Regardless of how the Redskins front office reacted to Cravens abruptly distancing himself from the team Cravens multiple attempts to drop clues on social media about him not being an issue. For fans, it is fun for them to speculate and seem like we know what the problem is, but it is time to let it go, and to that end the team should let Cravens go as well.
According to reports on Wednesday, the Broncos are likely the potential suitors for Cravens, a team who had a high amount of respect for him as a player pre-daft in 2016. The demand for Cravens for obvious reasons may be deficient, so there may be little wiggle room for negotiation for Washington in trade talks.
A draft pick is probably all that is available for Washington to receive as compensation, but in the end, parting ways may be the best thing for both parties. However, the more recent news on Cravens suggests the Redskins according to Jay Gruden, have had no interest at all in moving the safety. Regardless of what is being thrown out there, begin to start asking how Washington can ultimately recovers from this issue altogether.
Cravens’ departure will be unfortunate for the Redskins if it occurs. What it will result in Washington is in the hunt for another versatile safety, because Su’a was that player and his versatility created a bevy of options for coaches to maximize match-ups against opposing offenses. That is not to say he is not replaceable because he is. However, it is better for a team to already have that type of quality player already on the roster. Montae Nicholson and D.J. Swearinger are the obvious ones and two at the safety positions, and when healthy the two was an impressive combination.
If Cravens indeed ends up being traded, expect Washington to seek a player who can be on the field in dime situations, matching up with running backs or tight ends, which is far better than sending a linebacker on the field who struggles in coverage to check these two positions. One may think the position is stabilized because of the starters, but in a passing league, you can never have too many quality players in your secondary. It will be a priority heading into the league’s new year.
What do you expect and what do you want out of this entire Cravens ordeal? Comment and let us know your thoughts.