Many of you may have listened to my recent appearance on TheHogSty, where I talked Redskins free agency, the draft and my color-coding system for grading players with Steve, Alex and Jamual.
New Hog Sty show! We're joined by @Tiller56 to talk about the latest in #Redskins draft and roster possibilities: https://t.co/2VEtrefX0g
— TheHogSty (@TheHogSty) March 25, 2020
I wanted to discuss in more detail the color-coding system, the parameters behind it, and get everyone's input on how they view on current team from this perspective.
Below, I will break down the colors and then list our potential starters(and in some cases key depth) using my chart.
The Color-coding System:
Blues - Perennial Pro Bowl player
Reds - Top-line starter
Purple - Solid Starter
Green - Young player with upside potential
Orange - Backup player(replaceable)
Yellow - Lacks the ability and skills to really contribute
Good teams will have between 3-5 Blues. Reds are where you want the core of your team to be made up of. Purples are fine, but when you have too many, that could result in issues. Orange and Yellow obviously speak for themselves.
Greens are a bit different. Good teams usually don’t have a lot of Greens on the team. But, Greens are not a bad things by any means. Teams who are rebuilding will usually try and stockpile Greens with the hope they can eventually become Reds. This, I believe, is where our Redskins are at currently.
Offense:
QB: Dwayne Haskins Jr.(Green)
RB: Adrian Peterson(Purple), Derrius Guice(Green)
WR: Terry McLaurin(Red)
WR: Steven Sims Jr.(Green)
WR: Kelvin Harmon(Green)
TE: Jeremy Sprinkle(Orange), Richard Rodgers(Orange)
LT: Cornelius Lucas(Orange), Geron Christian Sr.(Orange)
LG: Wes Martin(Green)
C: Chase Roullier(Red)
RG: Brandon Scherff(Blue)
RT: Morgan Moses(Orange)
Defense:
DE: Ryan Kerrigan(Red)
DT: Jonathan Allen(Red)
DT: Matt Ioannidis(Red), Daron Payne(Red)
DE: Montez Sweat(Green)
OLB: Shaun Dion Hamilton(Green), Cole Holcomb(Green)
ILB: Jon Bostic(Purple)
OLB: Thomas Davis(Purple), Kevin Pierre-Louis(Purple)
CB: Kendall Fuller(Purple/Red)
CB: Fabian Moreau(Green)
Slot DB: Jimmy Moreland(Green)
SS: Landon Collins(Red/Blue)
FS: Sean Davis(Purple)
Special Teams:
P: Tress Way(Blue)
K: Dustin Hopkins(Purple)
LS: Nick Sundberg(Purple)
Others of Importance(injured):
RB: Bryce Love(Green)
OLB: Reuben Foster(Red)
Questions:
There are still quite a few positions up in the air.
-Who will emerge as the go-to running back?
-Will Harmon be our third wide receiver, or will we look to the later stages of free agency, acquire a veteran in a trade, or draft a young stud?
-Will our starting tight end come via the draft?
-Who will play left tackle?
-Will Wes Martin be able to claim the left guard spot?
-Will Morgan Moses be replaced?
-Who starts at linebacker?
-What will we do at corner?
-Will Sean Davis be an upgrade to Montae Nicholson at free safety?
The Draft:
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the core of the team is built with Reds. That core is really consisting of players 5-30. Now, not every player here may be a Red, but that’s the ultimate goal.
Drafting players should be far superior to signing them in free agency. This is the best way to make sure players get developed to fit a franchise’s mentality.
The issue this year, is that we have just one pick in the top 64.
Would it be great to add what many consider would be an immediate Red/Blue, or would it be more prudent to trade back in the draft, acquire more top 60 picks, and try to land three or more Reds with future potential to become Blues?
Therein lies the million dollar question...
Analysis:
This team is severely lacking Reds. Never mind Blues; we really need more top-line starters at key positions.
Right now, it’s painfully obvious that the defense is far ahead of the offense.
So far in free agency, we have lost more Reds than we have gained, but remember the line above - the draft should be superior to free agency in this regard.
What we do have a lot of, and this is what should give many fans hope, is Greens. These young players, with high upside, is what many, like myself, see as being the future core of this football team - and that is cause for excitement. How quickly they can move from Green to Red, and what we add in the next few drafts, will dictate the future of the Redskins.
Do you agree or disagree with these ratings? Please discuss in the comment section.