Three players Washington should be pursuing on the waiver wire

Over the past few days, I’ve written articles on offensive linemen, linebackers, and tight ends I thought might come available on final cutdowns today. Some of them did, others made their respective 53-man rosters.

The following three players are among the cream of the crop available given our current roster needs at this point.

Julian Good-Jones (G/C, Eagles)

With the best offensive line in football, you can bet your ass I’m scouring the Eagles’ cut down for potential talent. Julian Good-Jones is absolutely worth a closer look:

The six-foot-five, 319-pound blocker signed with the Eagles this past off-season after previously attending training camp with the team in 2020. Though he played offensive tackle in the CFL, he was moved to the interior of the line in Philadelphia as a guard.

Good-Jones made 22 starts over two seasons with the Calgary Stampeders (2021-22) primarily at right tackle. Calgary allowed 17 sacks last year while helping produce an average of 6.4 yards per carry and 135.3 rushing yards per game, all of which ranked first in the CFL by a wide margin.

In college, Good-Jones played and started 49 games over four seasons at Iowa State. He was an honourable mention All-Big 12 selection in 2017 and 2018 and was named first-team All-Big 12 in 2019.

As a senior, he helped pave the way for an Iowa State offence that broke school records for total offence, touchdowns, passing yards, and yards per play. The Cyclones also conceded just 16 sacks, the fewest in the conference that year.

Marcelino McCrary-Ball (LB, 49ers)

There’s no way around it, the 49ers are completely stacked at linebacker. Originally, it had appeared that they might cut one of their stellar, late round, rookies - Jalen Graham or Dee Winters - today, but instead they cut MMB.

McCrary-Ball was a safety-linebacker hybrid in college at Indiana who was a rookie last year. This pre-season, he impressed significantly, with the ability to play either WILL or SAM LB, and he took a ton of snaps with the first team defense. He’s a run-stopper with the ability to provide solid coverage as well.

Travis Vokolek (TE, Ravens)

I covered Vokolek in my tight end article above, and he was the top vote-getter in terms of a potential release candidate to pursue at 42% in support (#2 was Albert Okwuegbunam, at 17%, who the Eagles just traded for).

The victim of arguably the strongest TE room in the league, Vokolek is unlikely to make it through waivers. A surefire upgrade over Curtis Hodges, and a potential upgrade over John Bates, Vokolek should absolutely be strongly considered by Washington as they look to strengthen their tight end unit.