I often wonder about lots of things regarding the Washington Football Team. And instead of keeping them all in my head, I’ve decided to share some of the things I’m ruminating on ahead of the team’s trip to Richmond, Va., for the start of training camp in late July.
When will the starting quarterback be crowned?
Coach Ron Rivera has said on multiple occasions that one of the things he did wrong last season was not hold a true quarterback competition. That’s not to say he didn’t want one, but a condensed offseason forced him to choose whether to split the few reps he had among Dwayne Haskins and Kyle Allen or give the player he believed had the best chance to lead the team all of those snaps. He chose the latter, and it didn’t work out.
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This year, it’s a two-man game between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Taylor Heinicke, who wowed as the starter in the team’s playoff game against the Buccaneers in January. But at what point does Rivera call the race and begin preparing the team for the Week 1 starter? There’s no need to rush a decision as the team doesn’t have a truncated offseason this year, but at some point, that call must be made.
And based on what happened during the spring practices, the door hasn’t been shut on Heinicke. There were sessions when he looked good. He made the right plays — explosive plays and smart plays. Juxtapose that with the fact Fitzpatrick had some practices in which he showed off his pinpoint accuracy and an ability to distribute the ball, and then others in which he wasn’t particularly sharp or careful protecting the ball, and it really is anyone’s game.
Per Rivera, the starting role is Fitzpatrick’s “to have,” but he will have to assert himself more at the end of July and in August to make the coaches confidently say he’s their choice. And he’s going up against a player in Heinicke who is willing to do anything necessary to ascend to the starting role. The team’s hope is for both players to put their best feet forward while the competition wages on, but for the rest of the offense to follow suit, a decision is going to have to be made sooner rather than later.
Is there truly any pathway for Landon Collins to regain his starting job?
If Collins isn’t expected to be 100 percent healthy until the season essentially begins, is there a pathway for him to retake his job as the starting strong safety? It’s not as though the coaches can simply anoint him when he returns, because that would fly in the face of the coaching staff’s entire ethos. The other way it would be contradictory is that Rivera and company have done everything in their power to allow younger players to get on the field and have had no issue removing the older players blocking their paths.
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Kam Curl played well enough in Collins’ absence to merit starting consideration. I’ve been saying that since the end of last season. In one season, Curl had two sacks, three interceptions, four passes defended, four tackles for a loss, five quarterback hits and 88 tackles in 16 games and 11 starts. Collins, in two seasons in Washington, has amassed 158 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss, five pass breakups, four sacks, four quarterback hits, three forced fumbles and one interception in 22 contests.
Reinstalling Collins just because of seniority doesn’t work. Not playing someone with the team’s second-highest cap figure also doesn’t work. Without being able to compete during the summer sessions, how does Collins return to a more prominent role on defense, especially when Curl has given the staff nothing but reasons to keep him on the field?
Will the coaching staff actually use Curtis Samuel more in the slot than it did in Carolina?
After watching him have success playing in the slot under Panthers coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Joe Brady last season, conventional wisdom says yes. Samuel’s former high school coach also believes that would be the best way to use him, especially when one considers that Samuel was successful without All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey on the field to take attention away from him — and that he played fewer snaps than he did under Rivera the season before.
But is that the primary way Washington’s staff will utilize the do-it-all receiver? Offensive coordinator Scott Turner pointed out that while Samuel had the most receiving yards and catches of his career last season, his touchdown total and yards per catch diminished when he wasn’t playing with his former coaches. I wholeheartedly believe Turner and the staff is going to have Samuel line up in any number of locations, but I’m wondering if they will take a page out of the Panthers’ playbook and put their own flair on it.
(Photo of Curtis Samuel: Geoff Burke / USA Today)