Hankerson

Hankerson

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Practice squad hopes

The roster is in place, so it's time to move on down. This is subject to change given players released by other teams who are/aren't placed on their respective practice squads, but based on what we cut and what is available now, the following would be my picks for the initial now-10-man practice squad, provided they do not get claimed by another team:

HB Lache Seastrunk, HB Chris Thompson, S Phillip Thomas (who is eligible due to the new rules pertaining to first- and second-year players), C/G Tevita Stevens, DT Robert Thomas, WR Nick Williams, WR Rashad Ross, WR Cody Hoffman, LB Jeremy Kimbrough, and TE Ted Bolser

Each is a young player who has shown to have some ability or skill, and at least a few of them I think could be contributors on the active roster in the future.

If you need a refresher on the practice squad and what determines player eligibility, check this link.

How I would have constructed the roster differently

The Redskins' initial 53-man roster has been decided. The offense is very close to what I predicted and what I would have done outside of HB, but defense has a few changes. For some reason, we kept six inside linebackers with another one on IR/designated to return (which was a very poor usage of that), as well as six defensive ends, with a seventh on PUP.

Cut: QB Colt McCoy, HB Silas Redd, DE Frank Kearse, ILB Adam Hayward, S Trenton Robinson

Keep: HB Lache Seastrunk, HB Chris Thompson, OLB Rob Jackson (or Everette Brown, for his special teams play), CB Richard Crawford, S Phillip Thomas

Friday, August 29, 2014

Roster predictions/evaluation- Defense and Special Teams

With the Redskins' final 2014 preseason snap played, we're less than 2 days out from the cut down to 53. Let's take a look at the prospects, what I think will happen, and what I think should happen.

bold: lock
italics: predicted roster spot
normal: off the roster  

Defense

 

Nose Tackle (1)
1. Barry Cofield
2. Chris Neild (Injured)

3. Robert Thomas
This is tricky, because I think Cofield and Neild were the pretty clear picks, but Neild hurt his knee against the Bucs last night, and there's speculation it might be a torn ACL. If that's the case, obviously he will be on injured reserve. Even then, I think the team opts for an extra defense end that can play the nose rather than keeping Thomas, leaving Cofield as the only true nose tackle (if you can call him that). 

Defensive End (5)
1. Jason Hatcher
2. Stephen Bowen (PUP?)
3. Chris Baker
4. Jarvis Jenkins
5. Kedric Golston
6. Clifton Geathers
7. Frank Kearse 
Six defensive ends is a lot, but seven total defensive linemen is reasonable. I predict Stephen Bowen starts the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list, also, which means only 5 for the time being. Clifton Geathers has put together a very strong preseason and has the size to help out at nose tackle, so I think he makes the team, and I expect Golston to as well. 

Inside Linebacker (5)
1. Perry Riley
2. Keenan Robinson
3. Adam Hayward
4. Will Compton
5. Darryl Sharpton
6. Akeem Jordan (Injured. PUP?)

Roster predictions/evaluations- Offense

With the Redskins' final 2014 preseason snap played, we're less than 2 days out from the cut down to 53. Let's take a look at the prospects, what I think will happen, and what I think should happen.

bold: lock
italics: predicted roster spot
normal: off the 53-man roster  

Offense


Quarterback (3)
1. RG3
2. Kirk Cousins
3. Colt McCoy
Obviously Griffin an Cousins are locks. McCoy was decent this preseason, so it's mostly an issue of whether Gruden and Allen decide to keep 3 quarterbacks. I'd prefer we went with two because a third would mean losing out on someone who would help on a game-to-game basis. That said, I think we keep three.

Halfback (3)
1. Alfred Morris
2. Roy Helu (third down duties)
3. Chris Thompson
4. Silas Redd
5. Evan Royster
6. Lache Seastrunk

Thoughts from the final preseason game

Just some impressions I was left with on depth guys during pre-season game 4.

-Defensive front seven looks good, as they have all preseason. Should have a strong rotation here. We'll need it to cover for the secondary, but it's been an impressive effort.

-Unfortunately, that front seven will be weakened a little, as Chris Neild went down with a pretty painful-looking knee injury. Hopefully it isn't too serious, but my money isn't on it. Sad, as I'm a big fan of Neild's.

-Neither offense was making a ton of progress earlier in the game. Redskins' was more effective than Bucs', but still largely a series of alternating defensive stands.

-Ryan Grant was impressive. It's the same thing the team and beat writers have been saying about him all off-season and preseason, but he really knows what he's doing out there. Consistently runs good routes, stays very aware of the defense's placement to find coverage seams, and catches securely. He also displayed good feet on the sideline on more than one occasion. He may never be a 1500-yard receiver, but should be a reliable outlet when the chains need moving.

-Evan Royster is still what we all thought he was. He's reliable enough to get what's blocked, but not much more.

-Looked like Spencer Long was doing a good job of sticking with his guy and not getting beaten, but I'd like to see more power from him as he didn't get a ton of push. It looked like he needed to stay lower for leverage.

-Chris Thompson showed a lot more power than Royster, despite his strong suit being speed and finesse. He and Lache Seastrunk were vastly more impressive than Royster and Redd in this game.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Griffin's biggest issues

Quick post highlighting what seem to me to be RG3's biggest problems right now based on last season and what has continued into this pre-season with the brace off and in a new offense:

1) Sometimes blatantly stares down a receiver. He needs to either scan like on any other pass play or get the ball out quickly, but sometimes-- I think when he knows where he's going to try and go with the ball-- he turns right to a guy but hesitates before throwing. I think the second of looking at the receiver might indicate that he doesn't trust the guy so he's trying to watch and make sure he's there and whatever, but it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy because that extra time spent telegraphing gives corners an easy opportunity to position themselves to sit on the route. These are generally his most egregious plays. If it's predetermined where he is going to go with the ball he needs to go there, not wait and then throw. If it's not, then he needs to go through his progressions until a guy is open. Those plays are the worst of both worlds.

2) Sliding. I don't know why it's so hard for him, but he's the worst slider ever. Every time he goes to the ground he looks liable to hurt himself, and half the time he gets hit anyway.

3) Sometimes-lazy footwork. His accuracy declines considerably when he doesn't stick with his mechanics. Not sure if compensating for his knee last year might have gotten him into some bad habits, because this wasn't such an issue his rookie season, but they need to be broken. He can place the ball very well almost anywhere on the field when he is meticulous about his form.

4) Knowing when to throw it away. I think a lot of his awful plays/interceptions are times when he knows it's not a high-percentage throw but is under pressure or its 3rd down or something and he tries to force it instead of living to fight another day. Griffin almost never just throws the ball away (or, decides to try and do it too late and gets hit and the ball goes bobbling off his hand). Contrast someone like Peyton Manning, where like 20% of his throws are out of bounds. He seems to be giving up on plays a little more often nowadays, but he usually runs it out of bounds when he does instead of throwing it away. Sometimes it's because he boots out to extend and see if he can find a seem up the sideline, but he should decide he doesn't sooner and chuck it instead of getting hit heading out or taking a 3 yard loss by sacking himself out of bounds.

5) Sometimes makes bad/inconsistent choices on when to pull it down and run and when not to. That's the kind of thing that will just come with time, though, as he works to transition his game.

Most of these were either non-present or very minimal issues in his stellar rookie year. I think some of them are a component of the way he's in his head trying to alter his game. The foot mechanics one is most worrisome, in my opinion. Now that he's completely healthy, Gruden needs to whip his ass back into shape, mechanics-wise.