Hogs Haven
I don’t like to sugar-coat things. If something looks FANTASTIC, I like to point it out. If something looks BAD, I will bring that to the forefront.
In this series, “The Cold, Hard Truth”, I will give my analysis on various parts of the team in an effort to allow healthy discussions on the specific topics at hand.
I got the idea for this article from my guy Disco on Twitter. Disco asked the question – when was the last time Washington had the best anything at any position?
His question was a really good one and the points he made in his video were really thought-provoking. Please take a listen below.
I agree with most of what Disco said, and it got me thinking about the parameters for an article.
In this first excerpt of The Cold, Hard Truth, I first wanted to define what I felt was “elite” talent. Disco asked in his video when was the last time Washington had the best anything at any position. I do feel that elite talent is pretty subjective and can certainly very from year-to-year based on performance. For that reason, I didn’t want to go with the “top” player at his respective position. Instead, I decided to use TOP THREE at their respective positions (which too can be somewhat subjective), but it does give us a starting point for discussion, and it certainly would fall under what most would consider “elite” talent. I also took into account how long said player has performed at that level (although that is not the final verdict), as we all understand one-year outliers certainly do happen, just as we all understand injuries can cause what would be considered a down year by a very good player. Finally, age certainly factors into this. An example is Von Miller. He will be a Hall of Famer, but we didn’t have Von when he was in his prime. We got him when he was nearing the end of his career, and he definitely was not the same player he was in his prime.
With the parameters now somewhat set, let’s dive into our roster – both past and present.
*I did not include special teams players in this analysis – sorry to all the Tress Way lovers out there.
I had to go all the way back to the 2018 season to find a Washington player who was top three in the NFL at his respective position. That player was the future Hall of Famer Trent Williams. Williams started 13 of a possible 16 regular season games that season for Washington. It would be the last time he took the field in Burgundy and Gold.
That 2018 team also boasted Brandon Scherff (top five guard), Jordan Reed, Alex Smith, Adrian Peterson (1K yard rusher), Ryan Kerrigan (13 sacks), Jonathan Allen (eight sacks), Daron Payne (rookie – five sacks), Preston Smith, Josh Norman and Zach Brown.
The Commanders...
