Hogs Haven
Washington made some big moves to improve their wide receiver room this offseason by adding veteran Deebo Samuel in a trade with the 49ers, and drafting rookie speedster Jaylin Lane from Virginia Tech.
There has been plenty of offseason discussions about best positional fits for the receivers on the roster. However, getting the best three/four on the field together should be the goal.
Because my stated goal above is to get the best three/four on the field at the same time, I will deviate from the traditional X/Z/Slot designations and instead go with the old “option” numbering system. In fact, I do believe the old system of X/Z/Slot is antiquated anyway, as offensive coordinators are all about mismatches and will line up and MOVE their chess pieces all over the field.
Terry McLaurin is a true outside receiver and the team’s unquestioned WR1. Traditionally, the X is more of a bigger possession receiver who can gain some YAC, while the Z is your speed/vertical guy. Terry is a combination of both, which is part of the reason I moved away from designations.
Deebo Samuel was brought in to compliment McLaurin as the team’s true number two option. Deebo can play outside, inside and operate from the backfield, so listing him as an X, Z, Slot or even RB wouldn’t make much sense. What does make sense is to list him as a true number two.
Noah Brown should have the inside track as wide receiver number three in Kingsbury’s offense. He’s an outside target, so moving him around may not be as beneficial as others on the roster, but he’s effective in his role showing good hands and body control, and he draws a lot of interference calls downfield - so his role should be well defined and semi-secure.
The battle for wide receiver four should come down to two names - rookie Jaylin Lane and second year player Luke McCaffrey. The nice part about this battle is both have inside/outside versatility and excellent speed and quickness. I don’t think it’s fair to pigeon-home either to the outside or slot, so again, I will just list them as a wide receiver. Now, even though I have listed them behind Noah Brown, I do believe these three will all battle for snaps, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see any of the trio be third in touches behind McLaurin and Samuel.
The Commanders have some interesting names who will be fighting to make the roster this summer during training camp.
Gallup and Osborn are the two bigger names to watch here. Gallup retired from the NFL last year, but decided he wanted to make a come-back in 2025. The 29-year-old last suited up for the Cowboys in 2023, where he had 34 receptions...
