This season was very surprising for many fans of the WFT, seeing their team embark on their first playoff run since 2015. Although they did have a 7-9 record doing so, there were many positives that came out of this season.
They now have a solid foundation on the defensive side, with their d-line packed with first round picks. This year, they were lead by edge rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat. Young amassed 7.5 sacks over the course of the season, while Sweat had 9 sacks.
The defensive line was where most of the action happened, but Washington did fairly well against the pass as well. They gave up the third least amount of passing yards per game over their 18 games (including the wild card game). Only giving up 201 yards per game through the air, that secondary more than held their own. While I do think a lot of that had to do with the circumstances they were under, such as a poor rushing defense at times, and abysmal quarterback play on the opposing side, it was a substantial improvement from last year.
With a defense that is just beginning its ascent, it would be confusing as to why the WFT only went 7-9, looking from the outside in. Well, this is because of their subpar offense, accumulating only 216 yards through the air per game, 8th worst in the league. A rushing attack that was 7th worst in the league did not help their cause. To top everything off, Washington started three different quarterbacks this year (during the regular season). And mind you, their best offensive performance came in a game starting Taylor Heinicke, against a top defense in the Bucaneers, who are now in the Super Bowl.
Dwayne Haskins, Kyle Allen, and Alex Smith were the three starters in the regular season. QBR is a total quarterback rating measuring they're performance, that incorporates all of their stats and numbers. The WFT quarterback trio combined for an average QBR or 46.8. To put this into perspective, Deshaun Watson, who was 12th in the league in this category, had a QBR of 70.5.
This is a clear indicator that QB play throughout the year was the leading cause of the WFT record being below .500.
Deshaun Watson would bring consistent quarterback play, less turnovers, and some mobility, which was heavily lacking this past season. Watson posted 4,823 passing yards (1st in the league), 33 TD's (7th in the league), and just 7 INT's (7th in the league).
Going back to my point on mobility, Washington gave up even more sacks than they forced themselves (50), and I can guarantee a large amount of those were caused by the lack of mobility at the QB position.
At this point, however, all Washington needs is competent QB play in order to take a drastic leap forward. If that new QB happens to be Watson, then I believe that puts Washington into the conversation for Super Bowl LVI.
Written by: Ben Kim
