Injuries have left the stable bare

The Redskins biggest area of need is tight end. Has to be.

This is not to say that Washington doesn’t have holes in various places throughout the roster. The team needs to fill some very important spots on both sides of the ball. At TE however, there is barely a sprinkle of talent.

Here’s where the Redskins have been at the TE position over the past few years.

Jordan Reed

Jordan Reed should stop playing football immediately.  He simply cannot stay healthy. If he has one more concussion he might forget his own name before his 50th birthday. 

The previous sentence is not a joke, people. If Jordan Reed keeps playing football, severe memory loss and other neurological problems are a certainty. With what medical science has learned about concussions over the past few decades, it might already be too late.

This is to say nothing of the litany of other injuries he’s suffered in his career that are below the neck. Bringing back at any cost is insanity. There is no reason to even give him reps at practice anymore – he’ll just break your heart when the inevitable banishment to the trainer’s table occurs in week four.

Vernon Davis

Vernon Davis hopped on the Gronk train during Super Bowl Sunday. A fitting cap to a great career.

Davis just celebrated his 36th birthday last week. He showed he’s still got some bars left in his battery after scoring a spectacular touchdown to start the season.

Unfortunately – just like his fellow TE counterpart Jordan Reed – Davis suffered a concussion which derailed his 2019 season before the Redskins ever won a single game. After 14 NFL seasons, including a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos and ten years with the San Francisco 49ers, he decided he’d had enough.

Jeremy Sprinkle

Jeremy Sprinkle has morphed in a hurry from somewhat intriguing rookie backup to returning veteran. Injuries to Reed and Davis forced the Redskins hand, and Sprinkle responded nicely with a 26-catch season and a TD, after being used almost exclusively as a blocker in his 2018 rookie season.

Obviously, 26 catches is not going to get it done. Sprinkle is a solid, in-line blocking specialist who will catch the occasional pass when the defense gets caught napping. In today’s George Kittle / Travis Kelce world, it’s “move the chains or die”.

Tomorrow, we’ll set off on a deep dive and break down what the Redskins can do to give quarterback Dwayne Haskins someone else to throw to besides Terry McLurin. Who knows, maybe the next Kittle is out there somewhere.