Clint Didier catching a Touchdown pass during Super Bowl XXII, January 31, 1988. Didier was the first full-time “H-Back,” a Joe Gibbs creation. For many years the NFL was a “21-Personnel” League. (Two Running Backs and one Tight End.) Gibbs went to a “One-Back” offense where only one Back remained with the Quarterback in the backfield. The H-Back was a Tight End moved off the Line slightly and going in motion often to produce lead blocks which had been the domain of Fullbacks. By the early 2020s Fullbacks were all but gone. There’s a resurgence going on now. Last year 3 of the 4 final teams had Fullbacks. As of today Washington does not.

If you’re into pearl clutching then this WFT season finds your hand with a tight grip on the little orbs. Questions are everywhere. Every team has them. But, the Washington fanbase carries emotional scar tissue from the way-too-long Snyder reign of failure. To a majority the glass is never, ever more than half-full. To some the glass simply will not hold water. The truth is that we don’t really know what this team can do. Not now. Not after ONE practice in pads at the end of the first week of Camp. We do know who’s here and who isn’t. And for right now, that’s we have to work with and little else.

We’re going to break down the various position groups on Offense today. Just keep in mind one thing: The conventional wisdom of personnel rankings, by any of the various models suffer from a delayed response. As discussed last week past production is over-valued while emerging talent is opposingly under-valued. No one is going to argue that Terry McLaurin is the WR1 on this team. He was the 76th pick of the 2019 Draft. It’s a very similar situation for this year’s 71st pick overall in Antonio Williams. Will he develop into a McLaurin-like weapon? Who knows? But, sports writers don’t like to bank on promise. What typically happens is that the old talent gets love, the new talent gets the bare minimum.

With that caveat let’s dive in.

Quarterback

Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota, Sam Hartman, Athan Kaliakmanis

First worry bead makes immediate appearance; will Jayden return to 2024 form? Second worry bead; will he stay healthy? The first question has a glimpse of an answer while the second, hopefully, won’t be known for months. Daniels was a bit off for the first few days of camp. But, Monday was the first practice in pads. He was electric according to the reports. That’s as good a sign as is available. The healthy part is being addressed by systematic changes. Kliff Kingsbury‘s offense was built on the Mike Leach “Air Raid” approach. Pass heavy, lots of empty backfield or 11-personnel, and runs from Shotgun or Pistol formation. As soon as McLaurin was unavailable the whole thing unraveled. JD5 held the ball waiting for someone, anyone to get open. It was a bad recipe. The new Offensive Coordinator, David Blough has only dropped portions of hints of what he’s going to do. The Tight End Room may hold the key. It’s been stated that Daniels will be under-Center more. That implies a return to smashmouth football. With no Fullback on the roster there should be plenty of H-Back looks.

Marcus Mariota takes a beating from many. But, the role of a QB2 is to be fully prepared despite zero snaps with the first team all week. If that guy can come off of the bench and win a game or a few games that’s all one can reasonably ask. Billy Kilmer, Sonny Jurgensen, and Joe Theismann in the same QB room at the same time is something beyond rare. Mariota is Central Casting for QB2.

Sam Hartman remains for no apparent reason. It’s hard to imagine him on the roster after August 30. Athan Kaliakmanis is a developmental guy. Expect him to go to the Practice Squad. The late Gil Brandt used to say that a team should draft a QB every year. At least for this year Adam Peters listened.

Bottom Line: It’s a good QB Room. It’s one of only a handful with a solid QB2.

Running Back

Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Rachaad White, Kaytron Allen

“Bill” as he’s called is an interesting Back. He was drafted in the 7th-Round. But, he had a fine Rookie season. He has good vision, makes decisive cuts, and is just barely fast enough to have “Breakaway Speed.” “Barely” is the operative word. He limitations are that he does not block well in pass protection, and is not a receiving threat. Supposedly that’s been worked on. We’ll see. If the focus is going to shift more towards run in this new Offense then Bill needs to continue development.

Rachaad White is a professional Back. He’s roughly 4-yards per carry and 3-catches per game. Compare his 45-catches last year to Bill’s 9 and it becomes obvious what Adam Peters was thinking in this acquisition. Kaytron Allen is a Rookie. Hence, he’s not adding to the Room total in most quarters. He was good for about 1.5 catches-per-game during college. At 5’11” at 219lbs he looks to be the bruiser type that left the building in Chris Rodriguez Jr. Might Blough put him at Fullback in a 21 or 22-personnel set? That’s something to watch.

Bottom Line: This is a room that feels middling at this point. There’s no “Bell Cow” Back to take the load reliably all day and all season. It’s Running Back by Committee. That works sometimes. Will it do so here?

Wide Receiver

Terry McLaurin, Antonio Williams, Luke McCaffrey, Dyami Brown, Jaylin Lane, Treylon Burks, Van Jefferson

If you’re squeezing the pearls this room is likely the basis for it. The sportswriters have pushed relentlessly that there is no real WR2 in this group. People want a NAME in here with bona fides. That could still happen. Stefon Diggs is out there. But, for how long? Is this the crew going to the first game in September? It’s an open question.

McLaurin proved, unfortunately, how valuable he was last season. He’s nearing the fall-off age for a prime Receiver. Some argue he’s not a true WR1. If he was in New England with AJ Brown across the formation that would be absolutely true. But, he’s the WR1 here. It puts more onus on the development of the rest of the room. Not only do they have to develop for this year, there will be a semi or whole void at the top as early as next year.

McCaffrey has shown flashes. It’s like starting a cold lawnmower that spits for a few revolutions then chokes out. After a while it either starts or you give up pulling on the rope. He’s not going anywhere with two-years left on a rookie contract. His strength is kickoff returns, which are basically a zone read play with the current rules. Since he’s good at that, line him up occasionally at Tail Back and run some zone read plays. Rumor is that Blough will have zone reads in the arsenal.

Williams is a rookie. He’s slated to be a Slot Receiver. Supposedly he’s an excellent route runner. Jaylen Lane may be the big sleeper in this bunch. He has the speed and hands. According to reports he did very well in the pads practice on Monday. Him developing would help immensely. Treylon Burks hasn’t played more than half a season in the last two-years. In those two-years combined he’s had only 30-targets. And, he’s only had two-touchdowns in his four-year career. You’ll remember the one from last year. He showed enough to the Scouts to get drafted 18th overall. Can the coaching staff find the magic key to transfer potential into production? If so it will count as an unexpected gain.

Dyami Brown was a 40-target Receiver from Daniels in 2024. He went to Jacksonville last year getting only 30-targets. Touchdowns come hard for him. His career total is 5, good for 1 per year at a clip of 1 TD for every 28 receptions. Van Jefferson is on his fifth team after six-years. He’s another TD-challenged Receiver with just 13 over that time span.

So if we add career TDs from this group we get: 41 from McLaurin over 7-years; 13 from Jefferson over 6-years; 3 from McCaffrey over 2-years; 5 from Brown over 5-years; 2 from Burks over 4-years; 0 from Lane after 1-year (Receiving); and Williams who has yet to play. That’s about 2.5 per year per Receiver. That’s not scaring anyone. Last year Washington threw for 19-TDs. In 2024 it was 29. The Seahawks won the League Title with 25-TDs through the air. Given that Tight Ends and Backs get some of those let’s say the WR Room needs to provide 2/3rds of 25 TDs, or 18-ish. Can this room do that?

Bottom Line: This room is a worry bead for a good reason. It depends on one or more in-hand players to take the bit and run.

Tight Ends

Chig Okonkwo, John Bates, Ben Sinnott, Colson Yankoff

This room has a serious bit of intrigue. It stems from exactly how David Blough is going to use this group. Last year it was Zach Ertz and not much else. Ertz was targeted 72-times compared to 32 for the other three combined. Kingsbury’s offense relied heavily on 11-personnel. There was a featured TE in Ertz, John Bates was a Donny Warren type block-first-second-and last Tight End. The others were given table scraps.

Ertz is gone. The acquisition of Chig Okonkwo implies that he is here to be the Ertz replacement. Last year he had 79-targets. Ertz was getting 10.1-yards per reception, Okonkwo 10.4. Hard to miss that Chig is a plug-and-play replacement while being 9-years younger.

Bates will continue to be a solid “Line Tight End.” He has a hamstring at the moment. It’s the curse of camps everywhere. Nothing big is what the word is.

It says here that Sinnott was not used properly. Ertz was a “Find a hole and squat in it” type of Receiver. Sinnott is more akin to the old Mark Bavaro type that could rip a seam and catch on the run. Kingsbury didn’t know how to maximize his abilities. If there’s a real breakout on this team look for this guy. And, the pad practice had plenty of Yankoff positives.

The key is going to be how this group gets used. As stated, Kliff relied heavily on 11-personnel. But, it’s a thing now in the League to go to 12 or 13-personnel. Old “Basketball Guys” Ben Johnson ran more 13-personnel than anyone with Sean McVay not far behind. The Bears had 92-catches and 8-TDs from their Tight End Room last year compared to the WFTs 73 and 6 totals. Ertz had 4 of the TDs. If the squad uses 13-personnel groups then Chig would be loose TE available for slots, etc. Bates would be the Line TE. And, Sinnott/Yankoff at H-Back. This should all translate to more production from the Tight End Room. That helps everything.

Bottom Line: This is a room full of potential. The scheme, still unknown will be all-important.

The Line

(Tackles) Laremy Tunsil, Josh Conerly Jr., Andrew Wylie; (Guards) Chris Paul, Sam Cosmi, Brandon Coleman; (Centers) Nick Allegretti, Matt Gulbin, Trey Hill

The best was saved for last. Let’s just add up the Draft Capital invested in this line. Laremy Tunsil represents a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th round group of picks. Conerly is a WFT 1st Round pick. Cosmi was a 2nd-rounder. Coleman was a 3rd-round WFT pick. Gulbin was a 6th. This group is a large investment for the team. It’s not without concerns, however. The starting Center from last year was cut. The replacement is Allegretti who is out with a calf strain. Those can take a few weeks to really heal. Others are getting work at the position. Saturday the team signed a tryout player in Trey Hill. That’s the biggest worry bead in the room.

Laremy Tunsil would have been All Pro First Team had the WFT not had such a poor season. Top shelf, full stop.

Conerly got better over the season. He was thrown to the wolves at the start facing elite pass rushers. Baptism by fire served him well. He’s Besties now with Tunsil. The two went to Laremy’s workout place in Alabama. While not a polished jewel just yet, all indications are that he will be.

Paul frankly surprised people with his play last year. He took the position away from Coleman. That will be a good camp battle. Coleman has yet to fully bloom. He may get his chance to do so at Center. He’s taken snaps at the position, but not in 11-on-11s.

Sam Cosmi is rock solid. Wylie is the prototypical “Swing Tackle.” He’s not really good enough to start. But, he’s plenty good enough for rotations/fill-ins. Allegretti at Center? We will need to have eyeballs on that. It won’t be for a while. Gulbin might make the team. That’s all we know right now. Trey Hill is a backup Center. He’s started 3-games in 3-years.

Bottom Line: It’s a solid room with excellent performers on the outside and reliable Guards. The Center position is the open question. The inkling is that it isn’t a big problem. Film at 11.

The Whole

How does this group do with all the rooms put together? Well, it’s not the 1992 Super Bowl Champion Redskins. That crew was Rock Star good in every room. There’s enough here though to go out and be competitive. It’s not the rocket ship the Cowboys have on Offense. That’s just reality. But, it takes all three phases to win. Dallas’ super-prolific offense bought them another post-season at home on the couch. Remember the Seahawks had only 25 passing TDs last season? The Rams had 46. Los Angeles was 10th in scoring Defense. Seattle was First. The Defense was all-important.

The touchstone coming in is that Washington’s Offense was the strength of the 2024 campaign. The Defense was poor. However, the Offense was good enough to overcome it. Last year the Offense took a dive in production while the Defense got even worse. For all the questions posed by the Offense the Defense poses even harder ones. The improvement needed by that side of the ball has to take the group from the basement to at least the mid-levels for this to be a playoff team.

Next week we’ll go through the Defensive position groups. Hint: It’s a lot of new faces.