At 6-8 on the season with a rising number of injuries, it’s time to start looking to 2022 for the Washington Football Team. Sure, Washington remains only one game out of the final NFC playoff spot but faces NFC East leader Dallas Sunday and could be on the verge of its third consecutive loss.
Bill Barnwell of ESPN recently looked ahead to the 2022 quarterback market, which is expected to be wild with Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson potentially available.
Barnwell wrote about three scenarios. In one scenario, Green Bay traded Rodgers to the Broncos. In this scenario, Washington was not involved.
The second scenario saw the Seahawks trading Wilson to the Saints. Again, Washington was not involved. But check this out, Barnwell had the Eagles trading for Kirk Cousins. Not sure what to think about that one.
The third and final scenario involved Rodgers and Wilson staying put with their respective teams. This scenario led to some desperate teams making desperate moves, most notably, Washington moving up to the No. 1 position in the draft.
Check out what Barnwell says:
Elsewhere in the NFC East, Washington is still waiting to find its quarterback of the future. After drafting Robert Griffin and Kirk Cousins in 2012, the organization broke Griffin, alienated Cousins, failed to get anything out of 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins and lost Alex Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick to serious injuries.
We think this doesn’t appear to be a great draft for quarterbacks, but all it takes is one organization to fall in love with a signal-caller. As the draft stands, the Jaguars are projected to come away with the top pick. Jacksonville could unquestionably stand to add either of the top edge rushers — Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux or Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson — but if it could get multiple first-rounders, it would go a long way toward replenishing a middling roster.
This is laughable. Head coach Ron Rivera wouldn’t move up to No. 10 in the 2021 NFL draft for either Justin Fields or Mac Jones, both superior prospects to anyone in the 2022 class.
Barnwell estimates what it would cost Washington to move to No. 1 from its current projected No. 11.
It would send its own first-round pick, which projects to be No. 11, plus a second-rounder in 2022 and first-rounders in 2023 and 2024.
Yeah, not happening. Washington will be aggressive in a move for a quarterback, perhaps in the draft, but it will not be moving to No. 1 in a class where there is no clear-cut favorite atop the board. This class has several good prospects, but Washington could move around — or sit still — and land one.
Barnwell is terrific. I just don’t see Washington making that type of move under any circumstances. Rivera needs to make a bold move to land a quarterback this offseason, but his bold move would be to take a swing at one of the veterans, such as Carr, Wilson, or Derek Carr.
And one other thing, Washington has broken many people, from employees to players. But let’s stop saying Washington was the downfall of Robert Griffin III. He had a significant hand in his own demise and still hasn’t learned after all of these years.