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Today Redskins Nation had some good news and it came from the NFL (which is an extremely rare event). The NFL announced that ILB Ruben Foster will not be suspended for multiple off field incidents that occurred last year and resulted in Foster being cut by the 49ers and winding up on the Commissioner's Exempt List. Foster will be fined two game checks for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy for various arrests revolving around two domestic violence charges. Both charges were eventually dropped.
I'm going to give some kudos to the NFL here. First, they didn't wait until the last moment to announce Foster's fate. In the past the NFL made these type of announcements right before the team was about to enter free agency (Capgate, 2011) or a last minute suspension prior to the start of training camp. By announcing this today, 13 days prior to the draft, the Redskins have time to adjust their boards accordingly and possibly not have to take a ILB early to fill the vacancy of a Foster suspension.
I still expect the Redskins to target a ILB in the draft for depth and for special teams. That said, I now don't expect that to happen until day 3 of the draft. There is still a chance that the Redskins could select a ILB at #15 if Devin White or Devin Bush fell (in particular White), but now I think the team will target either an DE/OLB or a TE if they stay at #15 .
Looking at the starting eleven, the fans should be excited for the Redskins defense heading into 2019. Five players on the starting lineup are former 1st round picks (Ryan Kerrigan, Landon Collins, Ruben Foster, Jon Allen and Daron Payne). This number could increase to six if a DE/OLB like Florida State's Brian Burns drops to 15 and is selected by the team.
Granted, having a great deal of 1st round talent doesn't guarantee success, but it does give the team a good chance to thrive with the high end talent on the field.
Hopefully, this investment of talent on defense will pay off. We will know in just a few months as pre-season will be here before we know it.
I'm going to give some kudos to the NFL here. First, they didn't wait until the last moment to announce Foster's fate. In the past the NFL made these type of announcements right before the team was about to enter free agency (Capgate, 2011) or a last minute suspension prior to the start of training camp. By announcing this today, 13 days prior to the draft, the Redskins have time to adjust their boards accordingly and possibly not have to take a ILB early to fill the vacancy of a Foster suspension.
I still expect the Redskins to target a ILB in the draft for depth and for special teams. That said, I now don't expect that to happen until day 3 of the draft. There is still a chance that the Redskins could select a ILB at #15 if Devin White or Devin Bush fell (in particular White), but now I think the team will target either an DE/OLB or a TE if they stay at #15 .
Looking at the starting eleven, the fans should be excited for the Redskins defense heading into 2019. Five players on the starting lineup are former 1st round picks (Ryan Kerrigan, Landon Collins, Ruben Foster, Jon Allen and Daron Payne). This number could increase to six if a DE/OLB like Florida State's Brian Burns drops to 15 and is selected by the team.
Granted, having a great deal of 1st round talent doesn't guarantee success, but it does give the team a good chance to thrive with the high end talent on the field.
Hopefully, this investment of talent on defense will pay off. We will know in just a few months as pre-season will be here before we know it.