The problem with the point JP Finlay and others are pushing, that lots of teams have had success without a legit WR2 so therefore so can Washington is that Adam Peters apparently had this same mindset going into the 2025 season. He actually let the best WR we had not named Terry McLaurin walk for chump change, and doubled down on injury plagued guys and project WRs who have never proven they could be durable or consistently productive. How'd that work out for AP?
Peters clearly thinks the WR room is subpar - otherwise he wouldn't have tried desperately to upgrade in early free agency. He wasn't successful and that's not necessarily his 'fault' - there is a ton of competition for skill position players in free agency and players ultimately make their own choices. But the fact that Peters swung for the fences on several potential upgrades is a clear indication he doesn't believe 'we are fine' with the guys we've got. Maybe the draft changed that a little. But our WR room is still highly suspect.
If Peters is going to make a final big addition, it will happen in the next 10 days. They will want to get that addition in here for Training Camp.
My issue with Finlay, who I like, and some of the others is that they're pointing to things that almost every team has as if somehow its unique to Washington or is special here. Yes, Washington has running backs who can catch the ball. So do a lot of teams. Yes, they have pass-catching tight ends. Again, so do a lot of teams—and in many cases, those teams have players with much stronger resumes than ours.
Then there's the "Blough will scheme it up" argument, which honestly makes me cringe. It's becoming the default explanation from some in the local media for why the receiver room isn't a concern. Grant Paulsen went there on a recent podcast, even while acknowledging that Sean McVay—Keim has said he heard the same thing—admitted he struggled as a first-year play caller and really took a leap in Year 2.
So Grant, who I also like, is essentially saying Blough is going to have rookie growing pains while simultaneously treating him as the secret weapon that's going to make this receiver group work. That's a lot of rationalizing for me.
Look, maybe all of the best-case scenarios happen. Maybe Ben Sinnott turns into a star. Maybe Luke McCaffrey develops into the kind of player his brother became. Maybe Blough breaks the mold and is an outstanding play caller right away. Maybe Rachaad White becomes prime Austin Ekeler as a receiving back.
Could all of that happen? Sure. I don't know.
What I do know is that's a whole lot of maybes. If you're trying to build a legitimate contender, you don't want your offense resting on that many optimistic projections.
Even Keim, who's become more supportive of the offseason moves, has repeatedly said this roster has a major problem if Terry McLaurin gets hurt because there's no true No. 2 receiver to step into that role. To me, that's the biggest issue of all. Every team would miss its No. 1 receiver. But I think Washington would be hurt far more than most because there's no proven player behind Terry capable of carrying that load. That's the risk I've had a hard time getting past.
lol, sign Diggs and I endorse everything. But its tough for me to look at this team playing with this tough schedule and thinking stuff like wow will Blough dazzle and or yeah our Z isn't getting open but hey we can throw to Racaad White try to stop that. Or pretend Zach Ertz never existed and go wow Jayden now has a TE as his 2nd target how novel.