So yesterday the Skins released their initial depth chart for the season with their opening preseason game tomorrow night against the Bills. Obviously these are very subject to change but I thought that I would just give you all my initial thoughts on the opening depth chart.
OFFENSE
Quarterback Robert Griffin III Rex Grossman Kirk Cousins Jonathan Crompton
Initial Thoughts: Pretty much what I expected. I don’t understand how Jonathon Crompton got a tryout for an NFL team though, he wasn’t even good at Tennessee. I remember him a couple of years ago with Lane Kiffin and Kiffin was trying to establish the run as much as possible against good teams because Crompton could hardly complete a pass. I don’t know why I just wasted that much time talking about Jonathon Crompton but that’s all that came to mind when I saw this position.
Running Back Tim Hightower Evan Royster Roy Helu Alfred Morris Tristan Davis Lennon Creer Antwon Bailey
Initial Thoughts: We really don’t have a featured back this year as our none of our main 3 (Hightower, Royster, or Helu) are really good enough to handle a full workload. Hightower is at the top of the chart now but I expect him to have a pretty terrible season (I was hoping for big things last year) because apparently he is still feeling the effects of his torn ACL last season (still limping). It’s hard enough to be a good NFL RB but when you can’t even run without a limp? It’s damn near impossible. So I really think our main 2 guys will be Royster and Helu. Neither amazing but both with the ability to break off a big run or two and better than people think. The key for them will be pass protection for RG3. Shannahan will produce a decent ground game no matter what but we need to protect our greatest asset.
Fullback Darrell Young Chris Cooley Dorson Boyce
Initial Thoughts: I still miss Mike Sellers.
Tight End Fred Davis Chris Cooley Niles Paul Logan Paulsen Richard Quinn Beau Reliford
Initial Thoughts: I guess Niles Paul is a tight end now? Whatever we have like 20 WR’s so it really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve heard that Cooley looks a step slow this camp and that would make sense with all of his injuries and at this points (while I have always liked Cooley) really don’t expect much from him. He’s basically in the same camp as Hightower for me.
Wide Receiver 1 Pierre Garcon Anthony Armstrong Brandon Banks Aldrick Robinson Samuel Kirkland
Initial Thoughts: Apparently Brandon Banks is really trying to expand his game this year and become a WR and I am for it just because at the very least he has gotten to be somewhat useful as a screen guy. Keep the defense honest a few times a game with a few WR screens to him out there and get him in open space and see what happens. Wouldn’t mind seeing him in the slot either. I’m not a big fan of Armstrong’s game just because he always seemed to be too skinny to me and just isn’t big enough to make plays. I read that he worked hard to lose weight this season and ended up dropping 12 lbs. Not sure what him and the Skins were thinking on that one.
Wide Receiver 2 Santana Moss Leonard Hankerson Josh Morgan Terrence Austin Lance Lewis Darius Hanks Dezmon Briscoe
Initial Thoughts: This is one of the most interesting positions on the team for me. I have always been a Moss fan and think that he is either the best or 2nd best WR on the team right now. Not really a bold statement considering he is listed as the 2nd wideout but I have heard that the Skins plan to use him in the slot a lot with Hankerson or Morgan flanking him along with Garcon. I’m cool with that because with Moss’ size he fits perfectly in the slot and I am a fan of the Garcon/Moss/Hankerson trio. Morgan has been hurt so who knows if he will move ahead of Hankerson but I am a pretty big Hanky fan (was a fan of his at Miami too, the dude is just long and fluid) but any competition is good competition. Also the Skins just picked up former Oklahoma St. star Dezmon Brisoce. Not sure what to expect from the man but maybe he will be a pleasant surprise.
Left Tackle Trent Williams Tom Compton Jordan Black
Left Guard Kory Lichtensteiger Maurice Hurt Josh LeRibeus Nick Martinez
Center Will Montgomery Erik Cook Grant Garner
Right Guard Chris Chester Adam Gettis Tony Moll
Right Tackle Jammal Brown Tyler Polumbus Willie Smith James Lee
Initial Thoughts: Offensive line bores me so I’m just gonna include them all in one thought here. I heard Trent Williams looks very good and that excites me but overall we are expected to be a pretty bad line pretty much like the last 5 years. Like last year I don’t think we will be as bad as people say we are but we will probably still be below average. Jammal Brown after who did yoga all off-season to rehab and strengthen his injured hip ended up injuring it on the first jog to get ready for the beginning of training camp. That’s really more funny than anything after all the publicity that yoga got from it over the off-season but as much as I want him to succeed with the Skins, it looks anything but probable at this point.
DEFENSE
Left Defensive End Adam Carriker Kedric Golston Doug Worthington
Nose Tackle Barry Cofield Chris Neild Chris Baker Delvin Johnson
Right Defensive End Stephen Bowen Jarvis Jenkins Darrion Scott
Initial Thoughts: I kind of wish that Jenkins would have had the great camp that he had last year before his knee injury and would have taken over for Adam Carriker. I always feel like Carriker is the type of guy that isn’t nearly as good as people make him out to be. Not that everybody says he is a beast, but they say he is solid but to me he really just never does anything. He’s not Reed Doughty type bad or anything but I just never seem him do anything. At worst I think Jenkins will add solid depth to this line that is in desperate need of some.
Left Outside Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan Chris Wilson Markus White Monte Lewis
Inside Linebacker London Fletcher Lorenzo Alexander Donnell Holt
Inside Linebacker Perry Riley Bryan Kehl Keenan Robinson
Right Outside Linebacker Brian Orakpo Rob Jackson Brian McNally
Initial Thoughts: Obviously the wild card in the LB corp is Perry Riley who has basically been a backup to this point but will be filling in for Rocky McIntosh who left us. Orakpo and Kerrigan should be solid again on the outside even though Orakpo hasn’t been quite as good as I thought he would be. I’m just pretty much waiting for London Fletcher to whither away to nothing considering he is almost like 40 but hopefully he gives us another solid year of production because the leadership will certainly be there.
Cornerback (Left) DeAngelo Hall Cedric Griffin Richard Crawford Morgan Trent David Jones
Cornerback (Right) Josh Wilson Kevin Barnes Brandyn Thompson Travon Bellamy
Initial Thoughts: I like the combo of Wilson and Hall and actually really like the addition of Raheem Morris who will be coaching these guys. Hopefully Griffin is decent because I really don’t want to go through another year where we only have 2 cover guys and the rest of the crew couldn’t cover me. We got killed with that last year so hopefully Griffin can give us at least a 3rd decent cover guy.
Free Safety Madieu Williams Dejon Gomes Tanard Jackson
Strong Safety Brandon Meriweather Reed Doughty Jordan Bernstine
Initial Thoughts: It’s well-documented but this is position is easily the biggest wildcard for us. This is also where the Rasheem Morris signing will have it’s biggest effect. Best case scenario is Meriweather returns to his pro-bowl form and either Williams or Jackson ends up being solid for us. Worst case is Williams/Jackson end up being horrible and Meriweather gets a season long suspension for something. Probably will be somewhere in between but lets hope its closer to the former. Also does Reed Doughty have some sort of embarrassing picture of Daniel Snyder in his possession? Because I have never seen a guy who makes so many mistakes continue to make the same professional team that isn’t named Mark Reynolds.
Kicker Graham Gano Neil Rackers
Kick Returner Brandon Banks Aldrick Robinson Anthony Armstrong Niles Paul Tristan Davis Alfred Morris Evan Royster Roy Helu
Punt Returner Brandon Banks Aldrick Robinson Anthony Armstrong Richard Crawford Santana Moss Terrence Austin
Initial Thoughts: Classic kicker battle and the winner will most assuredly have the worst season of the 2. I hope Rackers wins because I don’t think Gano is real good and at least Rackers was at one point so he has that capability. On the returns I hope that Banks maintains and wins the position because when healthy he really helps our offense. If he’s not healthy he’s pretty average back there but you can usually tell pretty quickly whether he will have burst this year or not.
I’ll be coming out with my Bills vs Skins preview tomorrow and am pretty excited for the game.