Washington Football Team, QB of the Future
The Washington Football Team is another franchise that had a strong draft but still failed to meet one of the team’s biggest needs, that being a quarterback for the future. Ron Rivera continued to put the pieces together in Washington, but failing to add a quarterback was a bit of an odd move. Picking where they were in the first round made sense that they didn’t trade up, but not taking one over the course of all seven rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft was a bit curious.
Washington did sign Ryan Fitzpatrick, so they have the league’s best bridge quarterback. They also return Taylor Heinicke who looked strong in his limited time as well as Kyle Allen, both of whom played for Rivera in Carolina.
Fitzpatrick and Heinicke can hold down the ship for a year. Both have proven that they can be serviceable starters, but in the long run and future outlook of the team they might not be the answer. They just buy Washington time to find the answer.
Having already signed Fitzpatrick and the lack of talent on the free-agent market, that option is probably out the window. They could explore a trade with a team that might be in an odd situation in their quarterback room, like looking into Gardner Minshew after Jacksonville added Trevor Lawrence or maybe even Jimmy Garoppolo from San Francisco or Cam Newton from New England.
While all of those players would improve the quarterback room, they don’t seem like the long-term answer Washington will want. This is one need that might have to wait another year to be addressed.